Healthy HouseTM TechTip
The majority of electric blankets and heating pads create high EMF. Even when electric blankets and heating pads are just plugged into the wall and not turned on, they are likely emanating a electric and magnetic field. Due to the way these products are designed, EMF measurements are typically in the Extreme Level of concern according to Building Biology Standards.
HealthyHouseTM CleanAir Tip
The humidity in your home should be between 40% and 60% relative humidity. Humidity, the amount of water vapor in the air, is measured with a humidity gauge known as a hygrometer. Above this range, mold can thrive easily. Below this range, bacteria and dust mites will tend to thrive. Basements are an important area to keep the humidity level in check. Basements tend to be damp and typically do not have a lot of air flow. Mold will thrive in humid environment and can grow on almost anything including dust and cardboard. A dehumidifier can be used to remove moisture from the air. It should be set at 40 - 45% relative humidity.
Healthy HouseTM CleanAir Tip
When the stove burner is on, a variety of pollutants are released into the air. These pollutants mainly consist of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
Carbon monoxide is a deadly toxin. Carbon monoxide from kitchen ranges is a common reason for elevated concentrations of CO in homes. Carbon monoxide can lead to dizziness, headaches, rapid heart rate, brain damage and even death from high exposure. Orange, yellow flames, or sooty flames, is a good indication of incomplete combustion, which could lead to carbon monoxide buildup in your home.
Carbon dioxide is produced during the combustion. At higher concentrations, CO2 can cause drowsiness, headache, reduced cognition and lead to a “stuffy” feeling in a home.
Nitrogen dioxide is a respiratory irritant produced when nitrogen from the air encounters oxygen from the burner. NO2 affects the mucosa of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract. Continued exposure to high NO2 levels can contribute to development of acute or chronic bronchitis. Low level exposure to NO2 may cause decreased lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and increase risk of respiratory infections, especially in young children.
Exhaust fans should be vented to the outdoors. They should also be properly sized for your stove. Always use your exhaust fan while cooking on a gas range. It will help draw the combustion pollutants out of the home.
Most exhaust fans will emirate a magnetic field when turned on. Because of this, it is good practice to step away from the stove during cooking while keeping an eye on it.
If your stove is electric, combustion pollutants are not released into the air. However, many electric stoves produce a high magnetic field when the heating element cooktop surface is turned on.
Healthy HouseTM CleanAir Tip
There are many wrinkle-free products, everything from shirts to bedding sheets. In order to make something wrinkle-free you have to bring in the reinforcements: chemicals to strengthen the fabric. The fabric is given a bath in resins to strengthen it and then saturated in formaldehyde to further resist wrinkles.
Formaldehyde is a human carcinogen as declared by the National Cancer Institute. In 1987, the EPA declared formaldehyde as a probable carcinogen. And in 2011, the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.
Exposure to formaldehyde produces a laundry list of possible health hazards including irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, nausea, and skin irritation.
Unfortunately, there is no law or regulation to disclose to the consumer when formaldehyde is used. The best way to protect yourself is to not use or own wrinkle-free products.
Wrinkle-free bedding may look nice, but don't sacrifice your health for the wrinkle-free look.
Healthy HouseTM CleanAir Tip
Many people think fragrance is a good thing. Most of us don’t stop and think that there are two kinds of fragrances, natural and synthetic. Synthetic scents are man-made and are a complex concoction of chemicals.
Fragrance chemicals are organic compounds that volatilize into the air, which is why we can smell them. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by fragrances are big offenders of polluted air.
There is an onslaught of fragrance products that have appeared on the market. They are wreaking havoc for the chemically sensitive and effecting the health of the non-sensitive. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, “air fresheners”, dryer sheets, scented plugins, candles, perfumes, colognes and body sprays are just some of the commonly scented products.
Many laundry detergents are scented themselves. Now there are more long-lasting scents that are applied to the laundry in granular form. These will pollute the indoor air, outdoor air through the dryer vent, your clothing and water.
Now nearly every manufacturer of garbage bags has scented versions.
Exposure to fragrance chemicals can cause a wide-variety of health effects including headaches, eye, nose, throat irritation, respiratory stress, nausea, forgetfulness, anger, depression and other neurotoxic symptoms.
Be sure to avoid any products that have perfume or fragrance listed in the ingredient list. If you are looking for a replacement to toxic fragrances, consider using a high-grade essential oil with a naturally occurring scent like rose or peppermint that are found in nature!
Healthy HouseTM CleanAir Tip
Particle boards and engineered woods are types of composite board that off-gas toxic chemicals into the air.
That said, composite board is still dominating the market today. Composite board, also commonly referred to as pressed wood or manufactured board, is a cheaper substitute for solid wood.
Composite board is man-made. It is manufactured by pressing and binding the strands, particles, fibers or layers of wood, cellulose, and even plastic together with adhesives to form a composite material.
Composite wood is the most common material used in new home construction. The majority of framing is still done with solid wood, but everything from subfloors, exterior sheathing and kitchen cabinets is made out of composite wood. Even home furnishings like bookshelves and furniture are manufactured with these engineered woods.
Often times it is tough to determine if a product is made out of composite board. It is helpful to look at the interior edge of the board since most of the exterior surfaces will have a veneer applied to disguise the board to look like solid wood.
If you were to saw a piece of composite board in half and look at the cross-section, you’ll notice that they all share one thing in common. They are made by pressing wood fragments together with a glue-like adhesive compound. Composite products mainly differ by the proportion of wood to adhesive used.
Plywood is thin layers of wood pressed and held together by an adhesive.
Particle board and fiber board are made out of finely ground cellulose fibers. MDF stands for medium density fiberboard.
MDF is the board on top. Particle board is on bottom.
OSB stands for oriented strand board and is commonly used for subfloors and exterior sheathing in new home construction.
OSB is commonly used for exterior sheathing and subfloors.
Engineered hardwood flooring is often marketed for it’s moisture resistance and durability, but many of these products are essentially layered plywood and some are backed with particle board.
Engineered floors and laminates are comprised of layers of wood and/or fiberboard.
Composite wood decking is made from wood, plastic, and adhesive material.
Composite board is a very typical source of indoor air pollution. The majority of these pressed wood products, specifically the adhesive glue, off-gases formaldehyde and other VOCs.
Composite board doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If manufacturers came up with less toxic adhesives, they would be less concerning. However, another point worth considering is that composite board is composed of fragmented wood which can make them more susceptible to mold growth unless they are treated with a mold inhibitor.
Indoor air quality can be improved by minimizing the use of composite boards in construction materials and home furnishings.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
Analyze your TV and entertainment systems for wireless radiation. The majority of smart TVs now have embedded WiFi and Bluetooth. If you don't have a smart TV, it may have been equipped into one via a USB WiFi adapter. If you have a gaming system, there is also a good chance that it is equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth. If you are using an Internet streaming device, like AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, or others, they too are designed to communicate via wireless radio frequency radiation. Many TVs, gaming consoles and streaming devices are emitting radiation even when they are not in use. Many remote controls now use Bluetooth or WiFi Direct instead of Infrared that has commonly and more safely been used for many years.
It is best to tackle your TV entertainment area through iterative testing and process of elimination while working to minimize and eliminate the RF radiation. Use a combination of disabling, hardwiring or unplugging to minimize your RF exposure in your living space that is coming from your TV entertainment area. Take it in stride, ever little bit helps.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
Cordless baby monitors emit a very significant amount of wireless radiation that is well into the "extreme concern" range per Building Biology standards. It doesn't matter if the baby monitor is an audio-only unit or also capable of video, these wireless units communicate via RF (radio frequency) and emit radiation. The newer breathing and heart-rate monitors for babies that operate wirelessly are also concerning from an EMF perspective.The easiest way to protect your baby is to avoid the use of wireless monitoring technology.
There have been a number of new wireless monitoring products that have been recently launched to “protect” your vulnerable baby. The only problem with these technologies is the oversight of the health effects due to wireless radiation exposure. Most of these products market signal strength as a good thing.
If you absolutely need to use a wireless monitor, your best solution is to purchase an analog model that transmits at a lower frequency. Position it to be as far away from your baby as possible.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
Many cordless phones continuously emit EMF radiation even when not in use. So if your phone is just sitting there in the base station, there is good chance it is emitting high levels of RF radiation throughout your home.
Your best bet is to replace your cordless phone with a plain old wired telephone. At the very minimum, move it as far from your sleeping area as possible.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
Replace your wireless keyboard and mouse with wired ones. The vast majority of wireless keyboards and mice use Bluetooth and emit a lot of EMF radiation. Instead, it is better to use a wired USB mouse and keyboard.
Be sure to turn off Bluetooth on your computer after you you swap them out or you will continue to be exposed to excess radiation. It can be found in “System Preferences” on a Mac. On a PC, look under “PC Settings -> Wireless” on Windows 8 and above.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
If your printer is connected to your network via WiFi, turn your printer off when not using it. Most WiFi-compatible printers continuously emit EMF radiation when they are on.
If your WiFi-compatible printer is already hardwired via ethernet, be sure to disable the wireless signal on your printer. This setting can usually be found buried in the configuration menus on the printer. Exact placement varies depending on manufacturer.
Some printers have two means to print wirelessly. For these printers, you will need to disable both WiFi and WiFi direct (Wireless direct).
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
Manually disable WiFi and Bluetooth on your devices when you are not using them.
Even when you are not using them, your smart phones, tablets and computers are still emitting EMF radiation. Even with your WiFi router off, they will continue to "search for a signal" and emit a large amount of radiation.
Powering off your computer and devices entirely is another option to stop radiation coming from them.
Below are screenshots from an iPhone showing what it looks like to have WiFi and Bluetooth off. On your phone, swipe up from the bottom to make the quick configuration screen appear. The phone radiates the least amount in Airplane Mode, but you cannot receive calls. At least turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when you are not using them.
Healthy HouseTM TechTip
A WiFi router continuously beams radiation throughout your home even when you are not using it. The WiFi router or WiFi access point is typically one of the strongest and most constant sources of EMF radiation throughout the home. WiFi routers emit a lot of radiation because they are designed to propogate the signal throughout the whole building including walls and other dense materials.
There are some simple ways to reduced your WiFi radiation exposure.
Good: The easiest way to stop the radiation is to unplug it from the wall before bed.
Better: Another way to accomplish this is to put it on a outlet timer, the same kind you'd use to control your holiday lights. Set it to go off at night and on in the morning.
Best: The best way to accomplish turning off your WiFi at night is to put it on a remote-controlled outlet switch and only turn it on when you absolutely need it.
A+: You get an A+ if you go fully wired and kick your WiFi router to the curb by finding a sustainable way to recycle it.
Having your WiFi router off at night will lessen your toxic body burden and allow you to get more restorative and restful sleep.
The same techniques listed above can be used with other wireless devices in the home like smart TVs, wireless speakers, printers, cordless phones and gaming stations. Many of these devices radiate when off but still plugged into the wall.
