What factors affect indoor air quality?

Today, indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important environmental consideration. Because we spend approximately 90 percent of our time indoors, we must do everything possible to improve the air we breathe. During the energy crisis of the '70s, Americans began to tightly close their workplaces and homes in order to conserve energy resources. Currently, many families have both parents working, with less cleaning time in the home. Ventilation and cleanliness play important parts in maintaining good air quality; although, the indoor environment is impacted by many factors. 

Among the factors that may impact the quality of the indoor air in your home is the air drawn from outside. Other factors may be tobacco smoke, radon, and cooking odors, as well as renovating and redecorating products, such as wallpaper, furniture and cabinetry, carpet, paints, varnishes, particle board, wood finishes, caulking, and adhesives. Interior products in the home have the potential to impact the indoor air because they emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. The quality of indoor air also involves cleaning materials, building materials, ducts transmitting heat and air conditioning, activities in the building, people, pets, and furnishings.

One must look at the whole picture. Cleaning products used in the home, as well as interior furnishings, should be low VOC emitters, with emissions, sometimes improperly called off gassing, that dissipate quickly. Scientific studies have demonstrated that new carpet is one of the lowest emitters of VOCs into the indoor environment and that these emissions dissipate very quickly. The low-level VOC emissions and the harmless odor from new carpet dissipate within the first 48 to 72 hours after installation. Carpet has not posed any health problems for millions of satisfied customers. Carpet is made primarily of the same innocuous materials found in clothing and other everyday fabrics; i.e., polyester, nylon, and olefin fibers, latex (synthetic rubber), and polypropylene (olefin) fabric backing.

Shaw Industries recommends that hot water extraction system, which research indicates provides the best capability for cleaning. This system is commonly referred to as "steam cleaning," although no steam is actually generated. The process consists of spraying a solution of water and detergent into the carpet pile and recovering the water and soil with a powerful vacuum into a holding tank. This can be done from a truck mounted unit outside the home with only the hose and wand brought inside or, where a truck mounted unit cannot reach, by a portable, self-contained system brought into the home.

• People (exhalation, body odors, diseases)
• Activities (work such as cleaning, using correction fluids, carbonless paper, pest control products, and personal activities such as wear fragrances and smoking) 
• Technology (photocopiers and laser printers) 
• Furnishings (furniture, draperies, floor coverings) 
• Finishes (paint, varnish, vinyl wall coverings) 
• Building materials (caulking compounds, adhesives, wood laminates) 
• Outdoor air quality 
• Inadequate or contaminated air handling units 
• Inadequate cleaning practices

Click here to read Carpet Cleaner or Exterminator? and to see a close up picture of a dust mite.

WASHINGTON -- If you're susceptible to asthma, a committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Washington, DC, has a simple recommendation: Regular cleaning of carpets and upholstered furniture.
      According to the committee, organized at the request of the US Environmental Protection Agency, strong evidence indicates that proteins shed by dust mites, cats and cockroaches can cause or aggravate asthma in susceptible individuals.
    To help prevent or control asthma, the committee recommends regular cleaning of carpets and  upholstered furniture, removal of pets and pests, the elimination of chemical pollutants, absolutely no smoking in the home and keeping indoor humidity as low as possible.
     

According ot the committee, secondhand smoke aggravates asthma in preschool children; a relationship that is less clear in older children. The committee analyzed dozens of potential indoor irritants and classified them according to the amount of research linking the substances with asthma.
      In a statement issued by the IOM, committee chairman Richard Johnston, Jr. said the "prevalence of asthma continues to rise dramatically in this county and the reason why is a mystery." The University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, professor added that "People spend most of their time inside and it's vital that we understand how the indoor environment may contribute to the disease."

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When compared to many highly expensive allergy
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When the ResponsibleCare System of anti-allergen cleaning and treatment is used to service the mattress and carpeting in the bedroom of allergy sufferers, it is guaranteed to provide a noticeable improvement in allergy symptoms within three days or the service company will refund the portion of their charges for application of Allergy Relief Treatment only.

Dust Mite Allergies
Dust mites are microscopic, eight-legged creatures that are 0.3mm in length (7,000 can fit on a fingernail) and are invisible to the naked eye.

It is the dust mite feces that causes the development and aggravation of allergies.

A dust mite will produce 200 times its own body weight in feces during its short lifetime!

Mattresses contain 60% of the dust mites found in the home. Given that we spend up to one-third of our lives in the bedroom and are exposed to this highly potent allergen for long periods of time, the bedroom is the number one treatment priority.

Pet Allergies

15% of the U.S. population is allergic to pets and other animals.
Many people are unaware that they suffer from pet allergies. Symptoms include watery and itching eyes, hives, sneezing, coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing.

Between 75% and 90% of families with pet allergies do not take their physician's advice and remove their pets from the home.

For more Information on Allergies & Indoor Air Quality - Carpet Cleaner or Exterminator?

Article from the Cleanfax April 2000 issue.

Information retrieved from the Carpet Rug Institute.

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