Repairs & Maintenance   -   Environmental Issues

• Household Cleaners
  Over the last 75 years, hundreds of chemicals have been created and introduced into the environment. Our air, water, soil, and food indicate that certain chemicals have lasting and often detrimental effects on the natural environment and on our health. Despite these grim facts, many of us unknowingly use toxic chemicals on a regular basis. Household cleaners and other everyday products create harmful environments within our homes. [ read more ]
  
  
• Mold
  Mold is pervasive in our environment; it occurs indoors and outdoors. In nature, various molds work to decay leaves and trees, returning essential nutrients back into the soil. Mold has also served humankind through some very inventive applications. Experiments in the 1920s revealed that a species of mold, called Penicillium, when added to a sweet solution, released a chemical as part of its metabolic processes. That chemical became known as penicillin, a live-saving antibiotic. Molds also have a long history of use in cooking: they are essential to production of some cheeses such as blue cheese. Airborne molds and yeasts provide the leavening agent and distinctive flavour of sourdough bread. Inside our homes, however, mold can cause serious health problems and damage building structures. [ read more ]
  
  
• Noise Reduction
  Silence may be golden but in modern homes silence is becoming nearly impossible to achieve. We are inundated with the sounds of computers, kitchen appliances, televisions, radios, and the drone of traffic. Inside many modern homes is a cacophony of sound that can have significant impacts on health and well-being. [ read more ]
  
  
• Healthy Bathroom Renovations
  Home renovations are becoming a national pastime in Canada. According to the latest statistics, about 65% of the nation's 7.5 million homeowner households reported doing repairs and renovations. The average expenditure in 1999 was $1,810 per household*. The most popular rooms to tackle are the bathroom and the kitchen. [ read more ]
  
  
• Healthy Renovations in the Bedroom Will Improve Your Sleep
  A proper night's rest has a positive effect on mental clarity, energy, memory and even coordination. Most of us spend one third of our lives in bed. Consequently, the air quality in the bedroom is particularly important. Poor sleep can be caused by a number of factors including airborne allergens. [ read more ]
  
  
• Home Sweet Home may Not be so Sweet: Is your New Nursery Healthy for your Baby
  On the surface the image looks pretty serene - parent and infant rocking gently in a big chair in the room freshly painted and carpeted for its new inhabitant...[ read more ]
  
  
• Is Your Kitchen Making You Sick, Literally?
  Headaches, burning eyes, itching skin, trouble breathing - sound familiar? It does to more than one quarter of Canadians who suffer from allergies, asthma or environmental sensitivities. [ read more ]
  
  
• Allergies and the Home
  Sneezing, itchy watering eyes, wheezing, a runny nose are all signs of allergies. When these symptoms arrive we are quick to blame pollen and other outside allergens, but what about the irritants that are inside the home? Researchers confirm that the home not only contains many sources of allergies including dust, mold and animal dander but also tends to intensify allergic reactions due to restricted airflow. Although it is impossible to eradicate all indoor irritants, you can take preventative steps to dramatically decrease the likelihood and/or duration of allergic reactions. Time spent identifying and limiting the source of allergies in the home, as any chronic allergy sufferer will verify, is well worth it considering the daily misery of allergy symptoms. [ read more ]
  
  
• Natural Pest Control: from Ants to White Flies
  Ants: Ants turn over the dirt to mix the soil in your garden. This beneficial action is counterbalanced by an ant's willingness to attack intruders. Ants herd aphids, scales, and mealybugs for their secretions. They will defend their herds against all predators and should be kept to a minimum if you plan on using predator bugs to eat garden pests. [ read more ]
  
  
• Natural Pest Control for your Garden
  Mother Nature does a wonderful job of keeping the pest populations in control by maintaining a balance between them and their predators. Environmental conditions, such as, the amount of rain, hours of sunlight, and temperature levels all affect what pests will survive to reproduce. When land is cleared to plant a garden, it changes the dynamics between pest populations and natural controls. [ read more ]
  
  
• Is Asbestos Hiding In Your Home?
  Most people now know that asbestos is hazardous. What may not be well known however, is that severe illness can develop even twenty years after exposure and despite the dangers, asbestos continues to be used in many products for our homes. According to the American Lung Association, there are more than 3,000 products in use today which contain asbestos. Most of these are products or component materials used for fire proofing, roofing, flooring, heat and acoustic insulation. [ read more ]
  
  
• Asbestos Fact Sheet
  In the mid-1970s the sad truth about asbestos become known: it is a killer. This mineral has great fire and heat resistance properties and was widely used in building insulation products including those for homes and schools. Countless thousands of people were exposed and the effects are still being felt. Although asbestos has been removed from most buildings and banned for many uses, it is still present in some products as well as being a naturally occurring substance. For the sake of your health, it's important to know where it is found and how it works within the body. [ read more ]
  
  
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
  Many Canadians are unaware of a common poison in their homes. It is odourless, colourless and often undetected until the damage has been done. According to the Canadian Safety Council, carbon monoxide is the leading cause of fatal poisonings in North America. [ read more ]
  
  
• Toxic Air in Your Home?
  That 'new-home' scent of your house may actually be masking toxic elements. According to experts, the smog of big Canadian cities, like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, may be the least of your air pollution worries. [ read more ]
  
  
• Radon
  Carbon monoxide isn't the only odourless and colourless gas that can be found in homes. Protecting your health and that of your family is a matter of knowing what is harmful and how to reduce the risks. [ read more ]
  
  
• Get the Lead Out
  Lead has been used for thousands of years in many things, from the paint and art on our walls to the candles, ceramic dishes and crystal glasses on dinner tables. It was used to reduce engine knocking in our cars and keep pests from eating fruit crops. It blocks radiation when we get X-rays and was once widely used as solder on copper water pipes. The danger of this metal has long been known and in the 1970's and 1980's, great strides were made in reducing its use. Unfortunately, contamination persists in our environment, including our homes. Most people are unaware of its presence until the damage is done and the victims are most often children. [ read more ]
  
  
• The Blue Box Runneth Over
  For many homeowners, blue boxes are standard fixtures out at the curb along with the garbage cans. From there, most of us don't know where the materials end up or if there is any benefit to recycling. Some products such as aluminum are very profitable to recycle while others such as green glass may cost money to process. The question raised in recent years has been 'if it costs money then why recycle?' [ read more ]
  
  
• A Healthy Alternative to Senior's Housing
  The sedentary lifestyle of seniors living in retirement homes is making them age more quickly, according to a study published in the Canadian Journal on Aging. The report states that seniors' homes are built to keep residents safe but eliminate too many of the physical tasks of everyday life. Walking and climbing stairs have been replaced by effort-saving golf carts and elevators. Many residents do not need to cook or do housework. The effects of this inactivity are accelerated deterioration of joints and muscles and greater susceptibility to illness for those living in care facilities as opposed to caring for themselves. [ read more ]
  
  
• Indoor Air Quality
  What do a lunar space station, indoor air quality, and houseplants have in common? In the 1970s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began researching breathable environments for outer space. The problem facing head researcher Dr. B.C. Wolverton was how to maintain healthy air in a completely enclosed space station. He discovered that houseplants are the best filters of common pollutants released by carpets, furniture and building materials. After 25 years of research, NASA produced an extensive list of plants that can improve your home and work environment by filtering three dangerous pollutants. [ read more ]

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