Cleaning After Fire

Cleaning After Fire The October 2017 California Fires in Northern California were devastating. Northern California will be dealing with the death and destruction of recent wildfires for years.  The immediate life safety concerns about fire are obvious and frightening, but what many don’t realize is that returning to fire damaged buildings is also hazardous. Cleaning
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LEEDv4 IAQ Testing – New Credit Highlights for IEQ

LEEDv4 IAQ Testing Requirements Industrial hygienists across the US have been watching the USGBC as they’ve updated the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Testing Credit for Post-Construction. LEEDv4 IAQ Testing requirements have changed since LEEDv2009. Many health and healthy building advocates hoped they would lower the allowable levels of formaldehyde, but due to industry uproar that did
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Indoor Air Pollution Near Busy Roads

Indoor Air Pollution Near Busy Roads Freeways and other busy roads are sources of elevated auto emissions and indoor air pollution. These emissions can be harmful to human health for both people on the roads and people working, walking, and living nearby. Nearly 20% of the United States population lives near a high volume road,
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Stealth Meters

stealth power meters
“Stealth” Power Meters: Analog Meters with Hidden Transmitters A client recently shared their experiences regarding a stealth power meter that had been installed on their home. The following has been anonymized: We had opted out of the Smart Meter program about a year ago.  The electric company had come out and swapped in an analog
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Spring – The Perfect Season for an Environmental Building Inspection

Environmental Building Inspection
Spring – The Perfect Season for an Environmental Building Inspection Since relocating to the Bay Area, I have to say that I miss the full four seasons of Oregon. I don’t really miss the hard deep freeze of winters, nor the asphalt-bubbling heat waves of late July, but I do miss watching the ground awaken
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New Home Purchase? Magnetic Field Guidelines

magnetic field guidelines
Magnetic Field Guidelines for the New Home  EMF is a broad umbrella term encompassing many aspects of electromagnetic issues that can affect human health. Subcatagories of EMF issues include RF Radiation (also known as ElectroMagnetic Radiation [EMR]), Interior/Exterior Magnetic Fields, Interior/ Exterior Electric Fields, Transient Voltage Fluctuations (also known as Dirty Electricity or ElectroMagnetic Interference
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Lumber Liquidators Formaldehyde Testing

Low Prices often equal Low Quality - You get what you pay for?
Lumber Liquidators Formaldehyde Testing Recent investigative journalism exposed a Lumber Liquidators formaldehyde content issue and revealed an unfortunate tale that may affect hundreds of thousands of homes across the US. During active federal investigations for suspicion of using illegally harvested lumber from Russia, it turns out one of the largest flooring distributors in the US
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EMF Mitigation for High Magnetic Fields

EMF Magnetic Field Mitigation child's bedroom
High Magnetic Fields Exterior Net Current Mitigation: EMF Mitigation for Magnetic Fields Intermittent MF Issues: Exterior-sourced Net Current  EMF Mitigation for Magnetic Fields Problems in Detail: A child’s bedroom showed a line of higher than anticipated magnetic fields running up the guest bedroom wall from the main electrical panel situated in the garage below.  This
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What is Asbestos?

Asbestos with muscovite
What is Asbestos? How Dangerous Is It and What Is It Doing In My House? These are all questions we’ve asked ourselves at one point or another.  We’ve all wondered WHY would something as potentially carcinogenic have been used with near abandon for so long? Why would this potential carcinogen be lurking our homes, our
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Lead: An Introduction

Lead Testing for Dust
Lead is a natural elemental metal that has many uses and has been used through antiquity. Though it has many uses it is extremely toxic to humans and as such, has been regulated by government agencies throughout the world. Awareness is growing, but people are still exposed to lead. Lead: an introduction to help you
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