Home Audits: Good for the Environment and Your Health

While most responsible homeowners agree that residential energy audits are necessary to ensure the most comfortable, efficient homes possible, a comprehensive safety audit also needs to take place if we are to truly trust in the safety of our living quarters. Like most forms of energy waste, which cannot be easily identified without professional audits, toxic indoor chemicals pose a risk because these pollutants remain so difficult to identify for untrained individuals. Furthermore, allowing these chemicals to remain in homes puts families at risk for developing devastating illnesses that can cut lives short.

With modern health science’s recent acknowledgment that we actively introduce toxins into our homes through harsh chemical cleaners and a variety of deodorizers, we have the ability to largely eliminate these threats from our homes. By simply stopping the use of these unnatural chemicals, homeowners have the ability to reduce recent toxin-related illnesses that are attributed to these products, including respiratory difficulties and cancers. Furthermore, choosing green alternatives to these indoor cleaning products promotes the safe manufacture of less environmentally-damaging products, which frequently include the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons.

However, one of the most devastating indoor toxins that cannot be easily removed is asbestos insulation. Frequently used in older homes before the EPA recognized this chemical as a threat, this mineral can lead to the development of a lethal cancer called mesothelioma. Symptoms of mesothelioma can remain dormant for up to 50 years, impacting individuals at an advanced age. This cancer carries a short average survival rate after diagnosis of only eight to 14 months. Furthermore, as many as 35 million homes may have acquired insulation tainted with asbestos from just one mine in Libby, Montana.

What makes this particular home pollutant so dangerous is how frequently it was utilized because of its effectiveness. Asbestos fibers may be found throughout a home, including as a pipe wrapping, attic insulation or in older “popcorn” ceilings. However, removing the chemical by hand should not be attempted by homeowners. Asbestos remains safe as long as it is not disturbed, which allows it’s particles to break apart into a fine dust that can enter the body through inhalation or ingestion. Attempting to remove the insulation without the proper equipment allows it to spread throughout a home, infecting everyone.

Like the challenges with identifying home energy inefficiency, a professional chemical abatement company is the surest way for homeowners to locate and remove these dangerous chemicals. While some asbestos materials can remain in homes if properly encapsulated to ensure they are not disturbed, homeowners should still consult professional services to ask their advice. Mesothelioma symptoms often appear slowly, mimicking other illnesses and delaying diagnosis and treatment, which makes this cancer especially dangerous. Furthermore, failing to identify these home toxins puts future residents at risk of exposure, especially if they then renovate the home and expose these materials. In addition, many of these materials require special disposal to ensure they don’t pose a threat to waste management workers that might handle the material after renovation. With the dangerous health risks associated with indoor home toxins, which can impact many individuals, we owe it to our families, communities and the planet to identify and remove these threats so a home can act as the safe refuge it is intended to be.