Hot Environmental Topics

The term "mold" correlates to fungi (although not all fungi form molds, some form mushrooms), and mold is often called mildew (because "mildew" sounds better than "mold"). No matter what you call it, finding mold during a real estate transaction is a negative. How you manage mold can have a huge impact on the real estate transaction.

To be clear, mold is a known indoor air contaminant and a health hazard, underscoring a bigger issue: a water issue that can be destructive to building materials.

The health concern can give an out to a buyer, as the home can be viewed as uninhabitable. A failed sale also red ones the property as having some issue that caused it to fall out of contract. Relisting the property means disclosing the mold growth and any other defect noted from the buyers’ inspection.

Those are some of the negatives, so let’s flip the coin to the positive side. Finding mold means confronting it head-on.   Determining cause (Was it fixed? Is it defined?), fixing the mold (remediating to whatever extent necessary to bring the indoor environment to a normal fungal ecology), and lasting documenting these facts to the buyer. In short, you are defining and addressing, for lack of a better term, the cancer.   Fixing the issues solves the issue. I can freely say that after 30-some years of environmental consulting, I have never said Do Not Buy that property because of mold.

So, how do you manage mold in a real estate transaction?

When mold is found or suspected, assess what you know at that point.

1          Do you know the cause?

2          Do you know the source?

3          If you do not know 1 & 2, you do not know the cost to address.

If you can't answer 1 through 4, you need to take steps to answer the questions.   Understand if an inspector notes mold in an attic, unless it was a paid inspection, you will not have the data to answer these questions.

This utility room houses HVAC equipment, a water heater & a washer and dryer.  There are three typical causes of mold in this room. Mold was found; do you know where, the cause, and the fix?   We did.

Mold Questions

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This leads to having a professional mold inspection performed. Yes, there are specific paid inspections to evaluate a property for mold. Did you know you can test for mold and evaluate the fungi found, which helps unlock the driver (cause) of the mold was.   Yes, different molds need different conditions to grow.

Keep in mind that unless a mold inspection was contracted as part of the purchase due diligence, meaning that in addition to your home inspection, radon testing, termite, piling inspection, engineering, roof, pool, septic, etc., then mold was not specifically looked for, but it was noted by an inspector or a relative with a keen eye. This drives you to needing to get a professional involved.

What can you expect from a professional mold inspection?

Confirmation that mold is or is not present.

Evaluation of the causes of the mold and the extent of the mold. Yes, mold can have multiple causes.

Lastly, a budget to address the mold (remediate) and repairs that may have been missed to prevent the mold from returning.

It is not uncommon that after the mold inspection is completed, the real estate settles, either before of after the mold is remediated. Yes, it is common that there is not enough time to address the mold before settlement. We are seeing payments to environmental companies directly from settlement accounts (title Company), which ensures the mold is addressed.   Reading between the lines here is telling, for buyers and lenders to proceed to settlement when mold is not addresse,d is saying there is a comfort level about the mold being addressed.

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Use your Environmental card to sell real estate faster, by card I mean having a Phase I completed as a selling feature.  Never thought about having a Phase I sell a property?  Read on my friend.

Environmental due diligence is a mainstay of real estate transactions; it doesn’t matter if it’s residential, commercial, or industrial, but it is typically the last task completed.    I know this from 30-plus years of real estate transactions. Sellers and their representatives do not want to take the first step forward in evaluating a property for environmental issues. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the ostrich effect.   Sellers wait until the buyer pulls the proverbial environmental trigger, shocking the seller that something was found, or the seller being surprised that environmental due diligence was even performed.   Don’t believe me, ask any realtor about environmental due diligence they had to face in a transaction, and the delays it caused.

On many sites, the sale grinds to a slow crawl while the seller digests the problem and the cost to address it.   Some buyers hang on waiting for work to be completed, but to say work can take a few months for some issues can push buyers to the next property. I had one that was going on for 10 months, the buyer just had to walk due to the length of time.

You want a fast closing, do your environmental due diligence before the property is listed. For a residence that can include a tank sweep and mold inspection, as these are the common environmental issues in homes. On commercial properties, perform a Phase I. Think of it as a sales brochure on the property. You may already have one from when you bought the property. Since they are only good for 6 months to a year, a fresh Phase I is needed. Maybe you never did a Phase I and hope a buyer will follow suit. Don’t count on it, that is the whole point of this exercise is to anticipate what environment will be needed to allow the sale to go through.

Your best case is that Phase I finds no issues, which is a huge selling feature for buyers.  It makes your property more appealing than competing properties, because the OTHER properties have an undefined environmental status. What property do you want? The one with the questions answered or the one with questions?

Due Diligence Questions?

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I will even turn the page to a Phase I finding an issue, and now a Phase II is needed, meaning testing. This is when many buyers stop the sales process because they have already spent money on inspection and do not care to test a property; they do not want to find something the owner may not address. A Phase II, when necessary, is the slam dunk step for a seller to undertake. If no issue is found, you are done. If an issue is found, well,l you have all the time to address it before a buyer comes along.  Matter of fact, after 30+ years of performing environmental due diligence, I can say with 100% certainty that sites that have had environmental completed before a property is listed for sale, sell faster and for more money.

Being forward-thinking and looking for environmental issues BEFORE a buyer comes along may seem counterintuitive, but it’s not; it’s being proactive to put the property in the best light possible.

The New Jersey Lead Safe law is approaching its 3-year birthday on July 22, 2025.   Since its inception, two sets of law changes have taken place.   The law has extended the deadline one year (to July 22, 2025) and made some tweaks to the inspection area.

The more impactful change was decided in February 2025, when the inspection requirements for 53 towns had their inspections requirements changed.  

Ten (10) New Jersey towns (1.8%) moved from visual inspection to dust wipe sampling, a more intensive inspection. 

and

Forty-three (43) towns, down from the current 84, (7.6%), moved from dust wipe sampling to visual inspection, a less intensive lead inspection.

Any town with dust wipe requirements means that a percentage of children had an elevated lead blood level.   Lessening the number of New Jersey towns that require dust wipe sampling underscores the success of the NJ Lead Safe Law.

Fifty-three towns are a small percentage of all the municipalities in New Jersey, and this change impacts 9.4% of towns, and most of those have moved to an easier, less costly lead methodology.   The lead law change was not provided to the companies that perform the inspection, but rather the municipalities, meaning sites were inspected improperly.  This change shows just how hard it is to keep track of the NJ Lead Safe Law.

The lead law is evolving, and compliance with the lead law and the liability when units fail is a headache for landlords.   Curren Environmental has been consulting on environmental issues for over 27 years.   Our team can help you with compliance with environmental matters, including lead.

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The four-letter word MOLD, elicits emotional responses from people for different reasons depending on how and where mold is found.    If someone is having health concerns mold will be a target source of the problems and these people will want it investigated professionally.  If you are buying a home finding suspect mold or obvious mold, will require further professional evaluation as to the extent and cause.  Lastly, if you are selling a home and the buyer finds suspect mold, you need professional representation to manage the issue.

Bottom line if you think you have mold or find mold you need a professional to assess the mold.  Unless of course, you started the project with one. 

If there is one thing, I know about mold it is that it is an indoor, biological air contaminant, and anyone associated with it wants it addressed (quantified) or for it to disappear. 

If you are living with health issues your mold consultant needs to inspect and test your environment, to determine if mold is a factor in your health issues.   This inspection encompasses interviewing the individual having the health concerns, inspection of living spaces, target sampling of complaint rooms and a summary report of findings.  These three tasks which are more extensive than they sound are rarely completed, because the industry lacks environmental professionals qualified in mold evaluation.

Case in point, a couple is buying a home, and their due diligence entails a title search and a home inspection.  The home inspector notes mold-like growth on the basement foundation wall and adjacent sheetrock wall.   The buyers obtain a free mold inspection, which provides costs to remediate and does not diagnose the cause of the mold growth.   Now professionals are not free and the buyers got what they paid for, which was a free estimate to remediate which they gave to the seller.  The cause of the growth was not diagnosed.

The seller being presented with a mold issue wanted their representation, so they are in control of the process.  As you might imagine, Curren was the paid environmental consultant.  Our evaluation included inspecting and determining what was causing the mold growth as a foundation wall is made of concrete, which is not organic and is naturally resistant to mold.     Mold was confirmed as mold was growing on the painted concrete foundation (paint is organic) and it was a small area of the basement wall, perhaps 4% of the entire basement wall area.   This wall was found to have been painted multiple times, likely to address the mold growth.  The walls were evaluated with a moisture sensing infrared camera, which found high moisture levels across the wall where mold was present and normal moisture levels on walls that had no growth, so the fuel for the mold was the water, which was determined to not be indoor plumbing but exterior moisture.  The outside area had multiple issues that allowed water to migrate and sit by the foundation where the wall was found to have mold. 

Appropriate remediation would be to address the mold and the water issue outside, and to be fair the exterior water controls would cost more than the inside mold remediation.  The seller asks the buyer what they want to do (the buyer does not have a professional opinion, but rather a free quote to remediate).  The buyer wants the free remediation quote completed, which the seller pays to complete.

Mold comes back and the new owners are perplexed why they still have a mold problem.

Mold Questions?

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I was in Home Depot and there was an overhead public service announcement regarding lead being present in pre-1978 homes and that DIYers should be aware of lead hazards.   To say lead is not a concern or popular is to ignore how serious a health hazard lead is.

So should you get a lead paint inspection?

Seriously, the need for a lead paint inspection relates to why you are interested in inspecting for lead, in short, what is your objective?

If you have a commercial property, you are renovating or demolishing, you may be required to perform a lead paint inspection, so workers are not exposed to lead hazards as well as for management of demolition material that contains lead.

If you are a homeowner or future homeowner and let’s, say you want to buy an older home, for argument's sake the home is circa 1920, and you want to see if lead is present in the home? That is a common request we receive and long before we show up to inspect, I can say 100% you have lead in the home as the home was built during the golden age of lead paint usage, also lead based stains and varnish usage. So if you want to get depressed and have this older home inspected for lead, feel free.

 Perhaps you realize that the home has lead, it must be because it was built at some point before 1978. (Lead paint usage was banned on residential properties in 1978.)   Your concern or objective is to limit lead exposure to your young children. You see children are more susceptible to lead exposure as toddlers will put everything in their mouth and will chew on surfaces. A home with lead paint can generate lead dust and can have CHEW surfaces for kids. Meaning a low windowsill can be found to have teeth marks on it from kids chewing on the wood because that’s what kids do.   Lead also has a sweet flavor profile so why not suck on things that contain lead. Lead dust from rubbing of friction points (doors, windows) lands on floors, where kids crawl and then they suck their hands, that’s your lead exposure.   Protecting your family with a lead paint inspection is a solid reason to have an inspection completed.   You do not have to test the entire house, but you can inspect rooms where you expect toddlers to inhabit, family rooms, bedrooms, and play areas.   Know if lead is present in these rooms and where allows you to mange the risk. Managing risk may mean renovating areas to remove lead or protecting surfaces so lead will not become liberated.

If I am renovating a house, should I get a lead paint inspection?

100% testing for lead before renovation is a smart idea. Testing for lead will protect people working in the space.  If you know lead is present and where, then you can manage the hazard. If no lead is present or lead is present on surfaces that will not be disturbed, you will not be creating a lead hazard.  Lead knowledge is valuable.

 Why should I have my home inspected or assessed for risks?

• Your child has been diagnosed as having lead poisoning. The most common home-based source of lead exposure is deteriorating lead-based paint and the resulting dust.
• You live in a home built before 1978 where small children are or will be living.
• You are about to remodel or do anything that will disturb lead-based paint or generate lead-based paint dust and chips that can harm you and your family.
• You are renting or buying a home. When buying a home, federal law (Title X) allows the buyer to test for lead.      

 What is the difference between an inspection and a risk assessment?

A lead paint inspection is a surface-by-surface investigation to determine whether there is lead-based paint. Lead-based paint inspections determine the presence of lead-based paint.

A lead risk assessment is an on-site investigation to determine the presence, type, severity, and location of lead-based paint hazards (including lead hazards in paint, dust, and soil) and provides suggested ways to control them.

You can also have a combined inspection and risk assessment.  With any of these options, the risk assessor or inspector will provide you with a written report of findings.

The above photo shows a radiator that has been painted multiple times, you can see paint flaking off, the paint is lead and this would constitute a lead paint hazard.  If the paint was not lead, no hazard.

Do I have to inspect the entire property for lead?

You do not have to inspect the entire property for lead if you do not want to and you are planning on living in the property. Many people want specific rooms or surfaces tested so they can decide what renovations they want to perform.

Lead Inspection Questions?

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What is end results of a lead paint inspection?

After you complete a lead paint inspection, you will know where lead is or is not present. This information is also to be shared in the future when you sell the property as you must disclosure your knowledge of lead paint. Older properties that are found to have no lead can obtain lead exempt (lead free certifications), making the property more valuable.

You should not rely on the ERMI. Unfortunately, many people, including companies, are relying on the ERMI incorrectly. The ERMI, or Environmental Relative Moldiness Index, was developed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) researchers. It is a research tool and is not recommended for use except as a research tool (this is as per EPA).

The ERMI scale for estimating mold contamination was developed for use in research studies related to mold exposure and health impacts. ERMI has been peer-reviewed for research purposes only and has not been validated for non-research purposes. Meaning the creator of the ERMI, the EPA does not recommend the use of ERMI in homes, schools, or other buildings.

The ERMI methodology uses mold-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (MSQPCR) to quantify 36 molds and calculate an index number for comparison with a database of reference homes. The ERMI provides a scale that ranges from a low of approximately -10 to a high of about 30 and can be used by extrapolation or estimation to estimate a U.S. home’s relative level of moldiness compared to the AHHS representative national selection of homes.    

What was the AHHS representative selection of homes?

1131 homes across the U.S. as part of the 2006 HUD American Healthy Home Survey is the base participants in private and public residences. A 3-stage cluster sample was used to select a nationally representative sample of 1,131 homes.  Samples were collected via surface wipes from four common living areas, homeowner vacuum bags, and soil samples from outside the home. Lead testing in paint was conducted using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrument.   All samples were collected during a single day.  Relevant environmental contaminant data included measurements of lead paint, 
lead dust, lead in soils, mold, allergens/endotoxins in dust, arsenic in soil, indoor moisture measurements, and indoor pesticide residues.  Housing type and age, demographic information on residents (age, race, income group, ethnicity), electrical safety, structural stability, moisture, pest control, ventilation, injury prevention, fire safety, deterioration of carpet, and plumbing facilities were also collected.   As you can see the survey (study) covered many factors not just mold.   If you care to see the meta data sheet for the survey, click here American Healthy Homes Survey (AHHS)

So being a research tool, the ERMI assessment has been used by EPA to help characterize relative levels of mold contamination in homes and other buildings and is being used to investigate potential relationships between ERMI values and health effects.    Now this is being evaluated by researchers as there are zero published government standards for acceptable or unacceptable levels of mold in a built environment. That said to date research is finding that a higher ERMI value in homes have been correlated with a greater likelihood of occupant asthma.    But this trend has not been validated through a multi-lab study, so the accuracy of information is unvalidated.

Now there are labs in the United States that have licensed the ERMI testing from EPA however, the transfer of this technology under the Federal Technology Transfer Act cannot be used to make any claims suggesting that the ERMI is an EPA-approved or validated test.  Meaning this is not an EPA approved testing approach for mold at the present time.

Why do you even know about the ERMI? You are likely concerned about mold and perhaps think you have a mold problem. You looked up mold testing and contacted a so-called mold professional who perhaps is advocating testing for mold and utilizing the ERMI scale. The testing is unvalidated as previously stated and is meant to be used for research only. If you want to be part of a science experiment and have extra money for that endeavor, have at it. If you think you have a mold problem, you need a professional mold inspection which is based in inspection for water damage (past or present) which are current EPA mold-assessment guidance.  Your visual assessment looks for mold growth, water damage, infrastructure deterioration and is performed by a professional with experience in such matters. The inspection can use IR technology, borescope and other specialized equipment but each has limitations, and their use is based on specific site conditions.

EPA does not recommend testing for mold when obvious mold is present (read visible mold).

For example, do you really think it is prudent to test either of the areas in the below photos?  Mold is obvious, what is not 100% obvious is the cause and if other areas in these rooms have a mold problem.

This is based on a commonsense approach that resources (read money) be spent to address the problem rather than turning it into a science experiment. But there are many situations where mold is present out of sight and air sampling is one of the best tools in the tool bag to help find hidden mold.     Even without government standards air testing can help define a normal fungal ecology (meaning what are normal mold spore levels in a built environment.). Since mold is ubiquitous you will have mold spores in the air when you test, wherever you test. The differential is what spores are found by testing and in what concentrations, the evaluation of spore type and concentration will allow an inspector to evaluate a given space for mold-related problems. 

The photos below show air sampling for mold and both found mold that was not visible to the naked eye.  Meaning mold was present behind the walls.  The photo to the right, many possible water sources as it is a utility room that has a water heater, washer and dryer, and an HVAC unit with a condensation pump.  All these items have the potential to release moisture in the space.

A key consideration, which many people overlook is if the space being evaluated appears to have had water issues. This evaluation should also evaluate if perhaps the area "could" have had water issues that were addressed (repaired) but mold could still be present behind walls.  The easy approach to water damage is to clean and paint, not remove and replace.  When you only touch up an area, you are likely leaving mold behind walls.  This mold, most likely dormant allows spores to get airborne and will grow when moisture conditions are conducive.    The bottom line is you must approach all mold assessments and testing based on the evaluation of conditions that could or would allow mold to grow.  That answer will lead you to the problem.

Want expert mold advice? Call Curren today. 

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This is one of the most popular questions asked when an oil tank is involved in a real estate transaction. Worst case scenario oil tank leak is a loaded question - it can't be answered with limited information. Limited information is a few soil samples that show contamination. 

What is the Worst Case Scenario for an oil tank leak?

• The remedial cost exceeds the value of the property.
• The dwelling must be torn down to remediate the contamination.
• Contamination extends under the street and you are responsible for it.   Conversely, the contamination goes onto the neighbor’s property and you are responsible for it.

These are all residential, heating oil tank leaks.  Commercial tanks with commercial problems - well worst case starts at $500,000 and goes up from there and usually takes years to solve, it’s a slow bleed.

What costs could these worst-case residential oil tank leaks involve?   Every residential oil tank leak is different and these costs can approach up to a million dollars.  Curren Environmental is currently working on a site that is budgeted at $540,000 for remediation and we have to let them know that’s not the worst case that we have seen.

Curren had a site listed for $1,100,000.00 and spent $475,000 to begin the cleanup. The site never got clean, has contamination permits in place, and sold for $975,000.   That’s not the worst case, but a sad story because the owner ended up losing money on the sale of the property. 

We were involved with a site where the house had to be torn down and the owner is having a problem with zoning to rebuild the house because the house footprint does not conform to the lot size and since the foundation is gone, you must comply with current zoning setback and impermeable ground cover. That’s kind of a worst case, you can’t rebuild to the same footprint.

The common denominator is when someone asks "What is the Worst Case scenario of an Oil Tank Leak", there is no truthful answer due to the lack of information that would allow a professional to assess and provide a realistic opinion.

Doctors call it a diagnosis, which is provided after testing and evaluation. Environmental consultants call it a delineation where we test and assess and evaluate options to remediate. We define the vertical and horizontal extent of contamination, what media is contaminated is it just soil, or is groundwater impacted as well?   If you don’t know how big or small the problem you can’t guess the worst case, some sites only cost $75,000.

The NJ lead safe law is over two (2) years old with an initial deadline of July 22, 2024, the law extended the deadline to July 2025.   The lead law only affects rental properties, and the typical sale agreement lacks language regarding lead safe certifications. Curren is finding that rental properties are being sold without the current owner providing a lead safe cert and the parties involved with the transaction are oblivious to the lead safe certification requirements.

Who has the ultimate responsibility to obtain a lead safe cert?

The landlord (owner) is responsible for obtaining the lead safe cert.

The first inspection deadline is 7/22/25.  All sites must have a lead safe cert by July 22, 2025.

The lead safe cert is good for three years and must be obtained by July 22, 2025, or earlier if a tenant vacates before that date.

The issue is that the law is so new that agreements of sale lack language regarding the responsibility of providing/obtaining the lead safe cert prior to settlement.

Curren has found numerous properties being sold and the lead safe certs are not obtained by the buyers, placing the burden on the new owner. While this is legal if tenant occupancy has not changed since July 22, 2022, buyers are not happy.

We have also found sites that had failed lead inspections and were sold without notification to the buyers. For example,  a site had a lead inspection that failed and was sold.  The buyers were not informed of the failure.  But now own a property that is lead unsafe.

Who is responsible for addressing the reinspection? The owner is responsible. If the seller warrants that there were no outstanding violations,  then the agreement of sale language requires the seller, who could also be the old owner, to address the failed lead inspection. 

Obtaining the lead safe cert burdens the buyer with the cost of the inspection and addressing any fails, meaning addressing lead paint hazards and subsequent reinspection and dust wipe sampling. Buyers are acquiring fully leased apartment buildings, some with long-term tenants making the sale attractive as it provides immediate cash flow. Long-term occupied units have a higher tendency to fail lead inspections due to tenant wear and tear.  Hence the value of buying a property with a lead safe cert.

Since the initial deadline for the cert was July 22, 2024 (since changed to July 22, 2025), I expect most on-the-ball owners would already have the cert. Countless landlords have expressed frustration with the law and the desire to sell the rental units before a triggering event.

If you are a real estate professional or attorney, consider amending the agreement of sale to require a lead safe certificate as part of the transaction. Simple wording can save your buyer thousands of dollars.

A savvy buyer can also perform their lead safe inspection during due diligence, if the failure occurs, they are held responsible for addressing the repair.

Lead Questions?

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New Jersey's Lead Paint Law FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Let us agree that we spend most of our lives indoors, and air quality can affect human health. You know you go outside to get fresh air but also want clean air indoors. Most buildings we assess for air quality have few measures in place to help improve indoor air quality.  Think about it, what do you do to improve indoor air quality?

Many people unwittingly do things indoors that are detrimental to air quality. What are those?

I will provide a wide range of measures you can implement to improve indoor air quality. Many people adopt only a few of these measures, which is perfectly fine. Small steps can lead to significant improvements. I believe that 10 minutes of exercise today is better than doing no exercise at all. While an hour of exercise is ideal, it's not always practical.

There are countless Peloton bikes, Bowflex systems, and treadmills that end up gathering dust or being used to dry clothes, despite being purchased with the best intentions for exercise. Therefore, even if you decide to implement just one of the options I suggest, you are still making progress toward better indoor air quality.

12 Steps of Better Indoor Air Quality 

1. Indoor Plants

Indoor plants help filter air and remove indoor air contaminants. Plants can remove carbon dioxide, which is a by-product of human occupancy of a room. Houseplants can remove formaldehyde, benzene, and a host of other compounds found indoors. They also add moisture to indoor air, as viruses thrive in low humidity environments you want a relative humidity above 50 year-round in living spaces. I keep plants on the porch and patio in season, and during the colder months, I move indoors.  Regardless, always have plants indoors, invariably some plants die over the winter, so the plants are an ongoing project.

I was at a wedding where I was asked about what I do for a living and when they found out I was an environmental consultant, I was asked about indoor air quality and plants. They read an article dismissing improved air quality and plants, possibly a Reddit thread.   To be transparent, some critics say if a plant removed 90% of contaminants, 10% of contamination remains. Fact, but I will take ANY air quality improvement.  I refer to a research study evaluating multiple studies on plants and indoor air quality. The study concluded that indoor plants help reduce indoor contaminants, which just so happens to agree with me.  Effects of indoor plants on air quality: a systematic review | Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO) | US EPA

2. Unscented Cleaning

We are conditioned to believe that scents signify cleanliness.  Think lemon, pine, citrus, but if you read the labels there are no natural ingredients in these cleaners, all chemicals with names that are hard to pronounce. Let me tell you a harsh fact, scent does not improve cleaning ability, it is all in your head.  Sure, if you cut a lemon in half, you can clean surfaces with it because the acid properties of the lemon make a good cleaning impact, but be real, you do not do that.  All the scents added to cleaners add chemicals to your indoor air, it's true. There is a scent in women’s perfume that is also used in toilet cleaners. You should lean towards neutral cleaners, meaning scentless.

3. Shake out your doormats and remove shoes after entering a home.

Some cultures recognize that your feet touch the ground that is loaded with all sorts of things you do not want to know about.  Outside your home is a bathroom to animals and a lush green lawn will likely contain pesticides and herbicides.  Mats trap these unwanted ingredients, shaking out mats helps ensure you do not have carryover in your home.   Sounds simple and it is, effective. Taking off shoes also helps, but good luck with that with kids.

4. Use the kitchen exhaust fan

Every kitchen should have an exhaust fan that vents outside. This is most important if you have a gas stove. Gas stoves burn natural gas, which generates nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which is harmful to human health. EPA regulates  (NO2) levels outside but not indoors, FYI. The pilot light for gas appliances can also emit benzene, which is a known carcinogen. If you have a gas appliance you have this exposure but running the exhaust fan while cooking helps extract these harmful (as well as others I am not going to explain) outside the home. 

Try not to burn toast. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that acrylamide, a chemical found in burnt toast, is "likely to be carcinogenic to humans". Even if you do not care about acrylamide (you likely never heard the word before), when you burn toast or anything you are cooking, there is smoke but not combustion.  The smoke has a small particulate 10 micrometers in diameter (10 micrometers is five times smaller than the width of a human hair), which is a small particulate that is hard for your body to filter and can be pulled deeper into your lungs.  Let’s agree your toaster is typically not next to an exhaust fan so you are filling the room or the area with small particulates that humans are filtering with their lungs, bad stuff.  Again, run the exhaust fan to try and capture these small particulates, even if you do not burn toast if you are cooking you are generating airborne small particulates.   The same goes for burning candles and I know this will hit home for many people you do not want to hear this, but do not burn candles.    If you happen to be a person who has a small room air filer, operate it in the kitchen.

5. Prevent Mold

Mold is a biological contaminant and a well-known air pollutant. That musty smell people associate with mold, is a sign of active mold growth. Mold consumes organic matter and as with any biological process, a waste by-product occurs.  Musty means an assortment of chemical compounds in the air including mycotoxins, microbial volatile organic compounds and components of the organic matter being consumed by the mold. Mold = moisture, remove moisture and you remove the driver of mold growth. Simple solutions include operating a dehumidifier in basements to extract excess moisture. In my humble opinion, every basement and crawlspace should have an operating dehumidifier.   Install and operate an exhaust fan in bathrooms where you bathe. If you have a fan already, do three things,

• use it.
• when in use hold a paper towel to the fan, if the fan suction cannot hold the towel in place, the fans suck in the wrong way. 
• Lastly make sure the exhaust is sent outside, not to the attic.

There are amazing Panasonic exhaust fans that are whisper quiet and have controls to operate when motion or humidity are detected, taking human error out of the equation.  Use humidistat-controlled exhaust fans in attics to control moisture.

6. Clean your Ducts

Although EPA says you should not clean your ducts, because it stirs up all the crap in the ducts, if you removed a duct and looked inside, you would be disgusted by how dirty it is.  Duct cleaning is not going to remove 100% of this material, but it will remove a lot, and more will come loose a week or so after you get the ducts cleaned, from movement and vibration in the house, so you should check your HVAC air filter a week or so after cleaning.  Post cleaning you install a new filter which will typically get dirty a week or two after cleaning.  Duct cleaning every 5 to 10 years is great, spend no more than $500 for a typical home, and do not apply any fungicides or other compounds in the ducts, they do nothing.

If you have no ducts, i.e., electric or radiator heat, do nothing; these are some of the healthiest heat sources. If you have central air with ducts, well you may need cleaning.

7. HVAC Systems are the Lungs of your home.

I naively thought that after COVID-19, people would take a greater interest in improving air quality, and your HVAC is the lungs of any building. But spending money on HVAC is not sexy. That said you can make small tweaks to forced hot air systems to improve air quality. Cleaning the ducts is one aspect.  You can also upgrade your filters on the system. I use MERV 16, which is like hospital-grade air, but anything with a MERV above 10 is great. The higher the Merv the smaller particulate the filter can capture. Think of an N-95 Mask on your HVAC system.  If you have heat in winter you have dry air, viruses thrive in low-humidity environments. Adding and operating a whole house humidifier in season (winter) will make your indoor environment more comfortable.

I am on the fence about UV light in HVAC, there are arguments that although UV has a sanitizing effect on air, the air must spend time being exposed to the UV light to be effective. That said I added it to mine as the cost was minimal and I did it in conjunction with a whole house humidifier, so the company was already at my house.

8. Chemical Storage

You have gallons upon gallons of chemicals in your home and yes chemicals in containers off gas. Ever open a pail of paint and find it dried out?   The container did not hold an airtight seal. You should strive to keep chemicals outside your living space, like a garage or shed. Yes, I know paints do not like extreme cold and may go bad, but how often do you touch up paint?   A countermeasure is to take a photo of the paint container or lid that will have all the paint information which you can take to the paint store and purchase a new container, and, yes paint can be purchased in 5-gallon, 1-gallon, and quart containers if your touch up job is small. Dispose of remnant paint at a household hazardous waste day.

9. Know when indoor air quality is poor.

How are you supposed to know when indoor air is bad? Anytime you have people over, holidays in particular, CO2 levels are screaming high from people breathing. Keep a window open slightly when you entertain and maintain a low draw on your kitchen exhaust fan to help pull air out and fresh air in. There are actual CO2 monitors you can install in a home to tell you when levels are elevated.  There are also air quality meters you can purchase. I am on the fence about residential air monitors as the sensors have a finite life and are not widely known so the cost is high and the quality questionable.   When Consumer Reports starts testing air quality meters I might change my opinion.

In the winter keep a window open to introduce fresh air for a short period of time every day.  Hey, it is cheap. You know higher-end HVAC systems know that dilution is the solution to indoor air pollution, so they pull a volume of fresh air from the outside and condition it before sending it through the house. Yes, pulling hot or cold air and making it cold and warming air takes energy, but that’s part of healthy air. Fresh air goes a long way to improving indoor air quality.

10. Test building materials before renovation in homes built before 1978.

My home is from the 1930s, I have a few outdated green building products in my home. By outdated I mean asbestos and lead paint, both past green building products, but now we know they are a health hazard.  Lead paint was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1978, asbestos was phased out around that time as well. When you decide to remove a wall to make a great room, that wall may have lead paint and asbestos in the plaster, which will become airborne during and after demolition. That sexy popcorn ceiling likely has asbestos. You should test older building materials to ensure you are not exposing workers or your family to these hazards.

11. Home improvements and furniture in warmer weather

Do you like the new car smell, how about the new carpet scent? Both are bad for you. Buying furniture with fire retardants or installing new carpet in winter when you cannot open your windows and air out the chemicals allows chemical build-up in your home. New items need to time to off gas, which can be accomplished by placing items in the sun or if not possible opens windows and allow the compounds to dissipate.  Windows are open in warmer months, you get the idea.  New things also off-gas formaldehyde and the EPA is targeting this harmful compound. Executive Summary of the Risk Evaluation for Formaldehyde

12. Replace fluorescent light bulbs

Fluorescent tube bulbs and squiggly compact fluorescent bulbs contain small amounts of mercury. If these bulbs are broken the mercury is released into the air they become a contaminant.

The NJ Lead Safe Law has been in effect since July 22, 2022, and July 22, 2025, is the deadline for all applicable properties to have completed their first inspection.

You may ask why the deadline is three years from the start of the law when many properties have already completed an inspection.   The law allows a property to complete the first inspection by July 2025, if continuous occupancy of the unit has occurred.  This means the unit has been occupied by the same tenant since 2022.  But if the tenant leaves before July 2025, well then you trigger an inspection. 

Here is where the real confusion is -  Municipalities who are required to enforce the law many believe that a new lead safe cert must be obtained every time a new tenant, even if a valid lead safe certificate exists. (Lead safe certs are good for 3 years).    This is directly out of the regulations:

For nonexempt units, after the initial inspection mentioned in Section 3.3.2 is conducted, units shall be inspected for lead-based paint hazards every three years, or upon tenant turnover, whichever is earlier. An inspection upon tenant turnover is not required if the owner has a valid lead-safe certificate. Lead-safe certificates are valid for three years. Accordingly, if the lead-safe certificate has not expired upon tenant turnover, the next inspection will be three years from the prior inspection.

Curren has had to inform clients and municipalities that a lead safe inspection is not required.  In essence we talk ourselves out of work, but it's not ethical to do these inspections when they are not warranted.

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