Helping to combat airborne allergies?
Created Sep 12 2007 by W., M.
The air we breathe indoors may represent a bigger pollution
problem than outdoor air pollution. With people spending up to 90 percent of
their time indoors, the quantity and severity of health problems related to
indoor air quality has probably
increased over the last 10 years.
EPA compared the risks
of 20 different environmental problems and found that indoor air pollution posed
the greatest health risk, though it had the least amount of federal money
dedicated to it.
Forced air heating systems - unless equipped with good and well
maintained - preferably HEPA class filters - can stir all this
dust, pollens and who
knows what else.
As a result air
quality can be and often is compromised. We are not
making any misleading health claims here. We are trying to make the point that
radiant floor heating WILL NOT contribute to worsening indoor air quality in
today's houses.
Additionally cold or warm tiled floors are much easier to
clean and keep up than carpets of even the best quality.
The severity of indoor air pollution is aggravated by the fact
that new buildings are being built more tightly to save money spent on heating
and cooling. Because these tightly sealed, more energy efficient buildings
prevent the exchange of outside/inside air, they reduce the amount of fresh air
in a building. At the same time, people are using more and more irritating
products such as hair sprays, pesticides and cleaning detergents. The
combination of a lack of ventilation and heavy use of such materials can be
dangerous.
If you have:
-Allergy or Asthma problems.
-Seasonal allergy
to plant spores or pollen.
-Allergy to pet hair (bird feather), dander
or odors.
-Mold or mildew problems (basement, recroom).
-Plasticized wallpaper.
-Dust mites problems.
-Smoke problems from a fireplace, wood burning or gas stove.
-A hard smoker in your home or workplace.
-A furniture or
flooring made of pressed wood panels.
-Lots of treated draperies or
carpeting in your home.
...or if you are:
-Bothered by exhaust or fumes seeping into your home
or
apartment from attached garage, nearby business
or
commerce or simply a busy street nearby.
-Bothered by gasoline, kerosene, oils fumes coming from the
storage or garage.
-Have asbestos
insulation or pipes cladding.
-Auto exhaust gases and carbon monoxide
from the garage or
nearby traffic flow.
-Live in the area of
frequent forest fires.
-Worried about the radon problems.
Then:
Standard furnace forced hot air heating system
(without good and well maintained HEPA filters) could not
be best for you!
Plant spores and pollen are airborne solid
particles (allergens) ranging from 1 to 10 microns in size. Dog and cat hair and
dander (especially cat dander) are very strong allergens highly
prone to cause the allergic reaction. It ranges form 0.5 to tens of microns in
size. Mold and mildew are the common source of
very strong airborne allergens - mold and mildew spores. They range in size from
1.0 to 10 microns. Smoke from open fireplace or wood stove can
produce a complex of air contaminants and pollutants such as fly ash,
carcinogenic tar, combustion by-product like carbon monoxide and nitrogen
oxides. The solid particles form a fireplace or wood stove can range from 0.1 to
few microns in size. The plasticized wall paper used for wall covering can
produce off gassing (PVC) and emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).
Wood panels or floor panels are often
manufactured with formaldehyde. So, the furniture or flooring made of pressed
wood panels can be the source of formaldehyde. Carpeting and
fabrics (draperies) are usually treated with formaldehyde,
stain and fire retardants.
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