3 Odors That are Hazardous to Your Health

Posted by Andre & Erika Lacroix on
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3 Odors That are Hazardous to Your Health

Every home has a smell. Many of us try to ensure our homes smell fresh by keeping them clean and using air fresheners and scent diffusers. However, sometimes odors in the home are much more than simple odors. They can be an indication of hazards in your home that could cause a health problem. These odors are an indication of poor indoor air quality and should be addressed as soon as possible.

1. Paint smells

The smell of fresh paint can be exhilarating for some people. However, this odor is an indication of poor indoor air quality and could affect your health in the long term if not addressed. The odor is a result of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air as the paint dries. VOCs have been linkedindoor-air-quality-ez-breathe-1 to the development of various forms of cancer.

It is important to ensure proper ventilation in your home while painting. Be sure to leave the windows and doors open. Proper ventilation is important even when only a small area has been painted.

2. Musty smells

Musty or dusty smells are common in humid environments such as kitchens, basements, bathrooms, and even in cupboards that aren’t open often. This odor is often an indication of a mold or mildew infestation. Mold and mildew are hazardous to human health. Mold spores are distributed in the air and can cause severe allergies as well as respiratory problems. Black mold is especially hazardous to your health.

If you notice a musty smell, it is important to contact a mold remediation contractor to have your home inspected as soon as possible. Invest in mold remediation to get rid of mold and address the issues that caused the infestation in the first place. These may include leaky pipes or poorindoor-air-quality-ez-breathe-2 circulation in your home leading to the accumulation of moisture.

3. Pickle odors

Does your home have a strong pickle odor? This may be an indication of formaldehyde in the air. Formaldehyde is present in many products used in the manufacture of household products, such as disinfectants, resins, fixatives, preservatives, and adhesives. Formaldehyde is therefore, present in building and flooding products, paneling, carpeting, pressed wood furniture, upholstery, and many other products around the home.

Formaldehyde is a VOC and is considered carcinogenic. It is important to ensure that your home is well ventilated to reduce exposure to this carcinogen.

Investing in an EZ breathe whole home ventilation system will help to improve indoor air quality and reduce your exposure to hazards to your health.

Contact the Professionals at EZ Breathe Today! 866-822-7328

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.