Your home is supposed to be a safe haven for you and your family. You want it to be a place where your children are completely cared for and safe. Unfortunately, there are a few environmental hidden dangers that could be in your home. These dangers are ones that often go undetected for years, but they can cause serious health issues for you and your children if left untreated.
Here is a list of the hidden dangers you should be aware of:
Mold
Mold is a common site in many homes, and it can seem completely harmless. However, for many people, it can cause a variety of health issues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that mold can cause individuals who are sensitive to it to experience, causing and wheezing, eye irritation, nasal stuffiness, and throat irritation. Children and adults with mold allergies can have more severe reactions that could require medical treatment. In addition, for people who have compromised immune systems or lung illnesses, mold could present a more serious threat, as it could cause lung infections.
If you spot mold in your home, get the help of a specialist to help you treat it. You can prevent it by making sure your home is clean and dry and making sure you have plenty of air circulation.
Radon
Radon is one of the most common hidden threats that finds its way into homes. It is a radioactive gas that is completely impossible to detect without equipment, as it is invisible and odorless, but it can cause severe health problems when people undergo long-term exposure. It causes around 20,000 lung cancer deaths in the US alone each year.
Almost 1 in 15 US homes have elevated levels of radon. The good news is, the problem is easily fixable once detected. Professionals can perform a radon remediation process, which has a 99% success rate when properly implemented. If you have never had your home checked for radon or if you are buying a new home, it is a good idea to have a specialist inspect it.
Lead Paint
Lead is an element that occurs naturally in the earth, but it can be very harmful if inhaled or ingested, especially for children. Children who have been exposed to lead can suffer from learning problems, slowed growth, lowered IQ, anemia, hearing issues, and behavior issues. It can also cause severe issues for pregnant women, as it can cause the fetus to develop birth defects or experience slowed growth. It can even affect adults by causing lowered kidney function, reproductive issues, and cardiovascular problems. Unfortunately, before these effects of lead were well known, it was widely used as an industrial ingredient.
Almost all paint before the 1970s contained lead. This means that if your house was built before 1980, it likely has some layers of lead paint beneath more recent paint layers. Luckily, you can protect yourself from the effects of lead paint by keeping the top layers of paint in good condition. You should also take safety precautions during any renovation projects that disturb the bottom layer of paint, as this could cause the lead paint to enter the air, making it easy to inhale.
Asbestos
Asbestos is similar to lead paint in that it was commonly used in homes before the 1980s. Asbestos is made from a group of naturally occurring fibers. It is problematic because when it is inhaled, it can become lodged in the lungs. People who inhale asbestos can develop serious health issues over time, including deadly cancer, and mesothelioma. The EPA states that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure, but it is still present in many older homes in floors and walls, hot water and steam pipes, house insulation, some vinyl floor tiles, textured paint patching compounds, and other areas.
The good news is that, like lead paint, asbestos only becomes dangerous when disturbed. So, if it is in your home, you should be okay unless you do something to disturb it, such as performing home renovations. If you do decide to do something that could disturb the asbestos, you need to make sure to take the proper precautions to ensure you and your family don’t inhale it.
While all of these hidden dangers can cause health problems and other issues, they are all things that can be quickly detected by a professional. The best course of action is to always get a home inspected before you move into it so that you can tackle any of these issues before they cause problems.