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Solar sunshades in Buenos Aires Argentina  (C) Daniel Friedman Find, diagnose & fix problems in building components, structure, mechanical systems

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DIAGNOSTIC GUIDE A/C or HEAT PUMP - A/C or Heat Pump not working?

DISASTERS: BUILDING INSPECTION & REPAIR - Advice for Hurricane, Flood, Storm & Fire Damage Assessment, Safety, Emergency Services

WILDFIRE DAMAGE PREVENTION for HOMES - Wildfire building damage prevention

FLOOD DAMAGE REPAIR PRIORITIES- what to do first if your home or business has been flooded

PATIO AWNING INSTALLATION and also SOLAR SHADES & SUNSCREENS - Keep the heat outside: low cost ways to cool your building

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The website publisher on crutches making an effort to inspect a cramped crawl space (C) Daniel Friedman courtesy Arlene Puentes, Kingston NY InspectAPedia.com® - is a free online encyclopedia of building construction, new or remodel/repair, maintenance or mechanical system or indoor environment troubleshooting.

This website is for building owners, occupants, renters, contractors, and building professionals including architects, engineers, and building inspectors.

We provide free building construction, inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice, covering all residential & light commercial building components, materials, & mechanical systems.

Whether your building is brand new or hundreds of years old there will always be things to diagnose, fix, maintain, or indoor environment problems or air quality problems related to the building's condition.

Here you will find illustrated, detailed, in-depth research on finding, diagnosing, testing, correcting, & preventing building defects, energy conservation, & indoor environmental hazards.

Photo above: when his knee was broken, the InspectApedia publisher demonstrated that building crawl spaces should be inspected no matter how difficult the access may be. In that case the editor got help from another inspector, Arlene Puentes. [Click to enlarge any image]

We provide authoritative, un-biased research on building failures & education course material on building failures & building environmental inspection testing, diagnosis, & repair.

Researching and publishing since 1986, InspectApedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website. InspectAPedia, always FREE to our readers, is supported only by ads placed on our pages by Google. See WHO ARE WE?

Up Front: Handling the Heat - Shading, Fans, Cooling Systems

Solar shade installation Tucson AZ (C) Daniel FriedmanRecord outdoor temperatures around the world are contributing to an increase in heat stroke deaths, discomfort, exhaustion, and where air conditioning is available, increased cooling costs.

Shown here, using a top hinged solar shade device like this one on Tucson Arizona structure can reduced solar heat gain for a cooler building interior.

Our page top photo shows an outside view of a similar solar shade in Buenos Aires.

These InspectAPedia articles can help keep your building cooler and reduce cooling costs:

Up Front: Smoke, Fires, Building Fire Protection, Indoor & Outdoor Air Quality

Oil burner soot at a lower magnification (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com Climate information from the U.S. government that shows that the world is heating up faster and severe storms are occurring more-frequently than many people realized and that emphasizes that every community, rural or urban, will be seriously affected.

Photo: microscopic view of soot particles.

The U.S. EPA has painted what the NY Times calls a "grim picture" of what lies ahead, whether your concern is sudden searing heat, wildfires, tornadoes or other heavy weather, access to safe drinking water, or even adequate electricity.

How to Reduce Indoor Wildfire Smoke & Soot Hazards in Buildings

Here are 4 key steps you can take to reduce the level of smoke or other airborne particles inside your building:

  1. Close the windows and doors

    Avoid ventilating the building with outdoor air when that air is unusually heavily contaminated with smoke and debris. You'll fare better by closing the building and doing what you can to filter its indoor air.

    An exception: some fresh air ventilation systems incorporate both an air-to-air heat exchanger and an air filter. Those, equipped with a HEPA filter, might permit filtered fresh-air ventilation for your building.

    See VENTILATION, BALANCED
  2. Filter indoor air:

    If your building has forced air heating or central air conditioning, turn the system fan from AUTO to MAN or ON so that the blower fan runs continually

    See BLOWER FAN CONTINUOUS OPERATION  - Continuous HVAC Blower Fan Operation for Optimum Indoor Air Quality
  3. Clean air filters:

    Be sure that the air filter(s) in your air handling system are clean, or replace them if they're dirty and are not a washable type.

    If you don 't know where your air filters are,

    See AIR FILTER LOCATION

    To improve your air filter's effectiveness

    See AIR FILTER OPTIMUM INDOOR  - Cascaded & Optimal Air Filters for IAQ . We recommend using HEPA-rated filters as those perform best at removing small airborne particles.
  4. Portable air cleaners:

    If your building doesn't have air conditioning or forced air heating, you can still add free-standing portable air cleaners to reduce the level of indoor articles in sleeping areas and close the door to those rooms when using the air cleaner.

    While no portable air cleaner can remove the actual source of indoor air pollution, especially in a closed room of a size within the air cleaner's or "air purifier" rated capacity, these machines can reduce the level of airborne particles.

    See details at AIR CLEANER PURIFIER TYPES.
  5. Wear an N95-rated or KN95-rated face mask even while indoors.

    Every unbiased expert agrees that wearing an N95 mask is important for protecting respiratory health such as during the COVID epidemic or in serious wildfire smoke conditions.

    Really? Well yes but ... some people who have limited lung capacity may find wearing a face mask or a true respirator difficult. Experiment. Wear an N95 mask for an hour and see if it helps you to breathe more comfortably.

Other Topics at InspectApedia.com

To find information about your topic or question, we recommend using the InspectApedia SEARCH BOX found at the top or bottom of any our our web pages.

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Or try the InspectApedia SEARCH BOX found in the page top menu or near the bottom of any InspectApedia page.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

- Daniel Friedman, Publisher/Editor/Author - See WHO ARE WE?


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