How to Weatherize Your Home without Sacrificing Air Quality
With heating bills expected to be even higher than last year’s, it’s important to weatherize your home to conserve energy – but it’s also important to maintain healthy indoor air quality once you seal up your house.
Even a well-insulated home may contain several gaps and cracks that allow heat to escape. Place weather-stripping around doors and windows, and seal any gaps in building materials with caulking.
You can also save money on your heating bill by using space heaters. There’s no need to heat your whole house if you spend most of your time in one or two rooms!
The problem with weatherizing a home is that the energy-efficient tight seals trap allergens, germs, and pollutants indoors. Poor indoor air quality can aggravate allergies and asthma, decrease lung function, and even contribute to heart disease.
To keep your air healthy this winter, don’t burn anything indoors – from cigarettes to firewood. Replace your furnace filters on time. Invest in a HEPA air purifier to eliminate allergens and pollutants (especially if you’re going to smoke or burn fuel indoors). A HEPA vacuum cleaner will also improve indoor air quality.
You should also install a combination gas detector to alert you about high levels of carbon monoxide, methane, or propane in the air; these dangerous gases lead to many injuries and deaths each winter.
