Places & Spaces
Be Wise
84
Is your W home affecting your health?
e all love a clean and tidy home that we can come
home to at the end of a gruelling work day. We want to relax and put our feet up and just bask in the creature
comforts we have spent good money on. But what if the home you love is not loving you back? What if your home is affecting your well being?
Jamaica, unlike the United States, is primarily a concrete building
nation. Yes, in parts of the island there are gorgeous homes made of wood, but generally the permanent structure of choice today is
concrete. Now concrete itself does not pose any real harm (unless someone drops a six inch block on you!) but the supporting
material that goes into transforming a shell into a home can. There is wood, plywood and particle board (otherwise known as
bagasse board) used to make closets, closet shelves and kitchen
cupboards and shelves. These have glues, sealers and adhesives used to hold them together and unbeknown to most home
owners, their chemical composition can hang around in the air and carpet for a very long time.
Studies have found that the air in our homes can be even more
polluted than that found outside, depending on your fixtures,
furniture and even the cleaning agents you use weekly to do your chores. This pollution may actually be even more than we think
as in our efforts to save on our energy bill, we usually seal up our windows and doors pretty tight so the exchange of air is kept at a minimum to when we are entering or leaving the house. This
means that your home can be a breeding ground for contaminants such as pollen, bacteria, viruses, pollen and mould.