There are some things you can do to really help your indoor air quality. Some of them are free and simple. Tune in to this weeks mid-week special and find out my tips to keeping it clean and healthy.
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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.
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Transcripts
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[00:00:17] Intro: it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know the We got you covered.
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[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: around the house. Welcome to the Around the House Show. This is where we talk home improvement every single week. Thanks for joining me today. This is the midweek special.
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[00:00:54] Eric Goranson: And this is such a big deal now that we're going into winter. So many parts of the country are, are cold, They've [00:01:00] got the doors shut, they got the windows closed. Even the people down south are getting some nights that get to be cold. So this is something that we should be really talking about today. Now I'm really happy, you know, it's election day to day here in the United States, and I'm so happy.
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[00:01:42] Eric Goranson: But, uh, I'm happy political season is over for a bit. Then we can move on together. Well, today I wanted to talk about ventilation. Let's start out in the kitchen. Now, this is one of those things that gets really interesting. Most [00:02:00] people out there have poor kitchen ventilation. I can't tell you how many times I see on Facebook, Instagram posts, you know, construction videos of people.
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[00:02:39] Eric Goranson: 48% or we find it too noisy, 21%. So it's super easy. First off, here's what I want to talk about, That range should, should always vent to the exterior. It should not be one of those [00:03:00] recirculating hoods. Those are completely. Those recirculating hoods, don't remove carbon monoxide. They don't remove all the nasty stuff, and it will be the largest pollution of indoor air quality in your home.
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[00:03:42] Eric Goranson: Needs to go all the way out outside wall roof. Now in some situations people used to put in downdraft ranges and that's the one that has the fan kind of built into the cooktop or oven and it sucks the air down. Those [00:04:00] work horribly. They do, and if you've got a gas stove top, they have a tendency to pull the flame back towards the fan.
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[00:04:36] Eric Goranson: They make a vent hood that is flush with the ceiling above so it doesn't stick down, doesn't get in the way of the view and it'll vent outside. I've used those in a couple projects. They work really well and they get that, uh, oil grease, contaminants outside of your. So that's a huge thing, getting that outside.
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[00:05:19] Eric Goranson: It's just, that's the best option for you. But 99% of the time, I'm gonna tell you to take those out and put in a real vent hood that vents, and then there's, for a couple reasons for that. First, I don't like putting one cooking appliance over the top of another cooking appliance, so I don't wanna have a, a hot cook top that you have to lean over.
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[00:06:00] Eric Goranson: I don't like that. That is a hazard waiting to. So make sure that that vents outside. I don't like the microwave there. You can put it over. I'd rather see it on the counter to be honest, than up there over the range. Hu But that's me. And then they don't vent well either cuz there's no capture area. Think about it, when steam rises up, right, it kind of billows up and what happens is, is when a micro hood, it hits that vent space right on the bottom of it and it tends to roll out and go around the unit and up.
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[00:06:55] Eric Goranson: You know, maybe dinner's, cooling, people are coming over there. Let it run for a. [00:07:00] That way you get that air and it, maybe you've got a, a cast iron pan that you were cooking something in. It's still smoking a little bit. Let that do its job. Kinda like with a bathroom. Bathroom vents just as important cuz that is the, the humidity monster.
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[00:07:42] Eric Goranson: Now I've got a, went a little farther with mine. Mine has a humidity sensor, so I have it set off. When I turn it on, it's gonna run until it gets down to the humidity level that I want. Now if you're in an unconditioned space, like you just have a heater, no air conditioning [00:08:00] and you're in a humid area, those can be a problem.
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[00:08:34] Eric Goranson: For instance, in my bathroom, you've heard me talk about it. If you're listening to the show regularly, my bathroom, I have a steam shower in it, that steam shower pumps out the. Literally, if I didn't have a fan on in there, I could open that door in 30 seconds. That thing is gonna be steamy. But you know something with the right fan in the right location, that thing puts [00:09:00] out 110 cfm.
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[00:09:33] Eric Goranson: That floor right there. So it's something to consider. I'm gonna put in another little vent that goes out that way I'm not pulling all of that across the floor and stealing the heat outta the floor right there and making a cool floor. So something to consider. Make sure you've got enough space under the door in coming in and in neither one of these is a window considered ventilation.
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[00:10:15] Eric Goranson: Those are two big things you can do to your house. They're gonna make it smell fresher, cleaner. I mean, literally in my home, I can sit there and be cooking fish and steak. And 20 minutes later, you can't tell what I was cooking because the ventilation did the job. Now, makeup air is something to consider.
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[00:11:10] Eric Goranson: And then you've got a fan in the kitchen cuz you're cooking, you've got that on high. And let's call that 800 cf. You are now creating a vacuum inside the house and where that can be a problem is if you have a gas water heater, it can be sucking back the carbon monoxide outta that water heater cuz you're doing laundry, right?
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[00:11:52] Eric Goranson: And that will actually let that come back in and it'll condition it. So if it's cold or it's hot, it'll bring air [00:12:00] back in. That won't be of a different temperature and you won't be fighting it inside the. So those are really important things to consider when you're doing this right, because this is stuff that, uh, if you wanna have that at your house, smell better, feel better, and be healthier for you.
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[00:12:45] Eric Goranson: It's part of the house. Might be something to consider. Having ventilation in there or an ERV and energy recovery ventilator could be good to keep that from getting moldy in there. So, Not a bad place to put one. And then in most [00:13:00] places, a laundry room is a place that, uh, is required as well. So event fan in there.
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[00:13:26] Eric Goranson: With a really tight envelope, including that garage with an ENS insulated garage door, and it's all sheet rocked and lit and the furnace and everything's out there. I don't wanna see that get to be a moldy space. So, uh, one little tip that I'll give you here before we go out in a second is to get one of those cheap weather stations.
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[00:14:09] Eric Goranson: Now, the last place that I think is one of the most forgotten out of all of it is your crawlspace. If you have that crawlspace make. That is not humid down there, cuz that in that attic space is gonna be a moldy mess if you don't have proper ventilation. So if you're gonna encapsulate that crawl space covered up with plastic sealed up, then you need to either condition that space or put in a dehumidifier.
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[00:14:55] Eric Goranson: And then, uh, during the week, feel free to go. We have 900 episodes now [00:15:00] up on around the house online.com. Now, of course, Apple Podcast, they only let you put out 299. But if you go over to around the house online.com and check out the podcast there, that is where we have the PO Gats hosted from. So that is where we have all the back catalog of, uh, basically the last 900 episodes there.
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[00:15:42] Eric Goranson: All right, everybody, Have a great rest of the week. Happy Election Day today. Thanks for listening to Around the House.
