Industry experts all agree that home windows, including high-quality replacement windows, play an integral part in keeping indoor air quality healthy. At Renewal by Andersen of New Jersey & New York Metro we take pride in designing and building replacement windows for your home that support a healthy home. This week’s article aims to help you determine if aging windows and patio doors are diminishing indoor air quality, and may be ready for retirement.
A man’s (or woman’s) home is his (or her) castle. A place to run after a harried day to relax and revive the spirit, so to speak. But, what do you do when you think your house is making you sick? Amanda Klecker, a certified building biologist, wrote a great piece for mindbodygreen.com that offers some excellent advice on determining whether your home is making you sick, and some ways you can restore a house to a healthy home.
Klecker reminds readers that, “Radon is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and has recently become a huge home health issue.” One way to protect your family from this naturally occurring gas is to open doors and windows often to prevent dangerous levels from building up in your home. Windows that are nailed shut, or that won’t stay open without major effort on your part, reduce air circulation opportunities, potentially putting your family in harm’s way.
You don’t want to live in a hermetically sealed environment, but it is important to have windows that seal tightly as protection against inclement weather, and keep conditioned air indoors for comfort control. Achieving a healthy balance between operable and fixed replacement windows ensures proper ventilation, while allowing you to choose natural home cooling methods during moderate weather.
Overcoming poor ventilation isn’t the only challenge aging home windows create.
While opening windows once in a while to air out the home is essential for maintaining health, remember that high-quality insect screens can help to keep allergens, dust, dirt and other airborne particles, such as mold spores, outside where they cannot trigger asthma or other respiratory ailments.
Mold is a common problem in the New Jersey and New York metro area. Some people find that mold takes root in aging wood windows with extensive water damage. Replacing water-logged wood windows with Fibrex framed replacement windows, eliminates mold colony growth originating from home window sills and ledges.
Fibrex frames and interiors, which provide a zero-maintenance, no-paint-required home improvement solution, also are an excellent upgrade for homeowners who discover their older home has turn-of-the-century windows originally sealed with lead paint. Like radon, lead-based paint is known to cause cancer. Unlike radon, it is possible to completely remove lead-based paint from a home, although it can be expensive and time consuming.
Replacing windows that aren’t performing properly is a great first step if you find out your home has high levels of lead indoors. The EPA recommends you take immediate action if any known lead-based paint is chipping, flaking or peeling – something you’ll never have to deal with when you install Fibrex frame replacement windows.
Renewal by Andersen of New Jersey & New York Metro’s modern, high-performance replacement windows eliminates myriad home window problems that could be causing recurring headaches, frequent colds, respiratory ailments and even sleep disorders. If you suspect your windows are making you sick, simply fill in the short form on this page or call (866) 609-5033 to schedule a home inspection to learn if Renewal by Andersen of New Jersey & New York Metro’s replacement windows are a good solution for improving indoor air quality.
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