Ventilate, be wary of household products … seven tips for healthy indoor air

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MORNING LIST

The French spend an average of sixteen hours a day in their accommodation. Even more at the moment. The confinement, the curfew, the forced reduction of social interactions and outings, teleworking, everything pushes us to winter. But the air we breathe between our four walls may be of lower quality than that coming from outside. Here are the right things to do – and the wrong ones to avoid – to live in a healthy atmosphere. Ideas that often reduce your impact on the planet.

1. Air, wherever you live

Screenshot of a photo that has become emblematic of the health crisis.

The photo has gone viral on social media, sure to be hijacked. Posted on Emmanuel Macron’s Instagram account to raise awareness of barrier gestures, the photo shows the President of the Republic opening a window of the Elysee overlooking the greenery. “Air the room!” », Proclaims a slogan written in two different fonts. If everyone is not lucky enough to have a French window overlooking a two hectare park, the instructions must be followed. Summer and winter, even if your living room has a view of a boulevard. Ten minutes minimum and at least twice a day. Preferably morning and evening, the air outside will be less polluted. At night, if possible, and it is not too cold, the bedroom windows can be left ajar to evacuate the water vapor produced by its occupants. Depending on your activities, the maneuver will have to be repeated. After a DIY session, a big cleaning, a shower, a laundry … let the air circulate.

2. Maintain CMV and combustion devices

To keep healthy air indoors, you need to service your boiler regularly.

Do not caulk. On the contrary, it is good to always leave a space of about 2 cm under the interior doors and not to close them at night to facilitate air circulation. An air inlet, a CMV (controlled mechanical ventilation) or an air vent must not be blocked but cleaned regularly. Again to be truly effective, mechanical ventilation must be combined with natural daily ventilation. Combustion appliances (heating and boiler) need to be installed and maintained by qualified professionals.

3. Choose materials and products with low health and environmental impact

Less pollutants, more health!

Furniture, mattresses, paints, floor coverings, household appliances, and even cleaning products emit hundreds of pollutants. According to the Indoor Air Quality Observatory (OQAI), all the homes tested were contaminated with formaldehyde, a molecule classified as carcinogenic, and some at doses above the threshold value set by the World Organization for health (0.12 mg / m). To limit the risks, take the time to read the labels before rushing to the first bucket of paint. Since 1er September 2013, all construction and decoration products (partitions, floor coverings, insulation, paints, varnishes, glues, adhesives) are provided with a label indicating their level of emission of volatile pollutants, at least polluting A + , at the most polluting C.

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