Published by Paula Baker-Laporte under Green Living

When my mother makes her yearly visit from Toronto, we take a morning walk together around my rural neighborhood in Tesuque, New Mexico. Inevitably she takes in a deep breath and exclaims, “Ah, this air is medicine!” — meaning it has the power to heal. I believe that she is right. The air in nature is oxygen and ion rich, with the supply constantly being filtered and replenished. Not surprisingly, the gold standard against which the green building movement measures the quality of indoor air is the pristine air found in nature.

As an architect and author of Prescriptions for a Healthy House, I have a long-held interest in what happens to people exposed to toxins found in conventional building materials and practices. An estimated 15% of the U.S. population — millions of people — are chronically ill from their homes, and indoor air quality is a major factor.

So what can you do if your household air is not up to snuff?

If you suspect that something in your home is making you sick, you may need to engage the services of a professional home inspector. A variety of parameters can be tested, some with simple instrumentation and others only through expensive laboratory procedures. There is no single magic machine that can test your home for every possible problem, so doing a little safe detective work before calling an expert will save time and money and help you to reach an accurate diagnosis.

You already own a sublimely sensitive instrument: your nose. It is a formidable investigative assistant with an astounding long-term memory.

Have you ever re-visited a place after many years absence and noted that the familiar distinct smell of the place piques your memory? Some of the smells locked in my personal olfactory memory and unique smell of burning charcoal in Costa Rica, the aroma of fresh ground coffee in Paris, and the acrid waft of steel wheels grinding trolley track in a city metro.

Many people can smell an incredible one part per million. This talent, once a crucial survival tool for our hunter gatherer ancestors and now dulled by the assaults of modern life, can be cultivated to your advantage. Many problems can be detected through their odor. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), some molds, some pesticides, dust, and gas leaks all have distinct odors.

Upon first entering your home bring awareness to what you smell. If there is an offensive odor, see if you can trace its source. For your own safety, do not linger there or start your own demolition. If you suspect a problem inside a wall, you could create a larger problem by breaking through the containment. Provide the area with plentiful fresh air until you can get an expert in.

If the first thing you smell is mothballs, potpourri, air fresheners, tobacco, or scented laundry products, you may have already discovered the cause of your ill health. These substances contain a constellation of petrochemical toxins that are harmful when inhaled. My simple advice: get rid of them. Then give the house a good cleaning and airing out before doing any further nasal investigation.

The nose knows a lot, but it does have its limitations as a diagnostic tool. Once you have been in a space for just a few moments you are no longer able to distinguish smells due to a phenomena called “olfactory fatigue”. Your first few whiffs, each time you enter, are all you’ve got.

In addition, there’s the fact that many serious indoor air quality problems have no odor whatsoever. These include carbon monoxide, radon, some pesticides, and certain molds.

Even without a serious hidden defect or blatant use of toxins, household air becomes polluted through the daily activities of humans breathing, cooking, bathing, and washing clothes. In the absence of mechanical ventilation, airing a home out as a part of regular cleaning routine will get rid of stale air and replace it with fresh vital air.

The following chart may help you with your detective work.

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*Although do-it-yourself tests may indicate that a problem is present, I often recommend consultation with a remediation specialist for accurate diagnosis and safe, effective remediation.

Paula Baker-Laporte FAIA is an architect and a certified building biology practitioner. She is the principle of Baker-Laporte and Associates and EcoNest Design. She is primary author of Prescriptions for a Healthy House and co-author with husband Robert Laporte of Econest, Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw and Timber.

Adapted from Santa Fe Real Estate Guide, Feb 2009