Hallmarks of a Healthy Home

Your personal health is directly related to your home’s health. For example, poor indoor air quality, a major symptom of a "sick" building, can indicate larger problems with dust, insects, chemical contaminants and mold — and produce a range of acute and chronic illnesses in humans.

To keep your home healthy, it's important to understand the hallmarks of a healthy home and the threats that can jeopardize it — and your own well-being.

It's important to have a system to keep track of medicines, cosmetics, pesticides, cleaning chemicals, fire tools (candles, matches, lighters) and toxic substances.

You should know what you have, where it is and who can get to it.

"Label reading is a really good skill," advises Meri-K Appy, president of Safe Kids USA. "Based on my 30 years in this business, those words of caution — flammable, danger, caution, hazardous, keep out of children’s reach — come from someone's tragedy."

An organized garage is a safe garage. Tools that are heavy, sharp or powered should be hung up (or locked up) so they won't fall or be within the reach of children.

Water may be the source of life, but too much of a good thing can have terrible consequences for a home, including molds, mildews, bacteria, insects and structural rot that can trigger allergies, headaches or asthma.

"Condensation or slow leaks inside walls are particularly insidious because they occur sporadically over a long period," says Carl Grimes, president of the Indoor Air Quality Association. "You often can't see or smell anything without opening up the wall and by then you might already be experiencing health problems."

The goal is to prevent moisture intrusion from top to bottom: cracks and holes in the roof and siding where rainwater can get in, plumbing leaks and poor drainage and groundwater runoff. The EPA recommends a relative humidity of 30 percent to 50 percent for home interiors, so good ventilation is a must.

It's also important to install the proper moisture barrier or retarder for your climate and housing type. If things get wet — and they will — they need a way to get dry.

Proper ventilation protects you from unhealthy indoor air pollutants, including chemicals, combustive gases and biological contaminants, and protects your house by removing excess heat and moisture. Signs of inadequate ventilation include stuffy air, moisture condensation on cold surfaces or mold and mildew growth.

The Home Ventilating Institute, a nonprofit association that represents the manufacturers of residential ventilating products, recommends three ventilating strategies: intermittent local ventilation such as exhaust fans for bath, kitchen and other moisture-, odor- and contaminant-producing areas; continuous whole-house ventilation to remove stale, polluted air and distribute fresh, outdoor air throughout the house; and attic and crawlspace ventilation.