The southeast is notoriously known for mold. The hot humid summers and cool damp winters allow mold to thrive in this region. Summer 2023 in Nashville saw a lot of rain over a short period of time, which created excessive moisture for a number of days following the rains.
E3 INNOVATE loves mini-split systems, and for good reasons. Their heat pump technology is very efficient! The outdoor and indoor components run are almost silently, which means no clunky loud units turning off and on all day. Their small sizes allow E3 to match the needs of the house more closely with the size of the equipment, which translates to improved efficiency and cost savings.
In August 2022, The Hansen family, Ben and Lisa, came to E3 INNOVATE as a referral from their functional medicine doctor. The family had gotten sick from mold found in a rental home they had been living in a year prior. This motivated the family to build a custom home so they could start fresh with new construction materials. Unfortunately, mold has no sympathy, and in just a few months after moving into their new place, it showed up again.
We generally think of indoor pollutants as either particulates coming from allergens or mold or from gasses like radon or VOCs. But other important indoor pollutants to consider are from electromagnetic sources. Electric fields, magnetic fields, radio frequencies, and even high energy blue light can have negative effects on the body. Surprisingly, researchers have been aware of these biological impacts for nearly 90 years.
It's Radon Action Month. This is significant because much of Tennessee resides in a Class 1 radon zone, meaning the potential for elevated indoor radon levels is high.
In 2008, The McDonnell’s were in the beginning stages of planning their forever home in historic Franklin, just south of Nashville TN. They were looking to incorporate green high-performance elements into the construction to make an energy efficient, healthy, and sustainable structure. The couple and their builder reached out to E3 INNOVATE to learn about the benefits of spray-foam insulation, sealed crawlspace systems, geothermal heating and cooling, whole-house ventilation using energy recovery ventilators (ERVs), and active radon mitigation systems.
Indoor air quality can be as much as 5x more polluted than outdoor air, even in the largest cities. Ironically, one major contributor to indoor air pollution is synthetic air "fresheners."
Recently, a homeowner reached out to E3 with a concern about moisture in his crawlspace. He and his young family have been living in the house for about four months and there is (already) significant moisture in the crawlspace.
After contacting his builder, the builder arranged for an inspector to take a look at the situation.
The inspector made the comment that moisture in a crawlspace is like the sun setting in the west. It's "normal" and according to his statement, it's just a fact of life.
Far too often, we come across clients in Nashville, TN who think they have invested in a high efficiency variable speed HVAC system. We regret informing them that instead, they have a basic, standard efficiency single stage unit. Folks aren't thrilled to hear the news because in their mind, they spent extra on something that was supposed to be more energy efficient.
Why does the mix-up occur?
Much of the confusion has to do with terminology and understand the components of the HVAC system.