Once the windows close, the air in your home is the air you live in until spring. Five inexpensive checks that make the season healthier and protect what the house is worth.
By Andrew Howell, REALTOR®, RE/MAX Sarnia Realty Inc.
September is the month a house changes how it breathes. The windows that have been open since May start staying shut, the furnace takes over from the outdoors, and the air inside begins to circulate rather than exchange. For the next seven months, the air in your home is largely the air you make. It is also, quietly, a question of value. Moisture, odour, and air quality problems are among the first things a buyer senses and an inspector writes down, and every one of them is cheaper to prevent in September than to explain during a sale.
None of the checks below calls for a contractor or a renovation budget, and most cost an afternoon or less. Each earns its place because it improves how the house feels to live in now and how it holds up to scrutiny later.
This is the one item on the list that will not wait. Health Canada's guideline is 200 becquerels per cubic metre, and a valid result requires a test that runs for at least 91 days during the heating season, which makes September the natural month to start one. It matters here in particular: Cancer Care Ontario data puts 8.4 percent of Lambton homes at or above the guideline, slightly above the provincial figure of 8.2 percent, with a further 19.1 percent sitting between 100 and 199 becquerels. If a test does come back high, a mitigation system is usually less than a day's work, reduces levels by more than 80 percent, and costs in line with other common home repairs. A tested home, with a system installed on your own timeline, is a far better position than meeting the question for the first time in the middle of a deal.
The consequences run in both directions, and both are expensive. Moisture with nowhere to go becomes condensation, then mould, then stained drywall and soft trim, which is precisely the sort of finding that lands in an inspection report and comes off a sale price. Air that is too dry is harder on a house than most people expect, shrinking hardwood flooring, opening gaps in trim, and cracking cabinet doors. A basic hygrometer costs a few dollars, and simply knowing the number is most of the work.
Two things are worth confirming while you are at it. Check that both fans actually vent outside rather than into the attic, a common shortcut in older homes that deposits moisture straight onto the roof structure, and check that the exterior vents are clear. Running the fans you already have costs nothing. It is also the cheapest protection there is against the humidity problem above, and against the bathroom and kitchen damage that follows it.
There is a second reason to do it in September. A dryer sends a great deal of moisture out of the house, and a blocked duct pushes some of it back inside at exactly the season you are trying to keep humidity in check. A clear vent also means shorter cycles, lower hydro bills, and a machine that lasts longer. Pull the duct off, clear the run, and confirm the flap on the exterior wall opens freely.
The effect is measurable. In a Health Canada intervention study, running an exhaust fan in an attached garage cut gasoline-related pollutants in the home's living room by 43 to 62 percent and carbon monoxide by 23 percent. Not every home needs a fan installed. Every home benefits from the simpler version: back the car out before letting it idle rather than warming it up inside, weatherstrip the door between the garage and the house, and move fuel and solvents to a shed. Garage odour that has worked its way into a home is one of the first things a buyer notices and one of the hardest things to remove later.
None of this is work that shows. It will not photograph, and no one will compliment you on it. But it decides how a house smells when you open the door in January, how it feels through a long Sarnia winter, and whether the moisture and air problems that quietly erode a home's value ever get the chance to start. A few hours this month, and the house you come home to in February is a better one.
If you would like a second set of eyes on your home before the season turns, or a sense of which improvements would matter most before a future sale, I would be glad to walk your property with you. Reach out anytime by phone at (519) 402-1277 or by email at AndrewHowell.Realtor@gmail.com.
Andrew Howell is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Sarnia Realty Inc. A lifelong Sarnia resident, he represents buyers and sellers across Sarnia, Bright's Grove, Point Edward, Camlachie, and Corunna.
Sources: Health Canada (Guide for Radon Measurements in Homes; Reducing Radon Levels in Your Home; Guide to Addressing Moisture and Mould Indoors; Residential Attached Garage Intervention Study); Cancer Care Ontario (Risk of Residential Radon Exposure Varies Geographically, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes); National Fire Protection Association (Home Fires Involving Clothes Dryers and Washing Machines).
By Andrew Howell, REALTOR®, RE/MAX Sarnia Realty Inc.
September is the month a house changes how it breathes. The windows that have been open since May start staying shut, the furnace takes over from the outdoors, and the air inside begins to circulate rather than exchange. For the next seven months, the air in your home is largely the air you make. It is also, quietly, a question of value. Moisture, odour, and air quality problems are among the first things a buyer senses and an inspector writes down, and every one of them is cheaper to prevent in September than to explain during a sale.
None of the checks below calls for a contractor or a renovation budget, and most cost an afternoon or less. Each earns its place because it improves how the house feels to live in now and how it holds up to scrutiny later.
1. Start a long-term radon test
Radon is a colourless, odourless gas that seeps out of the ground and collects in the lower levels of a house. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada after smoking, linked to roughly 3,360 deaths a year and an estimated 16 percent of lung cancer deaths. There is no way to sense it. The only way to know is to measure.This is the one item on the list that will not wait. Health Canada's guideline is 200 becquerels per cubic metre, and a valid result requires a test that runs for at least 91 days during the heating season, which makes September the natural month to start one. It matters here in particular: Cancer Care Ontario data puts 8.4 percent of Lambton homes at or above the guideline, slightly above the provincial figure of 8.2 percent, with a further 19.1 percent sitting between 100 and 199 becquerels. If a test does come back high, a mitigation system is usually less than a day's work, reduces levels by more than 80 percent, and costs in line with other common home repairs. A tested home, with a system installed on your own timeline, is a far better position than meeting the question for the first time in the middle of a deal.
2. Bring the humidity into the range the house is built for
Summer's humidity problem is too much moisture. Winter's is usually too little, and both do damage. Health Canada recommends keeping relative humidity between 30 and 50 percent, and your windows will tell you when you are above it: condensation on the panes on a cold morning means the house is holding more moisture than it can shed.The consequences run in both directions, and both are expensive. Moisture with nowhere to go becomes condensation, then mould, then stained drywall and soft trim, which is precisely the sort of finding that lands in an inspection report and comes off a sale price. Air that is too dry is harder on a house than most people expect, shrinking hardwood flooring, opening gaps in trim, and cracking cabinet doors. A basic hygrometer costs a few dollars, and simply knowing the number is most of the work.
3. Use the ventilation you already own
Most homes already have the equipment to fix their own air, and most of us run it for a fraction of the time it needs. Health Canada's guidance is specific. The bathroom fan should run for at least 30 minutes after a shower or bath, and the kitchen range hood should be on its highest setting whenever you cook.Two things are worth confirming while you are at it. Check that both fans actually vent outside rather than into the attic, a common shortcut in older homes that deposits moisture straight onto the roof structure, and check that the exterior vents are clear. Running the fans you already have costs nothing. It is also the cheapest protection there is against the humidity problem above, and against the bathroom and kitchen damage that follows it.
4. Clear the dryer vent, not just the lint trap
The lint trap catches only a fraction of what a dryer produces. The rest accumulates in the duct running from the machine to the outside wall, where it is both flammable and easy to forget. The National Fire Protection Association attributes 33 percent of home clothes dryer fires to failure to clean, the single leading factor, out of an estimated 15,970 home fires a year involving dryers or washing machines.There is a second reason to do it in September. A dryer sends a great deal of moisture out of the house, and a blocked duct pushes some of it back inside at exactly the season you are trying to keep humidity in check. A clear vent also means shorter cycles, lower hydro bills, and a machine that lasts longer. Pull the duct off, clear the run, and confirm the flap on the exterior wall opens freely.
5. Treat the attached garage as part of the house
An attached garage shares a wall, a door, and a good deal of air with the living space, and it is where most households keep the things they would never store indoors: fuel, solvents, paint, small engines, and a vehicle that has just been running. Those compounds do not stay put. They move into the house through the connecting door and through gaps in the wall.The effect is measurable. In a Health Canada intervention study, running an exhaust fan in an attached garage cut gasoline-related pollutants in the home's living room by 43 to 62 percent and carbon monoxide by 23 percent. Not every home needs a fan installed. Every home benefits from the simpler version: back the car out before letting it idle rather than warming it up inside, weatherstrip the door between the garage and the house, and move fuel and solvents to a shed. Garage odour that has worked its way into a home is one of the first things a buyer notices and one of the hardest things to remove later.
None of this is work that shows. It will not photograph, and no one will compliment you on it. But it decides how a house smells when you open the door in January, how it feels through a long Sarnia winter, and whether the moisture and air problems that quietly erode a home's value ever get the chance to start. A few hours this month, and the house you come home to in February is a better one.
If you would like a second set of eyes on your home before the season turns, or a sense of which improvements would matter most before a future sale, I would be glad to walk your property with you. Reach out anytime by phone at (519) 402-1277 or by email at AndrewHowell.Realtor@gmail.com.
Andrew Howell is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Sarnia Realty Inc. A lifelong Sarnia resident, he represents buyers and sellers across Sarnia, Bright's Grove, Point Edward, Camlachie, and Corunna.
Sources: Health Canada (Guide for Radon Measurements in Homes; Reducing Radon Levels in Your Home; Guide to Addressing Moisture and Mould Indoors; Residential Attached Garage Intervention Study); Cancer Care Ontario (Risk of Residential Radon Exposure Varies Geographically, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes); National Fire Protection Association (Home Fires Involving Clothes Dryers and Washing Machines).