Home air quality priorities?

[orthodoxjay1]

I'd like to decide what to prioritize in a recent home purchase, accounting for monetary cost (assuming we're not wealthy) and value to health for us and our children. One member of the household has mild asthma.

1. Hardwood floors: we're refinishing floors (before we move in). Of course we'll be out of the house. Should we spend +$1500 for so-called 'dustless' sanding? (Apparently eliminates 97% of dust.) Some relevant questions: Is the dust from finish and wood hazardous? Is it difficult to clean from the air and surfaces?
2. Air purifiers: could purchase 1 or 2 good air purifiers for the price of dustless sanding. Should I save the money on the sanding and instead just, e.g., clean well, open windows, and run air purifiers before we move in? Air purifiers would also be a long-term investment. Note that the house has a basement pellet stove; I'm not sure how 'safe' these are for indoor air quality, but it might raise the health-related value of having an air purifier down there.
3. Venting range: currently a gas range is vented through a charcoal filter. Should we spend the money to vent it outside? (I haven't yet looked at the price.)
4. Replacing range: should we consider replacing the range, e.g., switching from gas to induction? (Note if you're wondering something similar: consider waiting for these government grants.)
5. Mold inspection: ensuring there are no mold issues in the house and remediating if necessary. (The inspection costs ~$600; we don't have any good reason to think that there are serious mold issues.)

So, thoughts about which of these to prioritize, or about other important air-quality-related issues to prioritize? Thank you for your help!

 

[follow_the_word]

@orthodoxjay1 About 13% of childhood asthma cases are attributable to gas stoves. While newer stoves have some improvement in design, they don’t solve this issue. The best approach to mitigating stove related indoor air pollutants (aside from whole home filtration systems) is a powerful vent hood you use every time you cook that vents outdoors. That is an upgrade worth investing in, IMO. Since a powerful enough vent hood is likely to be quite loud, I’d also look into some of the models that keep the extraction fan itself up in the ceiling to keep noise a bit quieter so you are more likely to use it every time. And/or consider switching to induction, we’ve been quite happy!

See more here and here

 

[orthodoxjay1]

@follow_the_word Thanks for this information. What do you think about buying an induction range? It seems that good vented range hoods cost upward of $1K (USD), which is a little less than an induction range. So, why not just get the induction range so that we don't have to deal with gas? (We might still have to worry about combustion products from cooking, though, which might be mitigated by a decent, i.e., less-expensive, range hood?)

 

[follow_the_word]

@orthodoxjay1 I LOVE having an induction range. We did both the vented hood and induction range (but induction obviously has less combustion air pollutants to be concerned about than gas). IMO, induction is a great option - it’s also much less stressful with kids (no worries about someone grabbing a burner, can get pasta on the table inside of 15 minutes). I agree you probably get most of the benefit of a better hood with an induction stove so if you’re open to induction, I’d probably do that first.

 

[noamx]

@orthodoxjay1 Save the money on the dustless sanding. If you're not living there while the work is being done, I'd say hire a regular contractor who will clean up after themselves and then pay for a deep clean after. Wood dust will just wipe up. And yes, breathing it dust from sanding can be harmful. Some species of wood are more harmful than others to breathe. Walnut can be more irritating, but I'd be shocked if your house's floors are walnut. Probably red or white oak. Once the dust has settled it's not harmful to be around and it's easy to wipe up.

If you keep the gas range definitely vent it to outdoors and get a powerful hood. Recirculating vents are not powerful enough for gas ranges and you'll notice it get HOT in your kitchen when the stove is running. Note that if you do go induction, people with pacemakers or other implanted devices cannot come within a couple of feet of the range (my dad with an ICD found this buried deep in the owners' manual of his induction range). Otherwise it's a great choice.

I'd definitely prioritize the range over the dust less sanding. I think you could live there for bit and see how the asthmatic finds the air quality in the house. If they're reaching for their rescue more often then go for the air purifiers. Until then a HEPA HVAC filter is probably fine.

I personally wouldn't worry about mold testing unless you have reason to believe there's been moisture issues in the house.

One other thing, do you live in an area where radon testing is necessary?

 

[patersonchristian]

@orthodoxjay1 My priorities would be:

1. Replace range. Gas stoves are a huge ongoing source of crap indoor air quality. Then:
2. Air purifiers. It’ll be an ongoing mitigation for anything and everything from illness to pollen to smoke. Then:
3. Upgrade range to vent outside.

 

[psychoclaw]

@orthodoxjay1 A couple of random things I have had to correct in my own house that were cost-effective:

(1) Make sure your furnace air filter fits properly.

(2) Continuous radon monitor or plan to test
periodically. Don’t rely on a one-time test.

(3) Make sure your bathrooms are actually vented outside (wtf prior owner???).

(4) Check out your ductwork if it has been in place a long time, though sadly this can be expensive to clean.

(5) You can inhale a lot of nasty stuff while grilling or cleaning. Minimizing that by wearing a mask, ventilating properly or being mindful of where you stand is basically free.

 

[follow_the_word]

@psychoclaw It blows my mind how many vents we found in our house (bathroom! Hood! Dryer) that just went… nowhere. It’s a vent, it has to vent somewhere! Agree with your wtf.

 

[jamesdoeith]

@orthodoxjay1 I would prioritize the air purifiers for sure. Something you didn’t mention but goes along with this is using upgraded filters for your heating/cooling system. You can get a much higher quality filter which will help with overall quality even more than the purifiers.

I personally have not seen or experienced an issue with my gas range, but it really depends on how old your range is. Newer ranges don’t have the issues the older ranges have and the vents are typically much better. It doesn’t vent outside, but if needed we just open some doors/windows and run the vent.

 

[travis93]

@orthodoxjay1 My priorities would be:

1. Air Purifiers
2. Clean the furnace ducts (there are apparently some scams on Facebook with people posting about this recently so find some local companies that review well and then reach out directly) and get good furnace filters that fit well.
3. At least get the range venting outside, replacement is great but it is likely to involve running new power and be a significant investment.
4. Get a vacuum with a good HEPA filter.
5. If you see no signs of mold it might not be worth worrying about - I think you can get some at home collection kits that you send off to a lab though. No idea what they run.

Once sanding is done, open the house wide up for a while and vacuum really well. Then get the vents clean. Once you close it up, throw the HEPA filters in.

 

[mikeyd0110]

@orthodoxjay1 I love love love my air purifier, it was one of my favorite home investments and recommend everyone get a high quality air purifier and frequently change their home furnace filters to keep the air as clean as possible.

I recently bought a stroller that needed off gassing badly. I stuck it in a room with my purifier on high and overnight the smell was gone. Ditto for food smells and a reduction in seasonal allergy symptoms for my husband. Compared to some other modifications you mentioned, an air purifier (even a pricey one) is not especially expensive and can last a long time if well maintained.

 

[continualseeker]

@orthodoxjay1

1. Why don't you have doing a radon test on your list? Do you know the level of radon? https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/documents/2016_a_citizens_guide_to_radon.pdf
2. The owner disclosure statement will be useful for prioritizing, if you received one. Each state has it's own laws about a required owner disclosure statement. You should have received this during the buying/closing process. Here is an example of a disclosure: https://www.ncrec.gov/Forms/Consumer/rec422.pdf

If you have battery smoke alarms or co monitors with replaceable batteries don't use lithium batteries because the lose charge too fast when they deplete and the low battery alarm may not work. I suggest using 10 year smoke alarms and co alarms with built-in batteries if you don't have wired alarms. You should have a smoke alarm in every bedroom and hall and replace them and test them as required.