State Specific Question About: MASSACHUSETTS (MA)

Hi everyone good afternoon, hope that you all are safe and well, i just want to get your input or experiences regarding the Whole House Humidifier Vs a Regular Portable ones. Pros and Cons...

Also for a Whole House Air Purifier, if there are any, i have notice that there might be something in the air or the house that is giving some sort of allergic reaction my me, my 5 year old son and 8 month old daugther. We have tried small portables Air Purifier thru out the house, cleaning and deep cleaning frequently, myself, cleaning companies. We went out to stay at a family house for 3 weeks, just to try something different, no allergies, no sneezing, no cough, no eyes itchiness, no stuffy noses, nothing, breathing perfect... I had some mold spots in the 2 bathrooms, i treated with Zep, Tile, Clorox, different products, just small spots around the bathtub, with just Clorox i was able to get it out, i have a dehumidifier on the basement 24/7, the kitchen exhaust turned on often, also the bathrooms exhaust on often (althought i don't know if these are really doing something because do not seem then venting to the outside of the house).

I have steam boilers, if that matters... No Central A/C just windows A/C (not installed yet).

I've had tenants with young children/grand children at risk for air pollutants. My tenant, while college graduates, didn't think things through and didn't consider the use of two systems at once and their effect on one another.

Example: a 5 bedroom home has:

1. An Attic Fan

2. A Whole House Fan

3. A Central Air/Heating System

4. A Wall Air Conditioner for 1 room

5. A portable air purifier with a triple filters (pre-filer, a HEPA Filter and Charcoal Filter) rated at MRV17 (Medical Grade).

So when a new born grandchild comes to stay over, they allow the central air system to blow through the entire house and then try to operate the MRV-17 Purifier too.

The central system is spreading thin contaminates through out the home in greater volume than the 1 room purifier can handle.

I told them to shut off the vent in the Baby's room from the central system and run the wall a/c combined with the 3 stage MRV-17 purifier. It has a digital display of particles in the air.

Thanks Robert J.

Attic Fan ? I doubt there is one here in this multifamily, so X.

Whole House Fan? Neither X.

Central Air/Heating System, neither X.

I think i just have the Window AC for Summer times, Check !

i have 2 Portable Air purifier from Honeywell, i have to see if it has the triple filters.

2 portables humidifier as well.

I normally do not install a windows A/C in my kids room, the Dinning Room A/C keeps that area, the living room and my kids room in a very good temperature, but i will think about that now that you mention, a windows unit and the air purifier with triple filter on... Thanks.

I will see if there is anyone that is Smart Sir Purifier that can turn on by itself or something when detects whatever, like the Smart Humidifiers (i do not own Smart ones ).

I had a problem similar one year. I found that a dehumidifier takes more pollutants out than the air purifier. The Dehumidifier grabs the water molecules and pollutants are actually in the water molecules in the air. The air purifier with three filters did nothing.

The problem turned out to be a corn dust allergy. I was filling bird feeders with seed with corn in it and the dust was going up my nose. Probably there was corn mold on it called aflotoxin. It made my ears ring and my nose bleed. The same thing happened to a neighbor who was using corn cat litter for her cat and the cat had it too!

Do you have radiators? Try washing down the radiators as one may have mold or something else stuck to it and it's putting it into the air when it gets warm.

Hi AllyM Ana thanks for sharing, Yes my nose bleed frequently... Yes I have radiators, we have cleaned them but not like a deep wash, I will do that and see, we have cleaned all the windows, behind/ under sofa, under bed, behind each tv, we even tried using a recommendation that we saw in Tiktok and YouTube about an oil for behind the TV and other things that tends to accumulate dust, to prevent it...

The dehumidifier in the basement has a hose connection in the back so I don't have to be emptying the water bucket receptor that they normally has...

If you have carpet, now might be the time to replace it with hard flooring. Carpet is a cesspool of dirt and allergens. Most vacuums trap only larger particles, and blow the smaller particles, including allergens, around the room. You might want to try a true HEPA vacuum cleaner.

Step one for allergies would be to go to an allergist and find out what the allergy actually is.

It might not be the house. It might be the neighbor's tree with pollen getting tracked in. It might be the family's laundry detergent.

Getting rid of carpet helps and lots of scrubbing in the bathroom probably will help since that will be the source of mold spores.

Central air conditioning helps a lot if it is an outdoor allergen that is getting into the house.

Hi Scott, no, we do not have carpets due to that same issue... The only area with carpets is the stairs to 3rd floor, then nothing else.

I will keep in my the recommendation of the humidifier, the Ecobee and the Sensors tell me the humidity in the house, is kept between 30-50 %, i even have Humidity Sensor in the Bathrooms.

AllyM no, i do not have sump pump, i have flexible clear PVC tubing connected from the Dehumidifier to the water connection pipes that drains all the water we use in the house, that same connection that i have the washer hose as well to drain the water from the washer. Sorry if i confused you.

Oregon Woddsmoke thanks for your input, we had gone to an allergist already, nothing comes up... After that allergy test and the primary care doctor visit for all of us, they recommended us the Air Purifier, the Humidifier, things that i already had but i was not using very frequently, now is used more often, i might just need to buy more.

Maybe is that pollen thing... We use that laundry detergent with no scent, hypoallergenic. We do laundry frequently, weekly, and no more frequently due to work and kids...

I don't have Central A/C :(

Vee we think that we got rid of the mold, i have not seen it recently, i mentioned the several products because not all of them worked the same for us, so we kept trying until find one that better suit our needs, but visible to the human eyes, i do not see mold or mildew... I have an exhaust fan in the kitchen, use a small fan that everytime we turn the exhaust on, we also turn the fan on. Yes the dryer vent was cleaned recently. Hahahaha no, no food growing roots. Talk me more about that t-stat thing ?

AllyM i had the pest control not more than 2 month ago, it got rid of a lot of the mices, i have seen one here or there, but not often or not like before. This house is from 1890, yes we insulated with MassSave 2 year ago.

Yes those automatic spray deodorizers. No, no dried flowers :( . No, we do not much spray sanitizer, here and there in the morning and sometimes at night to sanitize. No, no Covid neither. Yes that is why i thought there might be something in the house or in the air, that is affecting me, my son and my daughter, but not my wife, or not as frequently as to us. UUmm i will get that Mold Kit from Home Depot to see.

Yes i live on 1st floor and rent 2nd and 3rd. I haven't "seen" them put nothing, just their food that is way to smelly, that is why i also make sure they had an exhaust fan in the kitchen... But thanks for all the ideas.

I have those that comes in a can and you put in a plastic container with batteries and set the time to spray every X time, pine, had always used all our lives :(.

They are Haitian... Yes a lot of pepper, and yes I was thinking the same that all this allergies by coincidence just suddenly appeared after these tennants moved in ... But since is difficult to prove it , I never think ­ about it... And I don't want to feel or sound like if I were racist, which I am not... The pest control did not sprayed, they put their bait inside the bait station and the pest control was Beginning of Jan 2021, these tenants moved in before that...

LZ,

With all three feeling ill something is wrong with your home.

There ARE “sick” houses. Consider relocating.

Moisture in the air is not your friend.

Plants and their soil harbor mold.

Window AC units are usually filthy inside.

Mold behind panelling, carpet, drapes, possibly from a new leak.

Good luck.

So the spray scent you have been using may have changed and have a new ingredient. Could you just try stopping it for a week to see if that makes a difference? So I know nothing about Haitian cooking but will go look now to see what's in it. Interesting that your allergies started around their move in date. Do you smell a chemical smell? Could they be cooking a drug up there called methamphetamine? I have never smelled it but read here that it is strong. Also do you smell anything like skunk? In case you never smelled a skunk, it smells like a mix of strong coffee, garlic and cat pee. Do you smell anything like that?

No, thanks God it does not smell like that, I know what is the skunk smell, thanks God is nothing like it. My wife hates those weed smells since the pregnancy so she is my best detector hehehe. I just check my spray scent and it has been without battery since a month ago, I removed to replace it and forgot about it.

Vee thanks. I had the dehumidifier running 24/7 in basement and a fan turned on frequently, yes I do that with the windows often and the doors as well, when the weather let us.

And I have Steam :/.

AllyM the 3rd floor does not have a cat and every I went there, the house was so clean, that you can eat from the floor, I love the way she kept the 3rd floor, and there was no mice at least no in the 3rd Floor neither in 2nd never found mice droppings...

Haitian cooking uses a lot of cloves. It's a strong taste spice. I put a little in pumpkin pie and it used to be stuck into the sides of a ham that was baking. They also use a base called epis that they make from parsley, celery, garlic, peppers and a few other things. It's about like pesto, or Hispanic sofrito. So not sure what you are smelling. Is she by any chance doing hair for people up there? straightening hair uses very strong chemicals that smell very bad.

Also check for racoons and possums. They poop and pee inside the house.

A tenant once asked if I could install a whole-house humidifier. I thought that her request was odd. Out of curiosity, I did a search of all San Francisco Bay Area rental properties that had one and came up with none. I sent her a link of portables models that people usually use.

An HVAC contractor kept trying to push a Carrier purifier with a germicide MERV filter. He said that it was easy to install.

I'm sorry to hear about your ailment and hope that you can figure out the cause and cure soon.

Brad thanks for your input as always good and savy.

I check for racoons and possum, they haven't been sighted around here, and i haven't seen any around, i am checking the house surroundings like every other day.

AllyM LOL hahaha . The lady from 3rd floor did not use anything, it was me who provided glue traps and box trap, she was afraid of them, that is one of the main reasons that she use for moving out...

No, they are not doing hair that i am aware, besides their own hair, they use different types of long wigs... You mean my neighbor in front? No, it's a long space between him and me, neither from the ones of my left or right... I have been in the second floor a lot of times, i don't see anything out of the ordinary besides their lack of cleanliness.

Salernita thanks for sharing, we have doctors appointment tomorrow to see what else to try, maybe another allergy test at a different place, another allergist specialist?

Guys is there a device i can use to detect presence of unseen mold? I think i might have mold that i am not able to see in one of my bathrooms, this bathroom had some cracks around that i treated before i moved to 1st floor and after i moved to 1st floor, the 1st time after a while it changes the color a little bit, when i moved, i remove the old caulking and did it again, it has been good for a year i think...