Indoor Air Quality

It’s a fact that indoor air quality is commonly worse than the air you breathe outside. Indoor air pollution can come from many diverse sources. Tobacco products remain a big contributor, but did you know that building materials, damp carpet and certain pressed wood products are big offenders as well? Not to mention household cleaning and maintenance products, hobby-related products, and even personal care products can pollute indoor air quality.

Of course there can still be asbestos-related issues in many older homes, as well as radon, pesticides,central heating and cooling systems, and even outdoor air pollution getting in. Even improperly maintained gas appliances can emit carbon monoxide. Depending on the pollutant, high concentrations can remain in the air for prolonged periods of time.

Indoor air quality is important to all of us. Radon, for example, is especially cancerous. The Oregon Office of Environmental Public Health web site has some great resources for radon.

Air quality is critical for children with asthma. Uncontrolled asthma can hinder a child's attendance, participation, and progress in school. There are some simple, commonsense things you can do to improve your indoor air quality at home and reduce asthma threats to children.

There are three primary things you can do to improve indoor air quality and to live healthier at home: eliminate or control the sources of the pollution, improve ventilation and use air cleaners.

Controlling the source is just like it sounds: if you can, get that stuff out of your house! If you live in an apartment and suspect a problem, notify the building owner or manager. Educate yourself about common problems if you’re looking for a new rental so you can ask the right questions of the landlord. The EPA has a great guide for renter’s to ask the right questions about radon.

Improving ventilation can be as simple as opening a window, or as complex as installing complex mechanical ventilation systems that remove indoor air and push filtered air from outside throughout the house. If you engage in short-term activities like sanding, welding, soldering, painting, heating with kerosene and so on, ventilation systems become more important.

Air cleaners can help filter the air of your home or actually do very little. There are many different types on the market and some are more effective than others. As a rule of thumb, the more air from outside that an air cleaner can pull through its cleaning filter and into your house, the more effective it will be. The strength of the original pollutant is also worth keeping in mind.

Here are some other everyday steps you can do to maximize the often-overlooked problem of indoor air quality.

Keep your home free of tobacco smoke at all times. This may seem pretty intuitive, but if you have to smoke, please don’t smoke around children, or inside.

Make sure you have adequate ventilation. Reduce or eliminate allergens and irritants that can make asthma worse. These can include cockroaches, dust mites (found in pillows, carpets, upholstery, and stuffed toys), mold, and pets with fur or feathers

Avoid strong odors or fumes. Especially, look out for odors from art and craft supplies, pesticides, paint, perfumes, air fresheners and cleaning

Scented candles and air fresheners can often contain harmful chemicals. Some even contain dichlorobenzene, a chemical that is extremely toxic, a central nervous system depressant, a kidney and liver poison, and a long-lasting chlorinated hydrocarbon that gets stored in body fat! To make things worse, these air “fresheners” release these chemicals constantly.

Click here for information about air fresheners.

So get crafty and make your own air fresheners instead and eliminate exposure to the toxic chemicals found in these store-bought fresheners. You don’t need much more than these two basic ingredients to solve most odor problems. For example: baking soda neutralizes acid odors, and vinegar neutralizes alkaline odors. Also, health food stores sell air fresheners that are made of herbs. The mineral zeolite reduces odors as well. Put it in bags in closets and other places with stale air.

Avoid moisture

Moisture can lead to mold and mildew, which can be harmful to our health. See the Oregon Department of Health Services website for more information on mold and mold prevention.

Indoor air quality is especially important for children with asthma. This checklist, provided by the National Institutes of Health, can help you evaluate how asthma friendly your child care facility is.