Simple things to help improve your indoor air quality: Part 2
Indoor air quality is an important topic all year long – not just during winter when we’re spending more time indoors. Today we continue our series on simple things you can do
Simple things to help improve your indoor air quality: Part 2
Indoor air quality is an important topic all year long – not just during winter when we’re spending more time indoors. Today we continue our series on simple things you can do to improve your indoor air quality, which we started back in March.
In part 1, we told you that indoor air quality should be approached with four principles in mind: Elimination, reduction, ventilation and filtration. Part 1 focused on elimination and reduction. Today we are going to address ventilation, and more specifically, spot ventilation.
Spot ventilation, or point-source ventilation, exhausts air at the origin of the pollution. This typically means using a simple fan to exhaust water vapor and cooking byproducts, which include smoke and combustion gases from a gas cook-top or range. Water vapor also comes from bathrooms, pets, our own respiration and perspiration, and plants. And yes – water is considered an indoor pollutant, especially when vapor accumulates. It can condense and collect on drywall, wood and other materials that are susceptible to moisture damage. And if these materials remain damp, it creates the conditions for mold to thrive. The good news is that controlling moisture in kitchens and bathrooms is easy and inexpensive to do.
Bathrooms are among the greatest indoor sources of water vapor. One very inexpensive way to help control bathroom moisture is to use a bath squeegee. When you’re done bathing, squeegee off all shower or tub surfaces, including the tub or shower pan area. This substantially eliminates the water that would otherwise evaporate into the room. Eliminating water at the source is always easier and more efficient than removing it with ventilation.
Keeping your bathroom dry using ventilation is also fairly simple and inexpensive. Although newly constructed homes automatically have bathroom fans installed, older homes may