6 Steps to a Healthier Garage
Content provided by Smart HomeOwner
Simple fixes can keep your family safe and healthy.
Garages were originally small, simple structures designed to house and protect a car from the elements. They were always separate from the home. Today, however, garages for multiple cars are attached to houses and often are the most pronounced feature at the front of a home.
But how does that affect our health? You probably wouldn't dream of parking your two cars in your living room or spare bedroom. Yet that's what an attached garage is another room of your home, usually separated from the living space only by a standard exterior door.
An average family loading and unloading children, dogs and groceries every day can make a garage one of the most heavily trafficked rooms in the home. But garages also are homes for our fuel-burning cars and a storage space for a host of hazardous products. To make sure your garage is as safe and healthy as possible, take the following steps.
1. Install an Exhaust Fan
Garages are, first and foremost, a place to keep cars. But cars exhaust pollutants, fumes and gasoline odors that can easily find their way into your living space if the garage is attached to your home.
Car exhaust contains many kinds of gases and chemicals, including car bon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates such as dust, dirt, soot and smoke. On the chemical front, gas can contain benzene, cadmium, chlorine, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene and additives such as MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), which is a suspected carcinogen.
To keep these potentially harmful gases and chemicals from entering the house, garages need to be well ventilated. The best way to ventilate a garage is to install an appropriately sized mechanical exhaust fan. When choosing a model, make sure it has enough CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air movement to effectively remove polluted air from the entire garage. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends two options: continuous mechanical ventilation of 50 CFM or intermittent ventilation for a minimum of 20 minutes at a capacity of 100 CFM per car (200 CFM for a two-bay garage), activated whenever the garage door is operated.
For intermittent fan operation, you also can use a spring-wound crank timer that you manually crank to run for a set period of time. This will air out the garage while the vehicle cools down. Then the timer will shut off automatically. The only drawback is you have to remember to crank it.
To bring in fresh air to replace the vented air, you could keep a window slightly open, though that might be an invitation to a burglar. It's better to install louvered vents either in a gable end or, if the garage is under the house, high in a garage wall.
2. Reduce Hazardous Products
Many homeowners use the garage as a storage space, where they keep every thing that either cannot fit or does not belong in the house. What most people don't know is that some of these items can outgas, leak and emit toxic chemicals and pollutants that can find their way into your home.
Take an inventory of the products in your garage and read labels. Many of these items will be labeled with words like warning, danger, caution and flammable. These products are considered household hazardous waste. Simply storing them in your garage is no guarantee of safety or protection of your family's health.
It's possible you've simply forgotten about some of these products, or maybe they're no longer needed or used. If that's the case, get rid of them. Reducing the volume of hazardous products in your garage is a great start in making your garage a healthier place.
Never dispose of household hazardous waste in your garbage can, down the sink, on the ground or down a storm drain. Take them to your local household hazardous waste facility.
For accidental spills or leaks, ventilate your garage well and use nontoxic, unscented, undyed detergent or absorbents to remove them. Avoid toxic solvents and always use heavy- duty gloves to protect your hands while cleaning. The good news is that there are now many products available, such as nontoxic pest and garden products, that work great, are gentle on the environment and will not harm your family's health. Look for these products when you make future purchases.
3. Seal off the Garage
To prevent the passage of contaminated air into living spaces, make sure your garage is well sealed. Using caulk ', or expandable foam products, carefully seal the entire common wall between the home and the garage. Make sure it's airtight so fumes can not seep through the wall into the home.
Common air infiltration points must be sealed, including points where the drywall meets the floor or framing members do not meet properly, as well as around electrical out lets, lighting fixtures, air vents and plumbing, electrical, and ductwork penetrations.
4. Weather-Strip Doors
The door that connects the garage to your living space must be airtight, because it is the primary pathway through which pollutants can enter your home, even when the door is closed. Use weather stripping around the door; a sealed threshold should be installed also.
Most available weather strips are synthetic, such as silicone, urethane foam, polypropylene nylon and neo prene. Brass and stainless-steel options also are available at hardware stores. The EPA notes that homeowners should not weather-strip or seal off garage doors that open to the outside, which would hinder ventilation. The exchange of air around these doors helps ventilate the garage.
5. Take Precautions for Rooms Above Garages
If you have a room above die garage, such as a bedroom or an office, keep in mind that garage pollution will easily find its way inside, either through open windows or through the garage ceiling if it is not properly sealed. This can pose significant health concerns, particularly if the room above is a child's bed room.
It is simple to seal the garage ceiling. There are special products that can be painted onto these surfaces to seal them, such as Safecoat Safe Seal from AFM (www.afmsafecoat.com). But closing windows whenever someone drives in or out of the garage or leaves the car idling on the driveway under a bedroom window is a little more challenging.
If there is an alternative window to open that is not directly over the garage door, use this for fresh air. Opening windows during periods of the day or night when no cars are around is another solution. If you don't have that option, you may need to run an air purifier in the room. Choose one that is capable of removing gases and VOC's (volatile organic compounds).
6. Consider a Detached Garage
The truth is, most attached garages were not designed or built to prevent garage-generated pollutants from passing indoors, regardless of the age of die house or how much it cost to build. Even if you follow all the recommend ed strategies discussed here, pollution will enter your home whenever the door from the garage into the home is opened.
The detached garage is a feature that needs to be designed into new homes, with a simple breezeway providing weather protection when you and your family are moving between the garage and the home. Use your consumer power and insist that your new home be built that way. If necessary, educate your architect or builder about the health concerns associated with attached garages. By taking the proper steps early, you can ensure your family remains safe and healthy.
By taking these simple steps, you can keep your family safe and healthy:
- Install an exhaust fan, vented away from the house or any windows. Set it on a timer to run for 45 minutes after a car leaves or enters in the garage.
- Don’t let your car idle or “warm up” in the garage, especially with the garage door closed. If you want to warm up the engine, pull it out of the garage and a little way away from the house to do so.
- Weatherstrip any connecting doors to make them airtight.
- Seal common walls and ceilings and other common air infiltration points, including electrical outlets, lighting fixtures, air vents, the juncture where drywall meets the floor and any poorly sealed plumbing, electrical or ductwork penetrations.
- Get rid of as many hazardous household waste products as possible and dispose of them safely. Any hazardous products you want to keep should be stored either in an outside shed that is securely locked or in a locked, fireproof, sealed container, which can be independently vented to the outdoors.
- Make sure your garage is equipped with a multi-purpose fire extinguisher. Store it in a place that is easily accessible and prominent. Check the gauge occasionally to make sure it’s properly charged.
Consider replacing your gasoline-powered yard equipment with manual or electric models. The exhaust fumes from these machines can be even worse than exhaust from cars. Until they can be replaced, always start these pieces of equipment outside the garage, and let them cool off outdoors after use before bringing them back into the garage.
