Until the middle of the last century, homes were heated with coal and at night windows were kept open and blankets were pulled up as the coal in the furnace was consumed. Attention deficit disorder, deficit hyperactivity disorder, allergies, asthma and so many of today’s prevalent childhood health ailments were were rare exceptions.
The furniture, carpeting (usually area rugs), and cleaning materials (water and Ivory soap) were not filled with chemicals.
Soon thereafter oil furnaces became common and still later many were switched over to natural gas. Along with them came thermostats, because the amount of heat no longer depended upon how much coal had been shoveled into the furnace at any given time.
Homes in those days were often of masonary construction and had been built for the cheap coal furnace days. There wasn’t that much if any insulation in the walls and far less than today in the attic. It was no longer necessary to keep windows opened at night during the heating season, but there was still a significant about of fresh air circulation from the outside.
Came the late 1970s with its concerns about saving energy. The amount of insulation used in new housing was greatly increased and openings around doors and windows were sealed with chemical foam. Combined with the introduction of more cleaning materials and furnishings laden with chemicals, homes became toxic bins and the health of our children’s health materially declined. *
We were then and are still now focused on saving money on our fuel bills; we did not associate the super insulation with our children’s health
If imaginable, things are about to get even worse. We were told last week that the latest national building code calls for the complete sealing of the exterior of housing so that even less air can penetrate between those few remaining crevices between sheathing. No thought is given to replacement air and the health of the occupants.
Our advice… keep a couple of window open an inch or two during the heating season. Use your screens each day for a period of time during the rest of the year. Let fresh air into the house year around.
And throw out the cleaning compounds that are creating such a stench in the closet and substitute old fashion methods. Don’t be a ‘germ freak’ with an obsession to ‘sanitize’ surfaces. Physicians explain that kids raised on farms don’t suffer from allergies like city kids because from an early age they are exposed to germs. In most cases, germs are good!
It may be a little more work and cost a few dollars more (although you may save that in the cost of cleaning materials). But your children will be a lot healthier for it. And perhaps you will be to.
