Help - can't breathe in my house

[WaterholeWally]

Hello Mark,

I don't wish to scare you, but two years ago my mother passed from breathing problems. Eight years ago, my elderly parents were moved to a house by my brothers. The first time I entered their house I said that it smelled. I spoke to my mother about it but she said I was totally wrong. (I'm not the favorite)

Everytime I've gone to their house, except during the summer, I've had to gasp at their bad air. Every person that has stayed there or lives there now has had breathing problems. My one nephew has been to the hospital a few times.

Bottom line is that the plumbing vent is improper. Sewer gas is slowly entering the house. A few people admitted to me privately that they smelled it also. My father has had a couple of stooges in to check it, but they couldn't smell it anyway because all they're all boozers.

Unfortunately I'm dealing with a father who won't admit to anything. He seals everything to extreme and during the summer has all the windows open. The one brother that lives there cracks his bedroom window at night.

A good nose is what you need to solve some problems. The other advice that you received here is excellent. Best of luck.

Health is wealth

[tpa-fl]

For several years now I have not slept well due to awakening with nasal congestion. I now sleep very near my window, with the window wide open. The same thing happens in my main-floor home office, I need to open the window.
<snip>
The nasal congestion issue is severe, and is only in my house, or in some hotel rooms also.

There's quite a few things that could be causing this, but I have a similar issue. Nasal congestion if indoor humidity is >50%. If it's <30% I start getting nosebleeds. I've also noticed that if there's a stream of air blowing across my face it'll also cause my nose to clog up, waking me up in the middle of the night. Some of the hotels here in Florida are the worst for it, especially when you walk into the room and you can just feel the humidity like a cloud.

For me, it's a combination of very small nasal passages + very slow breathing rate at night (2-6 breaths/minute).

I'd suggest starting with humidity first. Measure it and keep track of what the hydrometer shows vs. what you experience. At the very least, humidity's easy enough to control via humidifiers & dehumidifiers. If that fails you can go onto more expensive and more complex things.

[mmechlin]

I found this post via Google when searching for answers for my husband. He, like the original poster, has had recurrent breathing problems in our home(s) that we cannot seem to figure out. We recently moved last February and we were hopeful that a different environment would help however he is still plagued by breathing issues. Mainly wheezing, nasal congestion and feels like he cannot breathe unless he is by an open window or outside. He does not seem to have these issues in other places which lends me to believe it is something that we are bringing with us from home to home. We do have a 12-year-old dog. He has been tested for allergies numerous times and is allergic to mold and dust but didn't have a severe reaction to the testing. Over the counter allergy medications don't seem to help the situation. I have tried to eliminate cleaning products and then "introduce" them back in- I switched all my hair care and skin care products to the same that he uses to eliminate a chemical reaction to something. In our previous house, we had the ducts professionally cleaned but that didn't seem to help. I feel like we are both going crazy trying to figure out the cause for his breathing problems and it seems like there are some knowledgeable people on here so thought it was worth asking. Any ideas? Any routes I should go to try to figure out what the issue is? Would contacting a Certified Industrial Hygenist be worth anything? Thanks for your help!

[teddy bear]

It starts with avoiding damp spots in the home that grow mold and dust mites.
This means <50RH throughout.
The next is to have fresh filtered air passing through the home when occupied. Like a fresh air change in 4-5 hours.
In green grass climates, a well tuned a/c plus a small whole house dehumidifier will maintain 50%rH when the outdoor dew point is high and moisture from occupants is present.
This the start. Where is your home located?
Right now in SW Fl we have +70^F outdoor dew points and remove about 5 gallons of moisture per day to maintain <50%RH inside the home. This with two occupants and 80 cfm of fresh air.
Regards Teddy Bear

[mmechlin]

It starts with avoiding damp spots in the home that grow mold and dust mites.
This means <50RH throughout.
The next is to have fresh filtered air passing through the home when occupied. Like a fresh air change in 4-5 hours.
In green grass climates, a well tuned a/c plus a small whole house dehumidifier will maintain 50%rH when the outdoor dew point is high and moisture from occupants is present.
This the start. Where is your home located?
Right now in SW Fl we have +70^F outdoor dew points and remove about 5 gallons of moisture per day to maintain <50%RH inside the home. This with two occupants and 80 cfm of fresh air.
Regards Teddy Bear

Thank you, Teddy Bear, for your reply. I apologize in advance for my ignorance of a lot of the terminology used on this site. Here's what I know... we live in Missouri so humid at points of the year. Both our previous home and this home have a whole-house humidifier. We have our a/c and furnace on a preventative maintenance plan with a reputable HVAC company and they clean it out and also replace humidifier filter, when needed. They turn on the humidifier in the winter when the air starts to dry out. We have two units because of the square footage of the house but both are set pretty low because my husband complained of it being too humid in the house. I do not have a rH gauge so maybe I should buy one of those and measure the rH?? We don't have a dehumidifier....

How do you ensure the fresh air exchange? Just by turning the furnace or a/c on? We keep our house relatively cool, even in the winter. It was in the low 30's last night and had heat set on 65 degrees. We keep it around 65 most of the time in the winter. What does "cfm" stand for in your reply?

[teddy bear]

Thank you, Teddy Bear, for your reply. I apologize in advance for my ignorance of a lot of the terminology used on this site. Here's what I know... we live in Missouri so humid at points of the year. Both our previous home and this home have a whole-house humidifier. We have our a/c and furnace on a preventative maintenance plan with a reputable HVAC company and they clean it out and also replace humidifier filter, when needed. They turn on the humidifier in the winter when the air starts to dry out. We have two units because of the square footage of the house but both are set pretty low because my husband complained of it being too humid in the house. I do not have a rH gauge so maybe I should buy one of those and measure the rH?? We don't have a dehumidifier....

How do you ensure the fresh air exchange? Just by turning the furnace or a/c on? We keep our house relatively cool, even in the winter. It was in the low 30's last night and had heat set on 65 degrees. We keep it around 65 most of the time in the winter. What does "cfm" stand for in your reply?

CFM is a cubic foot of air per minute. A 2,500 sq.ft. home with 10 foot ceilings is 25,000 ft^3 and should have +100 cfm of fresh air change when occupied to remove the pollutants in the home and renew oxygen.
Your region is considered a green grass climate and a well setup a/c and a small whole house dehumidifier like the Ultra-Aire 98H to maintain less than 50%RH during the humid times of the year.
Ultra-Aire.com
If you have a basement start monitoring there.
Amazon has a Accurite meter that works well.
You need a good a/c tech to help you with this.
Regards Teddy Bear