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Indoor Air Quality Concerns

Many people today are concerned about indoor air quality. The good news is that energy efficiency and indoor air quality usually go hand in hand. By taking steps to insure that your home is more efficient, many of the problems that impact indoor air quality are addressed. However, an energy rating is not a guarantee of indoor air quality.

What is a 'tight house' and what is too 'tight'?

People often hear the term 'tight house' and wonder what it means. Those of us who work with builders to construct energy-efficient homes are concerned with the 'tightness' of a home. In a nutshell, a 'tight' house loses less heat (or cooling) to the outdoors, making it more efficient. It doesn't pay to heat or cool the outdoors.

We determine how tight a house is by testing each home with a blower door test. In this test, we use a large fan to both quantify and locate leakage areas. In doing this, we assist the builder in sealing up undesirable leaks to the outside. All of this effort is designed to produce a more efficient, comfortable home.

There is an increasing interest in indoor air quality. People often ask us, "Doesn't a house need to breathe?" The answer is "no"; homes don't need to breathe, but people do. When we seal a home, making it more efficient and comfortable, we don't want to sacrifice indoor air quality. Sealing off air leaks helps us ensure that the air you breathe does not come from unwanted places. The goal is to control the air you breathe. Many homes built in Colorado today rely on the wind to provide ventilation air; these may be the drafts you have felt in other homes.

By the standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), a home that is tighter than .35 ACH (air changes per hour) should have some form of mechanical ventilation. However, a home that is tighter than this standard is not necessarily unhealthy. There are many factors that must be considered to determine an appropriate ventilation level for a given home and its occupants.

Some factors that influence indoor air quality:

  • Smoking
  • "Vent-Free" fireplaces or stoves
  • Common household cleaning products
  • Hobbies
  • Cooking, bathing and laundry
  • Number of home occupants

Controlling these factors and maintaining your home properly are key parts of keeping the air in your home as clean as possible. If you know that you have an unusually high source of pollution (including moisture), you should consider additional steps to maintain the quality of the air in your home.

Three Steps to Improving Indoor Air Quality