It took us a while to figure out that the air contaminants were getting spread through the house by the heating and cooling system.
After my husband and I retired from our jobs, we decided to start buying, fixing up and selling houses. We looked for a house in a good neighborhood that was in need of some renovations. My husband and I are both quite handy and capable of completing most of the project on our own. My husband is skilled at plumbing and electrical work, and I am experienced in drywalling and tiling. The house required us to gut and redo both bathrooms and the kitchen. We needed to sand and varnish the floors, paint the walls and ceilings and install new light fixtures. While we worked on the various projects, we stayed in the house. It was difficult to live in a construction zone with so much dust flying around. We tried our best to keep specific areas clean so that we could sleep without breathing in contaminants. Despite continually washing the floor in the bedroom and laundering the sheets, we had difficulty sleeping because of issues with indoor air quality. We were constantly sneezing, coughing and suffering from congestion, itchy eyes and headaches. It took us a while to figure out that the air contaminants were getting spread through the house by the heating and cooling system. As the system was circulating the air, it was drawing the dust and construction debris into the ductwork and then spewing it back into every room. We continually changed the air filters and tried sealing off specific vents, but it did little good. We eventually needed to hire a licensed HVAC contractor to clean the furnace, air conditioner and duct system.