Weatherization
and Indoor Air Quality by Rick Kupecki
Any
IAQ Inspector, Health Department or Hygienist can bring an air sampler
or other testing device to your home and find what kinds of nasty
contaminants have found a way inside.
They can provide names for the mycotoxins, nasty gasses and
unhealthy chemicals that are present.
However, the standard cure they offer is often as bad as the
disease – expensive abatement procedures, evacuation or even
condemnation.
Many
of my client’s watched the story on television about the family in the
half million-dollar plus mansion with all the expensive antiques that
were forced to leave everything and flee for their lives due to
Stachybotrys mold infestation.
The program did a fine job of reporting the devastating effects
that the mold had on the health of the family members, but by the end
offered no solutions other than the unbelievable prognosis that the home
and all it’s contents had to be pushed into a big hole and buried to
solve the problem.
The
report intended to enlighten us that something dangerous might exist in
our family’s indoor air. Unfortunately,
as in most of these reports, all that was accomplished was to scare even
more people into abatement panic and IAQ denial.
“We don’t want to know if anything is wrong with our home
otherwise we might lose everything.”
Or in other words, “What we don’t know won’t hurt us, we
hope.”
If
you have moisture problems in or under your home and have begun to smell
mildew or see black stuff growing on walls, etc. set aside the fears
that these stories have instilled in you and get busy.
This is what I want you to do before you let someone push your
house into a big hole:
1.
Get in contact with an inspector that has been trained as a
Department of Energy Weatherization Inspector.
They must be able to perform a “Blower Door Test” on your
home to find the air and moisture paths that most likely initiated
your home's problem. Make sure the inspector is convinced that
“Whole House Building Science” will provide the information needed
to determine solution options.
2.
The above inspector’s report should include some of the
following terms and procedures to demonstrate their expertise. They
must offer a complete check of your combustion appliances including
condition and safe operation. They
must be able to calculate how many air changes per hour (ACH) your
home has now and how many you should have, and they should determine
your home’s building tightness limit.
3.
They need to be able to explain “Stack Effect, Wind Effect
and Systems Effect,” and how these influences have contributed to
the conditions in your home.
4.
They should provide a work write-up that you can give to an
insulation or furnace contractor that details specific repairs needed
to improve your indoor air, comfort and energy efficiency.
5.
After the contractors finish their work the inspector should
return and do another blower door test to measure improvements and
check to see that the work contracted was done properly.
If
you have any questions about the inspection protocol your inspector
offers, you can e-mail AIRBRAINS and we’ll help as best we can.
By the way, if you are low-income or have a disabled child or are
on certain kinds of government assistance yourself, you would probably
qualify to receive the above inspection and repairs free of charge
through your State’s Weatherization Assistance Program.
Even some rental units qualify with the landlord’s permission.
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