Summer is officially here! It’s a great time of year for Canadians as most of us spend a good portion of our days complaining about cold weather. During the summertime, however, Canucks enjoy being outside. But that doesn’t mean an attention to the indoor air quality of our homes should be taken away. In fact, it’s vital to increase our commitment to improving the air in our homes.
High humidity usually creates condensation on the cool surfaces in your home.
When this takes place, it’s not uncommon to see pools of water in places where they usually don’t occur. Left alone, these little pools of water can generate the growth of mould which is certainly hazardous to our health. Something else to look out for is high ozone days.
“How do you know when ozone is high?” asks Reliance Home Comfort, “Environment Canada has a real-time map of the ozone levels across Canada on any given day. They also provide a UV Index Forecast for each major Canadian city so you can get an idea of what the levels will be tomorrow or the day after. If it’s raining or it feels very humid outside, those are other times to keep your windows closed.”
Naturally, the summer produces warmer temperatures.
As a result, many of us tend to crank up the air conditioning. While this may help to cool things down inside the home, it also spreads around dust particles and other debris that may have been accumulating throughout the year’s colder months. It’s vital that before you start using the A/C you clean its filters.
“Air-conditioning systems are always working to give your home that perfect temperature all year round,” acknowledges Petro.com, “But while they’re cycling through all that air, they’re filtering out some of those common air pollutants. Eventually, their air filters fill up and stop doing their job. Not only does that cause trouble for your indoor air quality, it also wears down your AC system, which can lead to costly repairs down the road.”
Is there any asbestos or lead paint in your home?
This is an important question to answer when considering the quality of the air inside of it. Homes that were built prior to the 1990s often contain asbestos materials for the purpose of insulation. Any disturbance of these materials can release asbestos fibres into the air presenting a major health hazard.
Canadian Living also reminds us that homes built before 1960 were often painted with lead paint, which is found in household dust. “Remove a paint chip to have it tested,” insists their website, “If you have lead, keep your home dust-free to protect against lead poisoning and hire an experienced contractor to sand or remove wall and ceiling materials contaminated with lead.”
Are you concerned about the presence of lead paint or asbestos in your home?
At Enviro-Works Inc., we proudly provide testing for lead paint. We provide lead content analysis to parts per million (ppm) detection limits. Paint suspected of being lead-based can be submitted and analyzed by atomic absorption. Sample types include paint and tiles, air filters and surface dust wipes. We also test for Bulk Asbestos. For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 780-457-4652 or email us at info@enviro-works.com.