Sensitivity to air quality issues, including allergens and "stale air", varies greatly from person to person.
I've always thought, well if it's environmental, we would ALL experience issues, or some of us.
Moisture control and ventilation are two basic air quality issues. Ideally, indoor humidity should be kept under 55% and ventilation should be good.
Depending on where you live and the construction of your house, it may not be possible to fully address all issues at a reasonable cost.
A typical problem in many areas is moisture entering through a concrete slab which wasn’t poured on top of a vapor barrier. The slab then acts like a sponge and will just transfer outside moisture into the house. Ideally, the slab should be above grade and there should a moisture barrier. Basements have a similar problem, there is often no adequate moisture barrier. Good products supposedly exist for waterproofing underground walls, but construction workers very often do not apply them correctly.
Another typical problem is passive ventilation. Where there is no mechanical ventilation, you’re relying on the air pressure differential between opposite sides of your house (=wind) to force air into the house through air leaks on one side, and back out of the house through air leaks on the other side. If there is no air movement, you have no ventilation. If your house is very “tight”, you have little ventilation even when it’s windy outside. In both cases, CO2, humidity, and other contaminants are allowed to build up inside the house rather than being forced out. (Humidity sources include people's breath and combustion biproducts)
I suggest that you purchase your own CO2 monitor and humidity gauge, and experiment with them around your house. It will be eye-opening. High CO2 means low O2.
The CO2 monitor will give wildly different readings depending on time and specific location in the house, on the number of people present and on the quality of ventilation. It is not uncommon, in a poorly ventilated bedroom, to have a satisfactory CO2 reading just before bedtime, and to have the excess-CO2 alarm go off before the next morning due simply to the CO2 generated by two sleeping occupants.
Use your own brain first. Consultants vary greatly in quality, knowledge and conflicts of interest.
Joe Lstiburek has written extensively on air quality, communicates clearly and is very knowledgeable. I can recommend his writings.
I wish you best of luck.
Statistics: Posted by LFS1234 — Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:10 pm — Replies 12 — Views 953