What to Know About a High Radon Test Result
I got a high radon test result for my house this week. I've lived in the house nearly four years now and finally got it tested. Yay! The result is high. Boo! But what does it really mean? I haven't…
![How Radon Enters A Home [US EPA]](https://www.energyvanguard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/how-radon-enters-home-epa.jpg)
indoor air quality
Do Airtight Houses Need Makeup Air?
When you turn on an exhaust fan, it blows air from inside the house to the outdoors. That air leaving the house will be matched by an equal amount of air coming in from outside. The more airtight the house…
Can Cold Surfaces Wring Moisture From Dry Air?
Cold air is dry air, right? Think about the humidity in your house in winter compared to what it is in summer. If you're in a humid climate, it's going to be drier in winter. Even in dry climates, it's…
What a Carbon Dioxide Monitor Tells You
OK, it's time to spell this out in black and white because there seems to be some confusion. Monitoring carbon dioxide (CO2), as I've been doing with my Aranet4 portable CO2 monitor* for the past couple of years, is a…
The Top 10 Articles in the Energy Vanguard Blog in 2022
It's been a good year in the Energy Vanguard Blog. Counting this one, I've published 46 articles during the year. Of the previous 45 articles, I think the following might be ten most important ones. This is just my own…
Should You Encapsulate Your Crawl Space?
Vented crawl spaces are often nasty, dirty buffer spaces that can flood your home with a variety of indoor air pollutants. A lot of it starts with moisture, of course. Water comes up from the ground beneath the crawl space,…
Pumpkin Spice: It’s Not Just for Lattes Anymore
Tis the season for pumpkin spice. It began with pumpkin pie and then later spread to fancy coffee drinks. Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte in 2003 and turned it into a trend. Now everyone knows it even by its…
Ionizer Company Sues Indoor Air Quality Expert
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, indoor air quality has become a subject of great concern. IAQ and infectious disease scientists discovered early on that COVID is airborne. That means removing virus-laden particles from the air or deactivating…
The What, Why, and How of the Corsi-Rosenthal Box
The Westford Symposium on Building Science (known mostly as Building Science Summer Camp) came back to life this year after a two-year pandemic-prompted hiatus. Three of the presentations on the first day focused on health, indoor air quality, and infection…
A Continuous Air Barrier Between Garage and House
An attached garage is the source of a lot of indoor air pollutants for a great many homes. That's because we store gasoline, pesticides, paints, and other toxic materials there, and we exhaust the fumes of automobiles there as well. …