No matter how well your home was built, if you have an attached garage, fumes in the garage may be infiltrating your home, impacting indoor air quality. You garage may be situated on the side of your home, underneath a room or as part of a basement or lower living level. All three scenarios may lead to polluted air in the garage that leaks into the indoors through small cracks and holes, and around weatherstripping.

Here are some tips for preventing fumes from the garage from moving into the home:

Inspect the weatherstripping on the door between the home and the garage to ensure that it is neither bent, broken or damaged. If it is, replace it promptly.

Look for cracks and crevices in the shared wall or ceiling. Seal any leaks with caulk. Leaks may be difficult to find if the walls and ceilings are finished, so you may want to have a professional audit performed. If the area is not finished, drywall and effective sealing can prevent the movement of carbon monoxide gases — and other hazardous chemicals stored in the garage — into the home.

Install an exhaust fan to reduce the effect of fumes in the garage. Due to temperature variations — particularly during cooler weather — and exhaust fans and vented appliances, the pressure inside of the home is often lower, causing air from the outside — and air in the garage — to flow into the home. The exhaust fan will lower the pressure in the garage so that air flows from your home to the garage instead of from your garage to your home.

Don’t forget one of the easiest ways to reduce the effect of fumes in the garage: After you turn off your car, let the exhaust fumes dissipate before you close the garage door. And never leave the car idling inside of the garage.

For assistance in reducing the effect of fumes in the garage, contact Cooper Climate Control Heating & Air Conditioning.

• air quality
• allergies
• Cooper Climate Control
• pollutants