Seven Steps to Make Your Home Healthier for the Holidays: The Ultimate Checklist
At this time of year, our homes become the heart of holiday celebrations. But before decking the halls, make sure your festive spaces are not just merry but also healthy. Here’s our ultimate checklist for holiday home health:
Musty Odors:
While you may be accustomed to a subtle lingering musty scent, your guests will undoubtedly notice it as soon as they step through the door. And if they happen to have allergies, that scent might signal a mold issue, so you might want to seat your guests far from the turkey and equip them with a box of tissues as you prepare for a symphony of sneezes. Mold can trigger allergies, asthma, and various respiratory issues. Since mold’s presence can be elusive, it’s advisable to enlist the help of an independent mold inspection expert to thoroughly examine your home and eliminate this hidden hazard as soon as possible.
Evaluate Indoor Air Quality:
You’ve scrubbed the floors, touched up the paint, and banished that old, musty rug for a fresh, new carpet. While these home improvements might seem like the path to a healthier home, they might be doing more harm than good. The truth is many everyday household items release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. These odorless chemicals, found in detergents, furniture, cleaning products, and even candles, can trigger headaches, fatigue, and even more severe health problems.
In fact, studies have shown that indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air, making it no surprise that we tend to get sicker during the winter months when we’re spending more time indoors, with windows closed. Mold, another major culprit of poor indoor air quality, can thrive in damp, poorly ventilated areas, causing a host of respiratory issues.
An indoor air quality test can help you identify and address these hidden hazards, ensuring that you and your family are breathing clean healthy air.
Properly Ventilate Bathrooms:
Holiday house guests’ post-bathroom visits may require a well-functioning fan to mitigate any lingering odors. A clean, functional bathroom fan is your best defense, which also works against excess moisture and mold. It’s a simple fix with big benefits for air quality.
Decorate Safely:
Before you embark on your festive decorating frenzy, pause to consider potential hidden hazards lurking beneath the cheerful façade. Homes built before 1978 may harbor lead paint, a deadly menace when the painted surfaces are disturbed. If you suspect your home might be harboring this insidious threat, don’t delay – get it tested promptly.
Aside from lead, even the seemingly innocent twinkling lights, artificial trees, and ornaments can conceal hidden dangers. Read labels carefully to avoid bringing toxic substances into your home and jeopardizing your family’s health.
Protect Your Guests from Hidden Bathroom Hazards:
Don’t let a dirty shower curtain or bathmat put a damper on your festivities. Your shower space, curtain and bathmat might seem harmless, but they can harbor mold spores, bacteria, and other unpleasant surprises. Wash them with baking soda and tea tree oil to eradicate mold and bacteria.
Fix Leaking Sinks:
Leaking sinks aren’t just water wasters, they’re also health hazards. The damp conditions beneath a sink can quickly foster mold growth, which in turn can trigger asthma, allergies, and other respiratory issues. Mold spores are always present in the environment, so the key to prevention is eliminating moisture sources.
Keep the Chill Out:
Avoid a holiday catastrophe by keeping your thermostat temperature higher this winter, especially if you’re traveling. Unless they are insulated properly, pipes can freeze and burst during your absence, causing extensive damage. The cost of repairing a burst pipe can far exceed the savings you achieve by keeping your house cooler. Protect your home and your holiday spirit by keeping your pipes warm.
When prepping for the holidays, these steps will ensure that the atmosphere in your home is not only joyous but also healthy. Embrace the season with health in mind, and you’ll gift yourself and your loved ones the comfort of a home that’s not only decked with boughs of holly but also maintained according to the highest standards of health and safety.
Don’t hesitate to reach out for professional help to make your home a healthy haven. Happy Holidays!
Mold that you cannot see may be lurking behind your walls. Pipe insulation may contain asbestos fibers. Layers of old paint beneath more recent paint may contain lead. When you disturb these materials, dust and spores from these toxic materials may be released in the air. Then, they may travel through your home’s HVAC system.
Clean up well.
When the work is done, be sure to have a second environmental inspection performed by a certified testing company to be sure your home has been properly cleaned from lead, asbestos, mold, and other toxins. Otherwise, the health affects can be devastating.
Clogged Gutters Can Cause Water Leaks and Mold Growth in Your Home
Independent, third-party mold testing from companies like RTK can help identify where mold might be hiding inside walls. RTK uses advanced technology like thermal imaging to detect moisture and potential mold growth in hard-to-see areas. They can also identify types of mold, recommend steps for proper cleanup and remediation, and conduct follow-up testing to ensure the mold was removed properly. RTK does not perform remediation, so all testing 
So, how often should homeowners get their gutters cleaned to avoid water leaks and mold?
October is National Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Awareness Month, and there’s no better time to learn about the importance of clean indoor air and how to protect yourself from pollutants and allergens. 
What can you do about poor IAQ? 
Here’s a shocking statistic: 1 in 40 children aged 1-5 years in the United States has unsafe levels of lead in their blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That means approximately 3.3 million American households with children under six live in homes containing lead exposure hazards. And over 500,000 children, under the age of six, are being diagnosed with lead poisoning annually – a statistic that doesn’t even include the number of older children affected. Clearly, lead poisoning is a serious health issue – and it is one that affects families living in suburbia and rural areas as much as it does for those living in cities. 
Even low levels of lead exposure can impair a child’s cognitive development, emphasizing the critical need for prevention. Early action, especially testing the home for the presence of lead paint and lead dust — will help to prevent serious health problems and save lives, since even small levels of lead exposure can irreversibly influence children’s development.
3. Know the sources of lead poisoning.
While some states mandate lead screening for children under the age of three, in most states, it is up to the discretion of the pediatrician. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that the decision to test for lead poisoning often depends on your geographic location. The best way for you to know if your child has been tested for lead poisoning is to ask your pediatrician. If your doctor does not automatically test for lead, ask that it be done. It’s a simple blood test and could save your child’s life.
Spray foam insulation has gained popularity in recent years because of its ability to reduce energy costs and to help seal the cracks and crevices in your home that let air, bugs, and moisture in.
Polyurethane and isocyanate are two substances that are contained in spray foam insulation. Isocyanates are powerful eye irritants, and can adversely affect gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts if inhaled. If they come into contact with skin, inflammation and rash can occur. As for polyurethane, typically found in household furnishings, it generally gets higher marks, provided that certain stabilizers are added in the manufacturing process.
If you opted to have spray foam insulation installed, you should have your indoor air quality checked. RTK can test for VOCs and let you know if the levels are considered safe. If these chemicals are not handled properly, they can be harmful.
Here’s the good news and the bad news. Sure, your investment in this type of insulation can lead to years of energy savings and efficiency. But since it is almost impossible to completely remove it, the downsides can far outweigh the benefits, especially if it is defective, improperly installed, off-gassing toxins, or if it cracks because it did not cure properly.
This will help the water drain properly. Also, make sure your sump pump is working, if you have one. Sometimes after the power goes out, your sump pump may need to be reset before it kicks on.
Fall into Winter Home Prep: 4 Tips to Keep Your Home Cozy, Healthy and Safe
Mold and poor indoor air quality issues often stem from your attic. Ever heard of the “Stack Effect?” It’s when heat and air rise to the highest point in a dwelling. Since houses naturally have to breathe, the air starts at the bottom and works its way up through the exterior walls into the attic. Ideally, this air should exit through gable vents or ridge vents. However, if those vents are blocked or inadequate, moisture and heat can build up in the attic creating the perfect environment for mold to grow.
Prioritizing regular gutter maintenance is crucial, particularly before the onset of colder weather. This pre-emptive action serves as a vital defense against the formation of ice dams, a common winter woe. Ice dams occur when melted snow accumulates and subsequently freezes along the edges and eaves of your roof. This ice ridge then acts as a barricade, preventing the efficient drainage of water originating from the melting snow. With nowhere else to go, this water can infiltrate your home, causing significant harm to your walls, ceilings, and insulation. Unfortunately, where there’s water damage, mold is often not far behind. 
You certainly don’t want to start your winter off with a leaky roof. Begin by inspecting your ceilings for any signs of trouble, such as water spots, mold, or stains. If you spot them, before you call in a roofer, have a professional mold inspector test your home for potential mold growth. This proactive step will provide you with a clear understanding of exactly what needs to be 
It may seem incongruous to turn on the heat as it is still warm outside, but in a few months when the temperature drops below freezing, a heated house, even at 50 degrees, will prevent your pipes from freezing and keep your home dry through the winter. Most experts recommend keeping the thermostat between 
If you see mold, then you clearly have a mold issue. If you see water stains, you probably have a mold issue as well. The question then becomes how big is the problem? Because mold is often hidden, growing on the back sides of walls and sheetrock, and under carpets and floorboards, the only way to be sure is to have a mold inspection performed by a certified professional.
If you are having physical symptoms such as itchy eyes, cough or wheezing that occur in one location of the premises that clear up when you are elsewhere, it’s a sure bet that the location is harboring mold. If you have any of the following unexplained symptoms, they may be caused by 
Never hire a company that does both mold testing and mold remediation. Why? It is a clear conflict of interest. Often, unscrupulous companies will embellish a mold problem or offer testing on the cheap in hopes of making money on the remediation to follow. But at RTK, we only test for mold and do not remediate, so there is no conflict of interest. Once we have tested your premises, we provide you with a blueprint for mold removal, and you can hire the remediation company of your choice.
Nearby new construction can certainly be a nuisance, what with all the noise and disruption. But there is a much larger issue that should concern you: the dust.
Construction dust often contains a host of contaminants, including lead and asbestos. Older buildings are very likely to contain these dangerous materials, which, when they are disturbed, become part of the stream of ordinary dust.
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If you live or work in a construction area, or if your neighbor is doing renovation work or remodeling and you notice an increased amount of dust on your premises, you should definitely consider a dust characterization. You may be at risk, as you don’t know what substances are being carried through the air. Other reasons to have a dust test are: