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INDOOR AIR QUALITY
If too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants can sometimes accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Likewise, one approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of outdoor air coming in.
Air pollutants have always been present in the indoor-environment. Serious short-term health effects like headaches, dizziness and other symptoms have been attributed to higher concentrations of indoor air contaminants, while the consequences of long-term exposure to low levels of indoor pollutants are many. The levels reached indoors are a function of the presence of pollutant sources, the strength of such sources, the volume and mixing rate of enclosed spaces, indoor moisture vapor and temperature, air exchange rates, pollutant interaction and reactivity rates, and outdoor air quality levels.
Air pollutants and their sources are numerous. Some common indoor air pollutants are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, suspended particulates, formaldehyde and other organic compounds, allergens, smoke, and radon gas and its decay products or "progeny." Sources of air pollutants are as varied and numerous as the pollutants themselves.
Please for more detailed technical support on improving the indoor environmental quality of your home. We can help you avoid issues with mold, dust, and other design and specification problems associated with the structure of your home.
Check out these links:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca (Health Canada)
www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/indoor_air_quality
www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca
(Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation)
GO GREEN
A green home consumes less water and energy and contains fewer pollutants.
Eco-smart design has come a long way from rustic hippy chic. Your home can easily be a haven of environmentally conscious designif you take a gradual approach. Here are some tips for homeowners to improve the way we all live:
See also: Tips for Eco-Friendly Building & Energy Audits and Government Grants and our page.
Colour your world "green"
Freshen up your walls with eco-friendly paint. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in conventional paints are bad for your health and contribute to global warming, so opt for low-VOC or VOC-free lines instead. Other options: milk and biodegradable paints, which are nontoxic, and recycled paints, which reduce landfill waste.
Go au naturel
If privacy isn't an issue, leave your windows unadorned. The airy look lets in light, which can warm a cold room, and also means you have one less item to dispose of when a drapery style becomes passé. If direct sun makes the room too hot or you're feeling shy about naked panes, select window treatments that are made of natural textured materials, like linen, bamboo or seagrass.
Say no to plastics and imported products
Instead of buying a vinyl shower curtain, choose a cloth one. The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in most plastic varieties emits carcinogens and is non-biodegradable. Plastic is a petroleum-based product and, as such, is non-renewable and difficult to recycle. Consider designing a shower area with a glass door or partition, so you don't need a curtain at all.
Eco-Renovations
Take eco-friendly waste disposal beyond the recycling bin and compost heap: keep your renovation garbage and old furniture out of landfill. First, consider reusing items: Do you need new cabinets or just doors? How about reupholstering that chair instead of discarding it? If you can't use an item, donate it to a charity or used-building-materials supplier like Habitat for Humanity's ReStores or any similar local provider. For unwanted refuse, it's surprising what's recyclable these days: most metals and plastics, yes, but did you know asphalt shingles, concrete and sometimes even drywall can find new life?
If a product comes from halfway across the world, you can bet that its transportation required a great deal of energy that, in turn, generated a considerable amount of greenhouse gases. To use construction material that is eco-friendly, find out where it comes from, how it was produced, to what extent it is sustainable, whether it is recyclable and what kind of maintenance it requires. Traditional particleboard should be avoided, as it is manufactured using a glue containing urea formaldehyde, a toxic compound. It also emits volatile organic compounds (VOC), which contribute to smog.
Eco-friendly alternatives include plywood, which contains less glue, or particleboard with a soy-based adhesive that is formaldehyde-free. If you must use panels containing formaldehyde, seal all of the rough surfaces with a coat of water-based paint to trap the pollutants. Opt for wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to support the responsible management of forests.
Grow your decor
Not only do a few palms, ferns or potted daisies make a room look more homey and lived-in, but plants also filter out harmful airborne chemicals and can even remove chemical vapours throughout your home.
"Make your home and the planet a healthier place to live!"
Tread softly
Chemical dyes, stain-resistant treatments and heavy-duty adhesives in some carpets off-gas harmful toxins. Instead of noxious pile, roll out alternatives like sisal, seagrass or coir (made from coconuts), or rugs with recycled content. Carpet tiles are a smart choice, too: you can replace only the worn or stained sections, reducing the amount that goes to landfill. Salvaged wood has a beautiful patina, and fast-growing bamboo comes in a variety of looks to suit different tastes. For new wood flooring, look for FSC-certified products. Other options: sustainably harvested cork, polished concrete, stone, recycled-glass tiles or old-fashioned linoleum.
Sleep soundly
Ever wake up feeling a little stuffy? Your bed could be the culprit. To alleviate the problem, choose bedding made of organic cottons or linens; they're harvested responsibly and expose you to fewer allergy-inducing chemicals than ordinary cotton or wrinkle-free sheets. When it's time to replace your mattress, purchase an all-wool or natural latex model.
Furnish with care
Look for furniture pieces containing reclaimed wood or wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and organic fabric and upholstery fill. Avoid particleboard, plywood and other wood composites, which often contain harmful chemicals like formaldehyde. Also consider buying vintage or antique furniture.
Be label conscious
For each new product you buy, look for certification from these reputable programs: Energy Star (energy-efficient appliances), FSC (wood from well-managed forestry operations), Green Label Plus (low-emitting carpets and rugs), Green Seal (paints), Greenguard (low-emitting interior products), Rediscovered Wood (forest operations that use reclaimed or recycled wood materials) and Scientific Certification Systems (recycled content and biodegradability).
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Seal The Leaks
Slowly tour your house with a candle in your hand: If the flame flickers, chances are theres a draft! Pay special attention to the trap door leading to the attic, the edges of the windows and doors and the openings through which cables, vents and plumbing are passed. Then block off all of the openings you discover.
If you change your windows, opt for casement or awning models, which open, respectively, like a door or the trunk of a car. Casement and awning windows are more airtight than both double-hung or sliding windows, where the first pane of glass slides over the other. As well, opt for double- or triple-pane windows rather than single-pane windows. The air (or argon) between the panes acts as a natural insulation. Windows with low-emissivity glazing are also a good option: They are covered with a thin metallic layer, invisible to the naked eye, which keeps the heat inside during the winter and outside in the summer.
Think twice about purchasing glass doors, which do not insulate as effectively as their steel or wooden counterparts. The same goes for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) doors: While they insulate well against cold, they emit chlorine when exposed to ultraviolet rays.
Less Water Wasted
If you plan on changing your toilet, you might want to consider a dual-flush style. These models use three or six litres of water to empty the toilet bowl rather than the standard 13 litres. Two devices help to reduce water consumption: Tap aerators decrease the volume of water used, while a flow switch between the shower head and the water pipe serves to interrupt the flow of water for a short time while you lather up
Turn on your fan
Ceiling fans have a switch at the base of the fan which changes the direction the blades turn. Warm air rises and when fan blades turn in "reverse", they move the warm air settled at the ceiling back around the room to where we can enjoy it. A general guideline is to remember to change the fan direction when you change your clocks for daylight savings - downward in summer and upward in winter.
Through the Ontario Home Energy Retrofit Program, the Ontario Ministry of Energy offers significant grants to homeowners intent on retrofitting their homes to make them more energy efficient. This is in addition to the the federal governments ecoENERGY Retrofit Program. The Ontario Home Energy Audit Program also allows homeowners to find out how and where their home is losing energy.
Talk to us at Don Koppin General Contractor about the many new cost-saving, energy-efficient materials, products and building methods available on the market today.
See Energy Audits in this section and visit our Resources page.
ENERGY AUDITS
Significant Federal & Provincial government rebates are available to help you to improve the Comfort and Efficiency of your home, cottage or commercial space.
Significant Federal & Provincial government rebates
are available to help you to improve the Comfort and Efficiency of your home, cottage or commercial space.
If you think you're paying too much to heat or cool your living or working spaces, you find some areas cold or drafty, you have condensation on windows, dry air, summer overheating, ice dams on roofs or peeling exterior paint, these are all symptoms of problems that an energy audit can help you to solve, problems that without solutions can cause health issues and considerable damage. Almost any home, commercial building or heated cottage qualifies for this program, whether it is your principal residence or not, despite the age of the building. It is amazing how even newer buildings can have significant heat loss due to improperly placed insulation or ventilation.
In conjunction with a licensed energy auditor, we are now recommending this important cost-saving service for our clients. For $375.00, (up to $150.00 of which is refundable via the rebate program) the auditor does a blower door test to determine where energy losses occur from the attic to the basement and lists ways that these losses can be remedied and the rebate amounts available for each improvement. The owner then has up to 18 months to complete any work they decide to do, has a subsequent blower door test to determine the results, and then applies for the rebate.
Some of the work can easily be done by the homeowner, such as sealing leaks around windows and doors. Sometimes, the suggested remedies may require professional help. We can determine the costs involved, and schedule the work within the 18 months so rebates can be obtained.
For example, if you are currently considering replacing your windows, updating your insulation, planning a renovation or addition, adding an insert to your fireplace or finishing your basement, an energy audit done prior to contracting the work can save a homeowner hundreds, even thousands of dollars in provincial and federal rebates.
As of January, 2009, the Federal Budget has added even further incentive to update the Energy Efficiency of your building: a 15% tax rebate up to a maximum of $1,350.00.
And as of March 30th, 2009, the Federal Government has announced a giant 25% increase in the rebates available, which may soon be matched by the Provincial Government for their share of the rebates.
Please for further information or to have a brochure sent to you.
For more information, see: www.professionalhomeinspectons.ca
COMMON FEATURES OF GREEN BUILT PROJECTS
Tips for Eco-Friendly Building
Despite the absence of a universal standard, green built projects do tend to have a number of features in common. If you want your own project to create a positive impact -- on the environment, on your comfort and health, and even on your utility bills -- you now have more choices than ever in eco-friendly designs, methods, and materials. Generally speaking, if your project can incorporate one or more of the following features, you're on the right track.
Site the project in such a way that:
Use energy efficiently:
Choose materials and products with low or no toxic emissions (e.g., wall board, cabinets, carpets, paint and other finishes).
Choose sustain ably harvested natural products (e.g., wood products that are certified sustain ably harvested, bamboo flooring, carpets made of natural fibers).
Choose materials, where possible, that come from local sources (e.g., local quarries for stone, or anything that didn't have to get shipped long distances).
Use water efficiently:
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