A Whole and Healthy Home.
Most people spend at least half of every day inside their homes. A healthy, safe, affordable, and accessible home supports their basic needs and protects them from illness and injury. Historically, a home’s main purpose has been to provide people with such basics as walls to keep out animals and a roof to keep out rain. As health knowledge increases, people are learning ways to improve their homes but need to also consider their health when it comes to their living spaces. Unhealthy housing conditions may seem like cosmetic problems. But hazards can lurk where you least expect them: peeling paint can contain lead or other chemicals that can be incorporated into the body, too much moisture can result in mold, and clutter can shelter insects and rodents. Some deadly hazards are invisible, such as carbon monoxide and radon.
A home is a system – to have a healthy home and keep it healthy, pay attention to the whole home. Solutions to housing problems are interconnected; one fix can help with more than one problem. Here are some examples:
• Preventing moisture can keep out pests and keep paint intact.
• Ventilating well can get rid of poisons, keep moisture down, and bring in fresh air.
• Installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space can keep out radon and prevent moisture.
• Replacing old windows can reduce lead-based paint, save energy, and improve ventilation.
• Installing vent systems that vent outside and not recirculate air inside the house such as cooking hoods, bathroom vent fans, and dryer vents controls humidity and moisture in house, eliminates particles such as smoke and lint, allows for fresh air to refresh house.
• Regularly checking the furnace system keeps particulates from being dispersed throughout home by changing filters, installing carbon monoxide detectors to detect is incomplete combustion of furnace is occurring.
Maintaining your living space will improve your health. Besides maintenance, colors and scents that are used the house can also affect your health and moods.
-Neal Hauschild. Owner & Founder of Nth Degree.
Nth Degree Home. Nth Degree Realty.
