It is important to keep the air inside your home as healthy and fresh as possible. Your home s building materials, furnishings, and products, in addition to the activities that are carried on in your home, can have an effect on the quality of the air inside. While office buildings, schools, hospitals, and other buildings can have indoor air quality problems that can give rise to health effects or discomfort for occupants, this fact sheet focuses on some simple steps you can take to improve your home indoor environment. There are many things in homes that can contaminate the air you breathe. Gases and particles may be released from the materials used to construct your home, as well as the furniture, cleaning products, and other items in your home.
Radon gas can seep in from the soil.
Products you burn in your home, like tobacco, candles, and fuels for furnaces and stoves, give off gases and particles. To conserve energy, many newer and remodeled homes are well-insulated and tightly built. Less fresh air can get in and the stale, contaminated air can not escape. The levels of contaminants inside a home can build-up until they are many times greater than the levels in outdoor air. History of Indoor Air Quality Indoor air issues have plagued mankind since there have been dwellings.