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CREATING A HEALTHY HOME
All homes should be safe and comfortable, not a place that makes families sick or endangers the stability of the home. People can have air quality problems in any kind of home, new and old.
Many things in your home can cause air quality problems including flooded basements, basement with moisture, humidity, and foundation cracks.
Basements Contribution to a Healthy Home
Most homeowners seldom think of their basement as much more than a storage area or perhaps a place for the laundry, a workout area or a playroom. An occasional ‘musty’ smell is often overlooked, and therein lays the problem. The vast majority of cellars throughout the United States have water and moisture seeping in through concrete walls and rising up through the floor.
Iron bacteria are carried in the moisture and water that seeps into all basements and provide an ideal growth medium for mold and mildew. Basements with any degree of humidity are responsible for an unpleasant odor that sometimes proves to be a health hazard for anyone with allergies or a sensitive respiratory system.
Healthy Basement Solutions
Removing the water and moisture solves the problem. That’s what a Grate Products system does. Through generations of improvements and evolution, the Grate Products system does what no other can. It is a total solution to removing any and all water and moisture from a part of the house that supplies 40% of the air to the first floor.
Potential Problems
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Basement Mold & Mildew
Mold and mildew microorganisms are everywhere and will grow under certain conditions. An environment that has water (moisture) and organic material (food source) will advance the growth of mold. Mold will continue grow if a moisture problem is undiscovered or unaddressed. Mold can emit toxic particles that will travel through the air.
Effect of Mold
Excessive exposure to some types of mold can cause or worsen conditions such as asthma, hay fever, and or other allergies. Depending on the amount of exposure, more serious health effects such as fevers and breathing problems can occur.
Prevent mold growth in a Basement
The best and most cost effective strategy to managing the growth of mold and mildew is to prevent the intrusion of water and moisture into the basement and to control the humidity. Eliminating organic material (food source) or using mold resistant material will help, but the truth of the matter is that there are to many food sources in the basement to prevent mold from growing by eliminating just one. Mold will eventually grow on all surfaces including mold resistant material. The only effective way to control mold is to control moisture. Mold resistant material is effective only when used in conjunction with proper moisture control
What you can't see...
Basements with any degree of humidity or water are responsible for an unpleasant odor that sometimes proves to be a health hazard for anyone with allergies or a sensitive respiratory system.
Undetected moisture and water, perhaps behind a basement finished wall, can create an environment for mold and mildew to grow.
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Radon Gas
Radon is an invisible and odorless radioactive gas and is continuously created by natural breakdown metals in soils. Any home in any state may have a radon problem. The average person receives each year more radiation from radon than from all other source. Almost all risks come from breathing air with radon and its decayed products.
How Radon Gets into your Home
Air pressure inside homes (basements or crawl spaces) is slightly lower than in the ground creating a vacuum that draws in radon from several feet away into the basement through openings and pores in concrete. Warm air inside homes moves upward like inside a stack and this stack effect reduces air pressure in the basement. When the ground is soaked with rain, the bottled up radon gas in the ground moves to a warm opening such as a basement or crawlspace. It's important to know that the gases found in basement is no different than the gases found in crawlspaces, it might just have different radon level concentration. This stack effect will cause a radon gas inflow that will easily migrate in to the home.
Almost half of the water used in poured concrete mix is surplus and has to evaporate. Concrete cures and passes moisture to the surfaces creating a network of capillaries (pores). The pores allow a passageway for radon gases, water vapor, and liquid water to enter the basement.
Heavy radon gas accumulates in basements and on lower floors. According to the residential radon lung cancer study completed in Iowa, the 1st floor of a home receives 40% of its air from the basement level.
Effect of Radon Gases
Radon decaying products causes cancer. It is estimated that 12% of all lung cancers are caused by exposure to Radon gas. It is also estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 of the 158,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States are caused by exposure to Radon. Many years may pass before the effects of radon are detected.
Prevent Radon Gases
Minimize the entry of radon gas into your home sealing cracks in the foundation and along the basement walls, floors, or molding. Cover all crawl spaces with a heavy polyethylene barrier and seal it to the foundation wall. Close sump pits and floor drains.
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Basement Iron Bacteria
Iron bacteria are a natural part of the environment. These microorganisms combine dissolved iron or manganese with oxygen and use it to form rust-colored deposits. In the process, the bacteria produce a brown slime that builds up on drains, pipes, and plumbing fixtures.
Effects of Iron Bacteria
Iron bacteria in wells do not cause health problems, but they can have the following unpleasant and possibly expensive effects: Cause odors, Corrode plumbing equipment, clog pipes, clog drainage systems, and increase chances of sulfur bacteria infestation. Iron bacteria can cause damage to pipes due to deposition of iron compounds, resulting in clogging tuberculation of pipes and red water.
Preventing iron bacteria
Prevention is the best safeguard against accompanying problems. Iron bacteria are nourished by carbon and other organics, and it is essential that they not be introduced into any part of a drainage system. Because it is difficult to get rid of iron bacteria once they exist, it best to isolate it and try to control it rather than trying to completely "cure" the problem.
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