Is Your Garage Impacting the Health Of Your Home?
Often, I’ll be testing a living room and the chemical levels are off the charts but there is no chemical source indoors. When this occurs the first place, I look is the garage which is often loaded with cancer causing chemicals leaching into the home and adversely impacting the health of the entire family.
A garage is an important component to any home; it offers a safe and secure place for parking the car and also provides a serene working area for some mechanical or electrical works. With the kind of activity conducted in the facility as well as the tools and chemicals which are stored there, the air quality inside the garage is a great concern. The fact that the garages are, in most cases, attached to the main house means that the polluted air, toxic fumes and other chemicals can find their way into the house. This poses a great danger to the occupants; it risks affecting their health and lowering the quality of life.
Here are some ways through which garage air quality can impact the rest of the home
To get your car in and out of the garage, the engine has to be running. When the engine is running, there is a possibility of toxic fumes being emitted. The toxic fumes can be in form of gases such as carbon monoxide, they might also have traces of heavy metals such as mercury and lead. Given that air is not stationary, these fumes will find their way into the house, lowering the quality of air and posing a great risk to the occupants. As a way to prevent these emissions, expert advise against running the engine while the car is in the garage, more so starting the vehicle in the garage. It is advisable to allow the car roll out of the garage through the force of gravity and start it while outside. Concentration of these toxic fumes can also be prevented by ensuring that the garage is well ventilated allowing free movement of air in and outside of the facility.
The garage acts as a store for chemicals and mechanical tools, it is in here that paints, fuel, cleaning products, fertilizers, gasoline and other chemicals are kept. These chemicals, while being used or stored can pose risks; they can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as other chemical compounds. These can find their way into the house posing a great danger to the occupants. There is also a danger of leaks or damages or in some cases elevated levels of humidity leading to the growth of mold. All these pose a danger as they reduce the quality of air. This calls for proper use and storage of chemicals in the garage to ensure that the emissions of dangerous compounds are reduced. It is also highly advisable to remove all the unwanted chemicals in the garage. It is through such actions that the quality of air in the garage can be improved and at the same time reduce the chances of lowering the quality of air in the house.
IndoorDoctor can screen for VOCs, fuel byproducts, carbon monoxide and other hazards where chemicals area stored to see if it’s impacting your home.
