indoor air quality

1      Plant a shade tree. A tree absorbs carbon dioxide, improves air quality, and controls flooding by minimizing runoff and topsoil loss. If located right it can offer free air conditioning on a sunny day for you and your home. 2      Switch all your light bulbs to LEDs (or at...

The thermal envelope is the barrier used to protect your interior environment from heat transfer from inside to outside. It may be portions of the exterior envelope and portions of interior elements. The effectiveness of this barrier is dependent on insulation levels, air...

Design matters. If you are building a new home, proper planning and design will provide you with the most energy-efficient, durable, and healthy home. There are many things that are done in new home construction that are considered standard, that might or might not be healthy,...

If your home has a crawl space with plastic laying loosely on the floor and insulation above your head inside the floor joists – you are wasting energy, have poor indoor-air-quality, and could be growing mold. In our mixed-humid climate, we should seal and condition our...

Radon is estimated to cause thousands of lung cancer deaths in the U.S. each year. The EPA recommends that you test your home for radon and install a mitigation system if the level is 4 picocuries per liter or higher. Radon levels less than 4 pCi/L still pose a risk, and in many...

As we learn more about building science homes are being built tighter through good construction details. This is a GOOD thing. The new worry is that many products used in homes off gas chemicals known in the industry at Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s). These chemicals...

Do you have you have your clothes dry cleaned? What about the carpet in your home? What chemicals are used in those processes? Where do those chemicals go after the cleaning? The air inside a home can be as much as 5 x’s as toxic as the air outside. Is your home making you...

I was at a local hardware store purchasing paint supplies last week. The elderly woman behind me in line (that was very interested in my reasons for purchasing the items) asked why I did not buy any paint. I told her that I wanted to use a paint that had No-VOC’s in the...

I believe that as an architect I have an ethical duty to design solutions that are energy efficient, durable, and healthy. It is my job to understand the materials that are available in the market today, know how to use the materials effectively, and to know the impacts on indoor...

  As we build our homes tighter and tighter, we are trapping water vapor and destroying our indoor air quality. We produce humidity living in the home, cooking, washing clothes, and burning wood. With all these sources of water, not to mention taking showers, where does the...