by Jeff May, May Indoor Air

Q: Is Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) real?

A: Yes, SBS — aka, too-tight building syndrome — is real and exists when poorly-ventilated indoor spaces “bottle up” pollutants from materials used in building/furnishing a home or brought indoors by occupants (human and animal) and in other ways, which make people feel ill and/or less productive: short- or long-term. Poorly maintained air conditioning systems can also cause allergies. SBS differs from its cousin, Building-Related Illness (BRI) which relates to a specific agent indoors that causes a known illness (e.g., legionella); though some experts use the terms interchangeably.

SBS is insidious as it’s often caused by airborne mixtures of chemicals or bioaerosols in tiny amounts — so there’s almost never a “smoking gun” or single culprit — as there are 80,000++ chemicals in legal use and it is impossible to test them in every possible mixture; same for the thousands of allergens. That makes sensitive consumers (e.g., those with allergies or chemical sensitivities) a bit like canaries in the mine; although people, unlike canaries, do not end up dead from exposure, at least right away.

Q: For consumers buying a new home, what should they do to ensure their new home is not aggravating their allergies? Is there any way to allergy-proof their home?

A: Prevention is better than cure when it comes to both oil and air pollution “spills”.

Think of how an oil spill fans out rapidly, harming the environment and making it impossible to prevent all damage; so, think preventively about reducing allergies or worse.

#1. Don’t buy or rent a home that causes an illness reaction unless you can isolate and eliminate the source of the problem. Try to spend at least an hour or two inside with the windows and exterior doors closed before committing to live there.

#2. Then try increasing ventilation by opening a window and see if that helps.

#3. Once you move in, use a HEPA-filtered vacuum that has been 360-chamber tested to detect dust leaks from anywhere on the machine (some companies just test the filter/bag exhaust).

#4. Choose a home with more smooth, hard cleanable surfaces than porous ones that may become a sink for allergens.  If the space has carpeting, used an effective vacuum, and often, to “empty the sink”.

#5. Clean the heating and cooling systems and use efficient filters where needed.