Indoor Air Quality and Health

If you’re tempted to close the basement door and try to forget about the petri dish beneath your feet, consider this: most of the air in your home has passed through your basement. Whether the door is closed or not, your indoor air quality depends on having a dry, clean basement. Kathleen Meil of Evergreen Home Performance will give a talk on  “Indoor Air Quality and Health” at the Camden Public Library at noon on Monday, February 11.

Indoor Air Quality and Health February 11

“Indoor Air Quality and Health” is the topic of the next speaker in the Wellness series at the Camden Public Library, presented by Kathleen Meil of Evergreen Home Performance, at noon on Monday, February 11. “Are you sick of that musty smell wafting up from your basement — or sick because of it?” asks Miel. “Indoor pollution levels are typically two to five times higher than those outside, and even if you’re adamant about maintaining a tidy, smoke-free home, moisture problems, poor ventilation, and contaminants can increase your risk of health problems from allergies and asthma to headaches, nausea, and worse. It’s no wonder that indoor air quality makes the EPA’s list of Top Five Environmental Threats to public health.

“Green building technology is most often associated with the health of our planet, but it can also improve the health of your home,” adds Meil. “Learn how untreated homes can concentrate mold, mildew, and other indoor air pollutants, and share strategies to eliminate the cause of allergens for good.

“The key to healthy, effective home upgrades is remembering that your house is a system, and that you can’t change one part without affecting all the others. Tighten up a house without treating moisture problems and you’ve actually concentrated the indoor air pollutants, but treat the whole house with building science expertise and improve the safety, health, and comfort of your home. Many people are surprised to learn that solving basement moisture problems can reduce the risk of asthma by 33%!”

The free talk is another in the Wellness Brown Bag Lunch series, a collaboration between the Library and the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce, held on the second Monday of each month at noon. For more information, call the library at 236-3440.