Reduce Chemical Contaminants In Your Home
How to Reduce Chemical Contaminants in Your Home
Our homes can contain many contaminants. Some come from living organisms and are grouped as biological contaminants, for example, bacteria, viruses, dust mites, animal dander and molds. Other contaminants, which are not associated with living organisms, are classified as chemical contaminants. Contaminants, whether biological or chemical, can be in the form of particles (e.g. dust, fibres) or gases. Good indoor air quality is achieved when there are very low levels of contaminants. This document focuses on reducing your exposure to chemical contaminants in the home. Other publications by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) can provide you with additional information.
Most people assume that contaminants can be removed by filtration. Typical residential furnace filters are designed to filter particles, not gases. Gases can be filtered only by special filter media, such as activated charcoal or activated alumina. These filter media require special installation and, like furnace filters, must be replaced frequently. Filtration as a means of removing airborne contaminants throughout the house is inefficient. The most effective way to remove chemical contaminants, whether particles or gases, is to stop or capture them at the source before they are dispersed over a large area. This means getting rid of the sources, and when thi s is not possible, isolating or encapsulating them.
Some pollutants are easier to eliminate than others. Those that you bring into your home are easier to remove than those that originate from the materials used to build your house.
Effects on your health
The health effects of some chemicals, including many used in the workplace, are well known. Tolerable concentrations for short-term exposure (up to one hour) and long-term exposure (eight hours) to these chemicals have been set by health agencies, such as the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) and provincial departments of labour. However, occupational exposure levels cannot be applied to homes, since concentration levels in the workplace are typically greater than those found in a home. Furthermore, populations affected in the home include more vulnerable individuals who may never leave the environment, in contrast to the normal eight hours per day for occupational exposure.
In 1987, Canada’s Federal-Provincial Advisory Committee on Environmental and Occupational Health published residential exposure guidelines for a number of substances, including formaldehyde (reviewed in 2006), carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide and radon (reviewed in 2007).
The current document focuses on the reduction of exposure to chemical contaminants at home, but does not emphasize the measurement of pollutant concentrations. Since it is generally known that the health impact of a substance increases with the exposure dose, reducing concentrations will make adverse health effects less likely.
Should the air in your home be tested for chemical contaminants?
For some chemicals, measurement of concentrations is recommended.
Carbon monoxide
Immediate steps must be taken to protect occupants as soon as the presence of carbon monoxide is suspected in a home. Open a window or get out of the house. For a more long-term solution, you may want to install a sensor to monitor carbon monoxide levels.
Radon
Adverse health effects normally come from long-term exposure and do not reflect acute symptoms. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is formed from the breakdown of uranium in the ground. Radon can escape from the ground into homes and accumulate to high levels, often in the lower levels of the home such as basements. All homes should be tested for radon to be sure the exposure level is below the Canadian guideline of 200 Bq/m3. You can have someone do the radon test for you, or you can purchase a testing kit which you subsequently send to a laboratory for analysis. Measuring over a long period is more likely to give representative results than short-term measurements. It is not recommended that homeowners test for other chemicals. While there are specific tests for gases like formaldehyde, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and sulphur dioxide, such tests are rarely needed.
Furthermore, a test for a particular chemical is limited to that contaminant alone. For example, a particular analytical method to sample the air for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may reveal gaseous contaminants, but it will not show if formaldehyde is present. VOC test results would list chemicals in the air originating from many sources. Though the chemical emissions from different materials continue to be a subject of research, the sources of the chemicals are difficult to determine without additional testing of the air in various locations or testing of different samples of materials in the house for comparison. So other than for research purposes, it is generally not recommended that homeowners have their houses tested for chemical contaminants.
Professional help
You may be interested in hiring a professional to investigate indoor air problems in your home. A trained Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) investigator will not only determine whether the concern in your home is due to chemical contaminants or mold, but will also recommend solutions to correct the problems. Consult the Yellow PagesTM of your phone book under Indoor Air Quality, Consultants. Before you hire an investigator, ask about the person’s training or procedure he or she follows.
A practical approach
The best way for you to reduce chemical contaminants in your home is to screen the substances you bring into your home and to select building materials carefully when you are building or renovating.
Take an inventory of the products and materials used in the home and avoid or minimize those known to have chemical emissions (also called off-gassing). First, you must know what the product is made of and if it releases chemical emissions. Unfortunately, you can expect only a few products—such as glass, ceramic tile, metal, stone and other hard and inert materials—not to release any emissions. You will have to look at books, magazines or websites that provide reliable information about them, or consult individuals who have the training to understand the materials.
If you intend to use a product you know nothing about, you must first obtain a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for that product from the supplier or manufacturer. Many materials have an MSDS that can be downloaded from the Web. The next step is to learn how to read an MSDS.. It will tell you whether the product has hazardous ingredients. You may need further help to find out what the names of the chemicals signify or the hazard involved. At the very least, the health effects from exposure during their application would tell you the nature of the product and the precautions to follow. If these precautions appear daunting, you may decide to use another product. Unless it is in some way impaired, you can often use your sense of smell as a guide. But remember that while odour indicates the presence of emissions, the absence of odour does not rule out chemical contaminants. The concentration may be lower than you can detect.
Furthermore, some pollutants (like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and radon) have no odour.
The recommendations provided here will help you control known chemical emissions, hazardous ingredients or odours from typical products found in the home. The most important sources of chemical emissions are products that you use frequently and in large quantities, building materials inside your house that are present in large amounts or have large surface areas and new materials you bring into your house. Emissions from new materials generally decrease with time. Some products, such as paints, varnishes and glues, release emissions in the beginning, but these decline over time to low or non-detectable levels.
In addition, materials subjected to higher temperature (such as a carpet over a heated floor) and high moisture levels (for example, particleboard furniture in a humid place) can be important sources of chemical emissions.
Contact your REALTOR at Coldwell Banker Vantage Realty for more tips and advice on safety in your home.
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