1). Indoor Air Quality:

The benefits of protecting indoor air quality are significant. Improved indoor air quality can have positive effects on human health, productivity, and comfort. People spend a large portion of their time inside homes and offices. This makes indoor air quality very important to health. Harmful gasses and particles can compromise indoor air quality. Ensuring that combustion sources and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment are working properly is a great place to start. Ensuring that new furnishings, carpets, and cabinetry contain safe, low-emitting materials helps protect the quality of air in homes and commercial buildings. Taking a careful look at cleaning and maintenance products also helps reduce the likelihood of unintentionally compromising indoor air quality.

Improving ventilation (increasing the amount of outdoor air coming in) can significantly reduce the concentration of indoor air pollutants. Air cleaners can remove particles from air, but may not be equipped to reduce the amount of gaseous pollutants in air. Another method for improving the quality of indoor air is source control which removes individual sources of pollutants. There are a variety of means to help improve indoor air quality.

Click here for EPA Indoor Air Quality information

2). Mold Mitigation:

Molds occur naturally in our environment. They reproduce by means of tiny spores. When a person touches or inhales mold or mold spores, sensitive individuals may have an allergic reaction. The key to mold control is moisture control, as mold spores cannot reproduce without moisture or water. Controlling moisture reduces the threat of mold problems. Where mold is already a problem, you must clean it up. Qualified mold mitigation contractors can be very helpful in cleaning up mold problems and preventing costly damage and/or adverse health reactions.

When it comes to controlling moisture and eliminating mold growth in homes, cost savings are measured in terms of health benefits and preventing damage to your home and furnishings. Mold eventually destroys things it grows on. Eliminating mold growth saves money and avoids potential health problems associated with toxic molds and/or allergic reactions to all types of mold.

Click here for EPA Mold Resource information

3). Radon:

Health benefits can accrue from designing and building features that effectively remove radon from your home. Radon is a colorless, tasteless, odorless radioactive gas that can seep into your basement or the lowest livable space in the home from surrounding soil. Decomposition products attach to very small particles in the air and these can be breathed deeply into the lungs, potentially resulting in serious health consequences. National statistics indicate that one in fifteen homes in the U.S. have unacceptable levels of radon.

The only way to know whether your house has unacceptable levels of radon is to have the lowest livable space in the home tested. You may test yourself using kits that are available at home supply stores or seek professional assistance. If radon occurs as a result of out gassing from the soil, the most common reason, this can be readily mitigated with ventilation for roughly $1,000. Removal technology is simple and straightforward. It involves blocking points of entry into the lowest livable space in the home and venting areas to the outside using an active circulation system to exhaust basement air.  In a few rare cases, it has been discovered that foundations were made of radioactive mine tailings or other waste materials. 

Click here for EPA Radon information