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Allergies, Asthma & Healthy Air Solutions

Almost every major organization in the health and indoor air quality industries recommends that controlling your home's environment is important for managing allergies and asthma. The Environmental Protection Agency lists poor indoor air quality as the fourth largest environmental threat to our country. Field studies show that most homes in America, even new ones, significantly under-perform in terms of providing healthy air. Room air cleaners or duct cleaning by themselves do not control all the critical characteristics of your air sufficiently. (See our Allergy & Asthma Brochure.)

The key to achieving healthy air in the home is to look at the home from a whole house perspective. Without a comprehensive initial evaluation, many so called indoor air quality solutions are simply band-aids that make little difference and often make things worse. Unanticipated negative consequences are common. Address the causes, not the symptoms. Major causes include leaky air-conditioning ducts, leaky house outer shell, uncontrolled humidity, no fresh air ventilation, no means of effectively purifying the air, and a sick crawlspace.

Got Mold?

Many homes have mold growing in the crawlspace underneath the house because the air's humidity is too high and out of control. Most homes in America also have significantly leaky underfloor and leaky air ducts. As a result, air readily moves between your crawlspace and your living space! Your crawlspace air becomes your living space air. If it's in your crawlspace, it's in your lungs! Many times, mold is also growing in the heating/cooling system. We can fix that too. But we're not talking about mold growing as a result of a plumbing leak which causes surface mold - that's a different story. (Sealed Crawl Spaces).

Before You Get Your Ducts Cleaned...

Ask yourself why are they dirty? Typically, holes in ductwork suck in dusty dirty air from crawl and attic spaces. The average American home's ducts leak 30-35% of their airflow! New home ducts leak an average of 19%! You first need to seal all the holes in them. In fact, you need to go beyond just sealing . The ducts need to be renovated back to their original intended design.

Before You Buy A Tabletop "Room" Air Cleaner...

Many people who've bought tabletop air cleaners are dissappointed with the results. Others have noticed an improvement in air quality but are unaware of the larger picture regarding the air they breathe.

Let's look at the fundamentals of why you have impurities and allergens in your indoor air in the first place. Most homes in America have significant air leaks in their heating/cooling system ducts and in the home's outer shell (a.k.a. the "envelope"). Regarding the duct leaks, the average duct leakage in America is between 30-35% of the total airflow! Leaks on the return side will suck in mold spores or other pollutants into the duct system and get distributed throughout the home. Also, many heating/cooling systems are breeding grounds for mold and mildew because they are not operating properly.

Regarding your home's outer shell, air moves freely between the crawlspace, living space, attic space, and outdoors. This is called infiltration and the average home in America has the equivalent of the entire house's volume of air infiltrate through all the hundreds of small holes and cracks in your homes outer shell 15 times per day! The air in your crawlspace becomes the air in your living space!

In light of all this, table top air cleaners do not get to the root of the problem - they only address the symptoms. They can be used effectively, but only if the home's fundamentals are fixed first. For information on tabletop or "room" air cleaners please see How To Create Healthy Air.

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Find out how your home may be causing your allergies by calling Stream today for a Stream Whole-Home Assessment™ appointment.