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Maintaining A Healthy Home

Maintaining a healthy home for you and your family is incredibly important. Having a healthy home can impact not only your physical health but also your mental and emotional health! Below are some quick guidelines for helping create and maintain a healthy home.

Indoor Air Quality

Quick Facts

  • You might not be able to tell the air quality of your home just by smell or smoke, there are some pollutants that can go unseen but can still negatively affect your health.

  • Indoor air quality can make asthma and allergies worse 

  • Carbon monoxide can be deadly and comes from broken appliances that burn gas, oil, or wood 

  • Tobacco smoke is a form of air pollution that negatively impacts your home’s air quality

  • Mold grows in wet or damp places and can cause health problems. 

  • If you or a family member seem to constantly be in poor health and it is worse at home you should check to see if you have poor indoor air quality.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself

  • Have you ever tested your home for radon? 

  • Do some areas of your home smell damp or musty? 

  • Does anyone in your family have asthma or allergies? Does a family member notice burning eyes, coughing, or sneezing that happens most often while at home? 

  • Does someone smoke in your home? 

  • Do your bathroom and kitchen have exhaust fans- do you use them?

Steps To Maintaining Healthy Air

  •  Test your home for radon

  • Do not smoke in your home and never smoke near children

  • Open windows or use fans when using strong chemicals

  • Keep pets out of bedrooms and living areas

  • Replace your air filters regularly

Mold and Moisture

Quick Facts

  • Mold grows on wet and damp surfaces

  • It is often gray or black but can also be white, orange, or green

  • Long-term exposure to mold can cause health issues 

  • Common places you might find mold

    • Bathrooms, especially around shower or tub 

    • Wet or damp spaces like basements or crawl spaces

    • Closets

    • In your air conditioning

    • Under wallpaper or carpet

What to do

  • Use a dehumidifier or air conditioner to dry out damp areas

  • Run a fan vented to the outside when cooking

  • Check the relative humidity in your home

  • Keep surfaces clean

  • Check to make sure your gutters are working

Worker sanding ceiling on stilts

Carbon Monoxide

Quick Facts

  • You cannot see, taste, feel or smell carbon monoxide

  • Carbon Monoxide comes from fuel-burning appliances that produce heat that are not working properly

  • Common sources of carbon monoxide

    • Gas and oil furnaces, boilers, and water heaters

    • Gas appliances like ovens, stoves, and dryers

    • Gas and charcoal grills

    • Cars, trucks, campers, tractors, etc

    • Tobacco smoke

  • Carbon Monoxide can be deadly, even low levels can hurt your brain

Signs of CO Poisoning

  • Headache 

  • Nausea

  • Vomiting

  • Dizziness and confusion

  • Tiredness, weakness, and sleepiness

  • Tightness in chest

  • Trouble breathing

  • Changes in senses of smell, hearing, touch, taste, and sight

What to do

  • Never use charcoal grill or run engines inside your home, garage or basement

  • Never warm up a vehicle inside the garage

  • Have a heating contractor check your furnace, chimneys, and other sources every fall

  • Provide good ventilation for all healing appliances

  • Get a carbon monoxide monitor

Lead

Quick Facts

  • Lead poisoning is a serious health threat for children in and around the home

  • A blood test is the only way to know if your child is being exposed to let

  • Common places where there might be lead

    • Paint and windowsills

    • Dust and chips of lead-based paint around the home 

    • The soil around your house

    • Pipes and drinking water

  • You are more likely to be exposed to lead if you have an older home. Homes built before 1950 are most likely to have lead in paint and water pipes.

Wall Demolition

What to do

  • Have your child tested for lead

  • Test your home and water for lead

  • Wash toys weekly

  • Routinely wipe down windowsills, floors,and other surfaces

  • Feed children a healthy diet rich in vitamin C, calcium and iron as this can help reduce lead poisoning

Further Information

*The above information was gathered from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's report on Healthy Homes. The full report is linked below.

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