Indoor Air Quality in Homes
Remodeling Your Home? Have You Considered Indoor Air Quality?
Using Ventilation to Contain Dust and Other Pollutants
Regardless of what part of the house your remodeling project takes place in, there are good work practices that you can use to help minimize or prevent indoor air and other indoor environmental problems. Read more about Good Work Practices.
In general, you should address the following issues when remodeling your home.
| Radon |
| Lead |
| Moisture Control |
| Ventilation |
| Asbestos |
| Combustion Appliances |
| Air Ducts |
| Energy Efficient Improvements |
| Pest Control |
| Painting |
| Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) |
Read about Best Practices
Ventilation is an important part of maintaining indoor air quality during a renovation project, including keeping any dust or other pollutants out of the general area of the home. One effective strategy is to use exhaust ventilation — as simple as a box fan blowing from the work area directly out of the house. This does two things. First, it immediately removes much of the pollutants from the home. And second, it creates a pressure barrier which effectively prevents air — and pollutants in the air — from moving from the work area to the rest of the house.
If using a box fan in a window, secure the fan within the window frame so that it cannot fall out of the window or be tipped over by children. If it rains or snows, turn the fan off and remove it from the window to avoid any electrical shock hazard.
To increase the effectiveness of the pressure barrier, physical barriers can be used.
The following illustration shows the basic approach.
