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.

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Could VOCs in my mattress be making me sick?

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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 →

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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.

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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 →

Many products we bring home contain VOCs.

Indoor Air Quality 11

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Many products we bring home contain VOCs.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. Recently I received an email about WD-40 entitled “The main ingredient in WD-40 GOTTTA READ”. The message included a list of over 40 ways that you could use the product and concluded with P.S. Read More →

Indoor air quality can be unhealthy in hotels.

Indoor Air Quality 11

12 years ago Karen Wintress

Indoor air quality can be unhealthy in hotels.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. This is a tale of two hotels. It was the best of stays and it was the worst of stays. This summer I stayed in a new, exceedingly clean hotel in Wake Read More →

Indoor Air Quality 11

13 years ago Karen Wintress

Plants can purify the air in our home.

ALERT! Here’s what happened. This is actually a cautionary tale of what could happen. Some house plants are known to filter impurities such as formaldehyde out of indoor air. But not all plants can serve as air filters, and Read More →