How to make our indoor air healthier

Is your home’s indoor air unhealthy?

We usually think of air pollution as outdoors coming from a power plant or vehicle emissions,
but the air inside our home can be 2-5 times more unhealthy leading to allergies and asthma.
Here you will find resources to improve your indoor air quality (IAQ) and explore:

- How does the air in my home become unhealthy? How will unhealthy air affect me?

- How can I test to find out what indoor air quality problems may be in my home?

- What are indoor allergy triggers? How can I make my indoor air healthier?

Join in and share your experiences. We all want to breathe easier and become healthier.

Indoor Air Quality

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Radon 8

11 years ago Karen Wintress

Radon can be a silent killer!

The US EPA estimates that exposure to elevated levels of radon in our homes causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year in the US. Of these deaths, about 2,900 happen to people who have never smoked. While the video Read More →

Indoor air quality improved by a spider plant.

Indoor Air Quality 11

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Indoor air quality improved by a spider plant.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. NASA researched ways to clean air in space stations, and contacted Dr. Wolverton, an environmental engineer, to help study air-filtering plants. In addition to absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen as all plants do, there were several Read More →

Could VOCs in my mattress be making me sick?

VOC 9

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Could VOCs in my mattress be making me sick?

ALERT! Here’s what happened. Caryn shared her story online. When she purchased a new mattress, the salesperson told her that it might have a slight odor for a couple of days. When it was delivered, she said “it had Read More →

VOC 9

12 years ago Karen Wintress

The smell of nail polish is from VOCs.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. Recently I was dozing on a cross-country flight from Philadelphia to Portland when a strong odor woke me up and made me gag. Passengers throughout the plane were coughing and looking around. A woman across Read More →

Restore healthy indoor air after flooding.

Mold 3

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Restore healthy indoor air after flooding.

ALERT! Here's what happened. When my friend Martha, of Dallas, Texas, came home exhausted after a long weekend away, she opened the kitchen door and found herself ankle deep in water. Her home was flooded. It hadn’t even Read More →

Indoor Air Quality 11

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Mold can come from a hidden leak.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. Recently I was staying in a friend’s rental property for a couple months during the summer. I started having an intermittent leak in the kitchen from the ceiling. We finally discovered that every time Read More →

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