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ICF home and respiratory problems

Last Post 25 Jan 2009 11:19 AM by dmaceld. 7 Replies.

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JBMike

New Member

Posts:14

20 Jan 2009 07:14 AM
We moved to our new ICF home in July 07. Prior to that in Jan, I had an X-ray on my lungs and every thing was fine. After living in our new home for about 6 months, I started to have upper respiratory problems. I coughed a lot and also have sinus problems. I went to the doctor, he said it probably environmental. He did X-ray and this time, the bottom of my lungs is scarred with inflammation. I hired a duct vac company and paid $500 to clean up my new heating system. The guy said you have new house, it should not be hard to clean up. Guess what, the builders must have boomed all the saw dust, drywall dust to the register. The cleaning guy said I've never seen your heat pump fill with such dust and construction debris. He was shocked. I felt a little better after that. However, it seemed to get worse again this winter. I started to think perhaps it's the air float which could cause my lung is deteriating fast? We use heat pump and it is pretty much circulate indoor air when it's very cold. Our builder, for no reason, opened a big vent area connected to the crawl space. So the crawl space air and the basement air were being circulated every day. Another thing was our basement had been leaking water for over a year and last winter, the builder finally got it fixed. Could the water damage cause some mildew build up? The drywall looked okay from out side. I don't know what to think but one thing I know is that I become sick and sick. My sinus has been really bad since we moved in and my lungs are scarring due to inflammation. I had been a very health person. I don't know where to start and what to do to find out what make me so sick.

Bruce Frey User is Offline

Basic Member

Posts:429

23 Jan 2009 07:44 AM
Since no else has responded, I will give you my thoughts on where to start: 1. Have your house tested/inspected for mold, formaldehyde, VOC, radon, etc. They can probably tell you how many and what kind of particles are in the air if you want to go that far. 2. Consider visiting an allergist. 3. Consider a high efficiency air filter (either on your HP/furnace or freestanding). Bruce

renangle

Basic Member

Posts:304

23 Jan 2009 08:24 AM
JBMike, Sorry to hear about your health problems, I hope that I can help. ICF homes are extremely tight and have very little air infiltration. Because the envelope is so tight, if you don't already have one you need a mechanical way to bring clean fresh air into the house and send bad air out. When we discuss building an ICF house with owners we always advise that the put in an air exchange so that they can control (and optimize) the clean air coming into your house. One should not be overly expensive to buy and install. I know one that our manufacture has recommended is Plusaire, their website is as follows: http://www.plusaire.on.ca/ I hope that this helpful. Best of luck! renangle

JBMike

New Member

Posts:14

23 Jan 2009 12:11 PM
Renangle, Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I will check this site out for sure. My pulmonary doctor said the scars in my lungs are non-reversible. It's scary to think I may lose my lungs. Worried, JB

Chirp Frog User is Offline

New Member

Posts:14

23 Jan 2009 06:35 PM
I am sorry to hear about your health. Did you perform any of the work yourself? As mentioned in a earlier post, ureaformaldehyde could be a problem. Did the builder use osb sheathing on your subfloors? How about roof sheathing. I may have missed this but is your entire home icf? You mentioned that your basement was leaking. Does the region in which you built your home have natural gas emmissions coming through the ground? There are areas that this is quite common. Sulfur, menthane, and radon are just few that can cause health risks . I would like to recommend that you check out the following website: http://www.energywisestructures.com/index.html You will find some interesting things in it that may be of help. I have heard the owner, Richard Rue, speak at an ICF conference and he does not recommend air exchange systems. His reasons are very convincing. He does, however, recommend an air purifyer. I do not use air exchangers on any of the ICF homes that I build, and my customers have never had a problem. But then, I don't use OSB sheathing on my homes or in my cabinets or anywhere else either. I wish you luck in your pursuit.

Bruce Frey User is Offline

Basic Member

Posts:429

24 Jan 2009 03:07 AM
.....one more thought. I don't know where you work or what you do, but do not overlook the workplace as a potential source of your problems. Bruce

JBMike

New Member

Posts:14

25 Jan 2009 10:14 AM
ureaformaldehyde could be a problem. osb sheathing roof sheathing. is your entire home icf? natural gas emmissions coming through the ground? There are areas that this is quite common. Sulfur, menthane, and radon are just few that can cause health risks . Chip, Thanks for the reply. I don't know anything about OSB subfloor. I was told it was blue (?) subfloor which is a little better than the normal plywood. Yes, we have ICF for the entire home. We do not use natural gas. If you meant radon (as natural gas), we have installed radon system. I need to google on menthane and sulfur. We have heat pump. It is sooooo loud. Bruce, Good point about work place toxins. My program was cut due to bad economy, so I am working in a new building starting Jan 20. So we will see. What really confused me was my X-ray in Jan 2007 was normal and we moved to our new house in July 2007, after a few months, I started to cough and to have sinus problems. My Jan 2008 X-ray started to show inflammation. Now, Jan 2009, it progressed pretty fast. Both of my pulmonary specialists believe it might be environmental. Thanks again for all these helpful tips and advice. Really appreciated them very much.

dmaceld

Veteran Member

Posts:1465
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25 Jan 2009 11:19 AM
JB, Talk to your HVAC contractor about monitoring the air quality in your house for a few days. If he doesn't have the equipment to do so hopefully he can direct you to someone who does. My HVAC nephew has some and says progressive HVAC contractors are well aware of indoor air quality issues. You need objective data for to get a start on figuring out what's going on. When I was working in quality assurance I told folks, "If you start at an unknown starting point, and go a known distance in a known direction, you end up at an unknown ending point!"

Even a retired engineer can build a house successfully w/ GBT help!