Healthy indoor air for your home

People who at home com­plain of tired­ness or head­aches and also suf­fer from an irrit­a­tion of the mucous mem­branes or aller­gies may find the cause in poor indoor air. Build­ing mater­i­als, paints, but also fur­niture can emit harm­ful sub­stances that pol­lute the indoor cli­mate. These days, newly built houses are increas­ingly air­tight and the nat­ur­al exchange of air is much less fre­quent. As a res­ult, the risk of such health com­plaints increases. Here are some tips to help you ensure a healthy indoor cli­mate.

Tip 1: Ecological is not the same as healthy living

When buy­ing build­ing products, eight out of ten Ger­mans make sure that they are healthy for liv­ing and envir­on­ment­ally friendly. This is the res­ult of the study “Wohnge­sund­heit Deutsch­land” car­ried out in 2018/2019” by BENZ24 and mar­ket research insti­tute Innofact. How­ever, many people are often not aware of hid­den risks. Paper wall­pa­pers, for example, are con­sidered to be harm­less. If the paper comes from sus­tain­able sources, it can cer­tainly be eco­lo­gic­al. How­ever, if the humid­ity at home is too high, there is a risk of mold growth. If you want to live in a healthy home with unpol­luted air, make sure to choose the right build­ing mater­i­als. Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion should be paid to the mater­i­als used on walls, ceil­ings and floors since they make up the major part of our liv­ing space. For this reas­on, products such as wall pan­els, seal­ants, primers, adhes­ives and fillers should be low in emis­sions.

Tip 2: Good preparation is key

Regard­less of the floor cov­er­ing selec­ted, expert pre­par­a­tion of the sub­strate is essen­tial. If you want to pre­vent dam­age, mold or odors caused by the floor struc­ture which may later also affect your health, the sub­floor should be level, sound, clean and dry. It is best to con­sult a pro­fes­sion­al floor lay­er who can assess the con­di­tion of the sub­floor and knows exactly how to pro­ceed. When pre­par­ing the sub­floor for the install­a­tion of new floor­ing, but also when work­ing on walls and ceil­ings, the right mater­i­als must be used. They should have the low­est pos­sible emis­sions in order to max­im­ize air hygiene.