Greater Columbia, Chapin, Irmo, Lexington and Lake Murray.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Clean Air in Your Home

How's the air in YOUR home?
Research has found that in homes across America, the quality of indoor air can be worse than outdoor air. Problems can arise from moisture, insects, pets, appliances, radon, materials used in household products and furnishings, smoke, and other sources. Effects range from minor annoyances to major health risks. Remedies include ventilation, cleaning, moisture control, inspections, and following manufacturers' directions when using appliances and products.
Changing AC & furnace air filters in your home is probably the easiest and most effective way to have clean air in your home. I see way too many dirty air filters in homes that I show to prospective home buyers. I highly recommend buying premium filters. Basic and inexpensive fiberglass filters should be changed every 1-2 months and premium filters can ususally be changed every 3 months. Do you know your filter size(s) and when was the last time you changed your filter?

Dirty Filters I've seen lately (I see plenty of this!)










The Coker's Change Filters Quarterly!











Radon is a significant contaminant that affects indoor air quality worldwide.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Radon is NOT typically a problem in central South Carolina (Lexington, Richland, Newberry, and Kershaw counties). However, The US EPA, Surgeon General, American Lung Association, American Medical Association, and National Safety Council recommend testing your home for radon because testing is the only way to know your home's radon levels.

Testing for radon is easy and inexpensive. You can do it yourself with a short-term test kit. These kits typcially include the lab analysis as part of the cost.

I did the testing in my Lexington County (SC) home this week. I ordered one kit from the National Safety Council and another kit (First Alert) from Amazon. Both kits arrived within about one week. The kits are less than $13 each and include analysis after the kit is mailed back. One kit was out for 2 nights and the other kit was out in my home for 3 nights. I mailed the kits back on Monday and Tuesday of this week and both had results posted online today (Thursday, September 24th). My results were 1.1 and 1.2 pCi/L. The Lexington County average test result from radon.com is 1.6 and the USA national average is 1.3. So my results were very low. A test result above 4.0 pCi/L would indicate a need for radon remediation. If the radon level in your home is between 2.0 and 4.0 pCi/L, the EPA recommends that you consider
correcting the problem in your home.


For more home clean air information, tips, and links, please view my NEW Home Clean Air website. It covers air filters, radon, mold, moisture, Home Tour potential problem areas, and much more.
NEXT Blog... Take a Myrtle Beach vacation (at a great price!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have some interesting ideas to share with you. In fact, there are 3 simple tips to explore.

1.1 Prepare early is one of the keys to saving on your family vacation. You have to start planning in advance. If you start your search in advance, you have a better chance to find a special offer that provides you with a budget family vacation package to a dream location. You will get lots of fun planning together as a whole family.

2. Choosing during the non-peak period is often the best bet. A holiday vacation during the non-peak period can be cheaper than peak periods. Travel agencies have special offers in May and September. It is much easier to plan a budget family beach vacation home during these 2 months. This period happens to be near the summer holidays.

3. Location flexibility is also one of the factors to a budget family vacation. Some airline companies often have promotion for specific vacation spots. Although they don't fly anywhere, if you happen to enjoy one of their vacation destinations, you will get cheaper airplane tickets for your budget family vacation.

Anonymous said...

well clean air is very important