Better Air Quality For Your Home

Posted by Andre & Erika Lacroix on
Indoor Air Quality | New York, NY | EZ Breathe Ventilation System

Better Air Quality For Your Home

Jul 3, 2012 by Jaclyn Fitzgerald

 

family

 

Our homes are our sanctuary so we want to know that we are safe and healthy inside. An important part of that is our indoor air quality, especially since we spend hours at a time relaxing and playing in the home! Thankfully, there are plenty of things that you can do to ensure that you have the highest quality healthy and fresh air inside your home. Here are just a few of them. For more hints and tips for improving your indoor air, speak with a local ventilation specialist.

See how you can have better air quality with the EZ Breathe System.

Ventilate!

This may sound simple but it’s actually key to improving your indoor air quality. Opening doors and windows or installing a ventilation system will let fresh, clean air into the home and flush out all those indoor pollutants such as fumes from cleaning products, gases emitted from paint/carpet/etc (these are called VOCs), carbon dioxide, airborne allergens, smoke and odours from cooking and so on. Of course, you don’t always want to ventilate your home! An excellent example of when to keep the doors and windows closed is when the outdoor air is worse than inside (smoky, lots of cars outside, etc).

Choosy Healthy Paints and Finishes

As anyone will tell you, it can be headache inducing or worse to live in a home that’s being painted, or that is having the floor stained or finished, thanks to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contained within standard paints and finishes. The solution here is to look for natural paint or paints and finishes that are classified as being low fume or low VOC. If this isn’t possible, try not to live in your home for the first few days after painting or finishing and be sure to air it out as much as possible.

Be Cautious of Your Cleaning Products

One of the biggest sources for indoor air pollutants is actually the cleaning products that you use. Just think of what an average home uses – disinfectants, detergents, deodorisers, waxes, polishes, and cleaning agents and so on. These all emit fumes and harmful chemicals that can upset the health of the people living inside. At an absolute minimum, you should ensure that your windows and doors are wide open to let the fumes dissipate. Ideally though, you will use low fume or low VOC alternatives or even better, go natural with your cleaning products, such as using vinegar and bi carb. It’s not much more work at all, and they clean just as well if not better than the commercial alternatives!

Get Rid of Mould and Mildew

A huge health hazard in the home is the presence of mould and mildew, which especially loves wet, dark areas. Mould and mildew can cause respiratory problems and other illnesses and it also just plain looks terrible. Get rid of it and you may find that you all perk up instantly! Use a solution of bleach and water or mould killer or for a natural alternative, clove oil works well. To stop the mould coming back, be sure to address the moisture issues that cause it to grow in the first place.

Keep Track of Pets

Pets are part of the family so it’s only natural that they spend time indoors! However, you may find that they’re soon shedding all over everything, and generally leaving a mess. Use a good vacuum cleaner to pick up all the fluff and hair and to remove dander (a potential allergen) from carpets and upholstery. Also make sure to bathe your pets regularly and to groom them outside as much as possible.

Read more: http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/article/better_air_quality_for_your_home#ixzz25nNvWhjb

Written by Andre & Erika Lacroix

We are a 2nd generation family owned and operated business that has been working in homes with basements and crawl spaces for over 40 years.  We have been waterproofing and sealing about 500 foundations a month during that time as the largest Waterproofing contractor in the Midwest with 15 locations servicing 8 states.

20 years ago we would seal a foundation and recommend a standard dehumidifier to address the additional water vapor (humidity in the air) inherently found in below grade environments, such as basements and crawlspaces.  Back then, dehumidifiers were the industry standard to help with this problem. However, many of our customers were looking to us as the “foundation expert”, asking…

“What else do you have? I really am not getting results with this messy, expensive dehumidifier. My foundation is dry, walls are dry, floor is dry, so why does it still smell and feel like a basement?” 

We needed to find something better. Our company’s core values include offering world class customer service to every customer, every time.   So, we challenged our Research and Development department to find a real solution for our customers to combat not only the moisture, but also the odors, pollutants and unhealthy environment our customers were concerned about. We found, tested and installed a ventilation product for a period of three years. We private labeled that product as the EZ Breathe Ventilation System. The feedback in those first three years from our customers, as well as our installation crews, did not live up to the standard of quality to be included in our waterproofing process that offered a life time warranty. Once again, we needed something better.

We valued not only the results, but what we were learning from our customers. So, we went back to the drawing board, took matters into our own hands and made quality improvements to that first generation ventilation unit.

Our own EZ Breathe Ventilation System was born…reengineered, redesigned and much improved! We quickly learned that our crews were thrilled with the quality improvements, ease of operation and installation, but more importantly, our waterproofing customers loved the new, improved EZ Breathe unit as well.

Their feedback told us the air in their basements and crawlspaces felt better, but their entire home was benefiting from their EZ Breathe as well. We received countless letters thanking us because their whole house felt different, less odors, fresher air upstairs too, family members were feeling better, needing less allergy medicine, husbands were no longer snoring, children were no longer coughing as much, the home and it’s family were living healthier lives!

It was time for us to move beyond simply offering this innovative technology to just our waterproofing customers. Our passion and commitment to helping people improve their indoor air environments is what drove us to incorporate EZ Breathe Ventilation Systems as an independent company in 2003. We strongly believe that homeowners everywhere deserve a healthy indoor air quality.

We have spent the last 20 years dedicated to learning about the relationship between our home and our health; indoor air quality, the home as a system, building science and how it relates to indoor air quality as well as the challenges our modern day practices pose to the quality of air we breathe in our homes.