Better Breathing, Healthier Living
Planning your construction project with an eye to your indoor environment

Remember your grandmother telling you, “Shut the window, I feel a draft!”? Or how about, “This basement is so musty, I feel like I’m breathing water!” As a kid, you probably shrugged, shut the window, led Grandma upstairs, and wondered, “How did she know? That window is two flights up! And the air in this basement feels just fine to me…”

Some of us can feel it, some of us can’t, but any way you look at it, poor indoor air quality can negatively impact on your quality of life in the long run. Studies have linked quite a few health hazards with indoor pollution. Symptoms include nasal congestion, sinus headaches, dizziness, allergy symptoms, and nausea.

The good news is that with a relatively small amount of effort, you can plan your construction to maximize the natural qualities that your space already has. Strategic placement of windows and doors, a well-placed dehumidifier, regular maintenance of gutters and leaders—these are all little things, but they make dramatic improvements.

Where is the trouble coming from?

Poor air quality can be attributed to a number of factors. When planning your construction project, bear in mind the following potential hazards:

• New construction materials: The smell of fresh paint and floor wax, while exhilarating in its newness, comes with a price. Many new construction materials contain urea-formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which get steadily released into the air you breathe. Items such as polyurethane and particleboard; paints and sealants; and even some new carpets and upholsteries, release dangerous substances into the air.
• Inferior workmanship: Sloppy contracting can lead to inefficient insulation and leakage. If the doors are on crooked and the windows don’t close properly, moisture will gather within the walls and roof, inviting mould, bacteria, and other bio-contaminants.
• Combustion appliances: Anything in your home that generates heat has the capability of generating pollution as well. Heating systems, stoves, dryers, and any other appliance that burns natural gas, oil, or wood, is by necessity releasing a certain amount of pollution into your home.
• Construction pollution: The inevitable profusion of dust and dirt, paint and debris that is part and parcel of any construction project is also an inevitable assault on the lungs.

Some solutions

• Once you know where the trouble is coming from, you can take steps to avoid these problems in your own home. The good news is, many of the problems are automatically eliminated thanks to governmental standards and inspections. Beyond that, there are some simple solutions that you can employ on your own:
• Ask your contractor and suppliers for materials that are free of or low in volatile organic compounds. You may decide to sacrifice that polished wood floor for a polyurethane-free existence. Discuss the options with the professionals servicing you, and do some research of your own.
• Always put in some due-diligence before hiring a contractor. A contractor who comes well-recommended and has met the standards of the referring person or company is that much more likely to provide consistently excellent workmanship. Ask around; the couple of dollars that you might have saved in hiring an inferior plumber or septic tank specialist can cost you far, far more once the poor grade of workmanship reveals itself.
• Try to reduce the amount of combustion appliances that you use in your home. If you do require these appliances, be sure that they are properly ventilated.
• Plan your ventilation to your best advantage, ensuring that every room in the house gets plenty of air circulation. Windows, vents, and fans can help ensure that no room ends up with more than its fair share of pollutants.
• Steer clear of construction pollution. If you are doing major construction, you may have no recourse but to move out of the house for a couple of months. If you are building an extension, you may want to consider sealing off the construction area with plastic sheeting, in order to stop the pollutants from entering your living space. Ask your contractor to seal any pollutants whenever necessary; in general, if the pollutants can’t possibly escape into your environment, they pose very little danger to you.
• Ensure adequate upkeep and dryness in your home. Moisture accounts for more than half of the common problems found in your home. Regularly clear out gutters and leaders; keep a dehumidifier running; maintain and clean your air conditioning and heating systems; ensure that sewage and septic are properly installed and sealed.
• Maintaining a pollution-free environment is not a difficult or expensive proposition, but it is one that will pay you rich dividends. Plan your space and your materials with an eye towards environmental health; your lungs will be glad you did.