Sick House Syndrome - Break its Fever Without Breaking the Bank

Now that we’re spending more time in our homes, it’s time to consider whether your house is as well as it can be.

Sick House = Sick Occupants.

Odors
Dampness
Mold
Pollutants
Allergens
Headache
Respiratory system ailments
Neurological, immune system, inflammation, gastrointestinal, skin rash maladies.

These are real illness symptoms folks can suffer from as a result of Sick House Syndrome. But, there are two ways you can turn this situation around.

#1) The expensive way is to guess.

“It MUST be mold that’s making me sick.”

The common next steps are to spend $500 to $1,200 on mold tests for the house. Then, spend $800 to $3,000 on allergy and body toxin tests. Next thing you know, you’re spending another $10,000 on crawl space encapsulation; then comes the recommendation to spend another $4000 on French drains; $600 each on several air cleaner machines; another $950 to have the basement walls sealed with dry-loc paint.

You get the picture. And all coming from the initial comment, “I guess it’s MOLD that is making us sick!”

Trust me, this is the pathway the vast majority of folks have taken. “What do I do?” “Where do I start?” “How do I do this?” “How can I afford this?” They confirm their belief that these matters are confounding, expensive, and impossible to correct. Very discouraging…and very expensive!

#2)That’s the Myth. Here’s the reality. And for a whole lot less.

You CAN make the house healthy again, and with far fewer dollars than you expected!

What’s the catch? Well, it will require effort on your part; and you will have to spend some money. And, some of those measures indicated above may still need to be done. However, the results will be that you will:

Maintain the value of the house.
Maintain the integrity of your possessions.
Maintain conditions that support occupant health…and
Maintain better control of medical care expenses.

The key is to start by identifying the house’s ills, and this is where we can help you.

These are 8 basic characteristics of A Healthy Home:

Dry
Safe
Clean
Maintained
Ventilated
Pest free
Toxin free
Thermal control

Read more about these characteristics at the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH).

Here’s what you can do first:

Start with what’s obviously not right. A house suffering from Sick House Syndrome always comes down to some part(s) of the house being broken, out of adjustment, or missing. Fix what’s “broken” and the house will get healthy again.

“As a home healthiness examiner myself, people often ask me what I look for. I tell them ,“We have to look for 3,000 things. After all, houses have lots of spaces, parts, and their own unique history. We have to read what happened in times past, confirm present house conditions, and define what that house can perform going forward. We must confirm that the house does not have 2,970 of those common house ills, and confirm which 30 ills it does have. Then decipher which 3 to 5 of those you should fix to bring you 80% of the improvement that is needed.”

Most of these fixes lie within the realm of fairly standard house repair and house maintenance. Some of them you may need an experienced professional to help you with. Don’t be shy about getting some guidance from a house healthiness examiner. Efforts to look outside and through the house to diagnose what the ills are will pay off. It will answer those questions about “what, where, why, and how”, have you” barking up the right tree,” and spare you from at least some, or all, unnecessary (and expensive) house surgeries.