My wife and I have been living in her childhood home for two years now. The house is owned by her father, and he lets us live here rent free as long as we pay the property taxes and utilities. We are in an extremely fortunate and privileged situation.
The house was built in the 1860s so it's outdated in every conceivable way. We've put a lot of work into making it livable, like completely redoing the plumbing, redoing the floors, painting, etc. There is still a lot of work to be done to get it to where we want it, but for now it's livable.
Since moving in, I've had increasingly worsening allergies and respiratory issues. As of the past six months I've had a persistent cough that comes and goes with the taste of metal in my throat as well as occasional phlegm. Consequently, I've been looking into the home's air quality and HVAC system. It's a disaster.
The house is built directly on the dirt—there is no basement or crawl space. The HVAC system is pulling air from under the house where there is NO ductwork, so a bunch of open, dusty, musty dirt air is being pushed into the home. We use a furnace and air filter but I'm not sure if that's enough. Because there's no crawl space, I have no idea about the viability of putting new ductwork in. For now we will simply keep the air and heat off, but winters are cold and stale air isn't good either.
Essentially, I'm worried about how the air quality is affecting my health. From dust, to mold, to radon, etc. I'm afraid I'm developing more serious issues. I plan on seeing a specialist but short of that, I don't know what to do about the air quality. Anyone have advice or experience with this sort of thing?
The house was built in the 1860s so it's outdated in every conceivable way. We've put a lot of work into making it livable, like completely redoing the plumbing, redoing the floors, painting, etc. There is still a lot of work to be done to get it to where we want it, but for now it's livable.
Since moving in, I've had increasingly worsening allergies and respiratory issues. As of the past six months I've had a persistent cough that comes and goes with the taste of metal in my throat as well as occasional phlegm. Consequently, I've been looking into the home's air quality and HVAC system. It's a disaster.
The house is built directly on the dirt—there is no basement or crawl space. The HVAC system is pulling air from under the house where there is NO ductwork, so a bunch of open, dusty, musty dirt air is being pushed into the home. We use a furnace and air filter but I'm not sure if that's enough. Because there's no crawl space, I have no idea about the viability of putting new ductwork in. For now we will simply keep the air and heat off, but winters are cold and stale air isn't good either.
Essentially, I'm worried about how the air quality is affecting my health. From dust, to mold, to radon, etc. I'm afraid I'm developing more serious issues. I plan on seeing a specialist but short of that, I don't know what to do about the air quality. Anyone have advice or experience with this sort of thing?
