Can This Home Be Can This Home Be Greened? A House That Breathes Easier: Improving Indoor Air Quality? A House That Breathes Easier
A Colorado woman seeks to improve air quality in her home.
May/June 2007
By Kim Master
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Povy Kendal Atchison
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In her home in Centennial, Colorado, Debbie Gundling takes medication daily just to live comfortably. She has allergic asthma, a swelling of the breathing passages from allergies, most likely associated with her dust sensitivity. “I realized one day that my house might be exacerbating my condition—and this motivated me to research green building,” Debbie says.
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Debbie, an IBM marketing manager, shares her 3,800-square-foot townhouse (built in 1981) with her sister, Connie Simpson, and her father, Dave Gundling. Connie lives in the newly renovated basement apartment, and Dave, a WWII veteran, lives on the first floor. Debbie balances her health issues with family needs, so she’s made compromises. For example, she should eliminate all the carpet, a reservoir for the dust and allergens that aggravate her asthma, but she says the carpet buffers the noise between the floors.
Debbie wants to update and enlarge the kitchen and revamp the master bedroom suite, which also serves as her full-time home office. She asked Natural Home to help her find ways to make her house healthy while accommodating her family and her budget.
1. Remodel with Allergies and Asthma in Mind
Problem: Debbie is concerned about the harmful effects that remodeling debris could have on her health. She and her family must live at home throughout the renovation.
Solutions: Construction dust aggravates asthma and allergies, so the crew should replace the electrostatic furnace filter with a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) variety and fit the supply and return ducts with filters to prevent dust circulation.
Then the crew must seal off the kitchen area from the rest of the house, using temporary plastic walls with zipper doors. Exhaust fans from the work area to the outdoors will ensure that contaminated construction air doesn’t leak into the rest of the home. This is called “negative pressurizing.” When construction is finished, Debbie should have the house cleaned with HEPA-filter vacuums. She should also make sure to use products with few or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic air pollutants.
Cost: Furnace filters: $500 to $800. Negatively pressurizing and sealing off work area from house: an additional $200 to $300.
2. Create More Kitchen Space
Problems: The kitchen is cramped, and storage is minimal. Debbie wants to knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room, but she’s worried about cost, especially because she wants to invest in green, nontoxic cabinets and floors.
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