Over the last few decades, the air quality in Southern California has been steadily getting better, thanks primarily to cleaner-burning vehicles. But did you know that if you have an attached garage, your indoor air quality could be suffering? Research has shown that homes with attached garages often have detectible levels of benzene and carbon monoxide indoors.

When you park your car in the garage, you could be letting in a fair amount of vehicle emissions unknowingly. Additional sources of indoor air pollution from a garage include herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers. Storing swimming pool or spa chemicals in your garage can also reduce your indoor air quality.

A wall between your home and the garage that has cracks or leaks allow noxious gases to enter your home’s interior. Anytime you run the kitchen or bathroom fans, you may be drawing these dangerous contaminants indoors. A forced air heating and cooling system can also bring garage air inside the same way fans do, by creating negative air pressure indoors.

You can manage the problem of air transference, however, by making a few changes.

  • Inspect the wall closely between your home and the garage. Look for tiny cracks between the walls. If your garage has unfinished drywall seams, tape them to reduce the leakage. Check the seams between the floor and ceiling of the garage for any gaps and use caulk to close them.
  • Place fresh weatherstripping along the door frame leading to your garage from the house.
  • Put an variable-speed exhaust fan inside your garage and run it briefly after you park your car. If you store a lot of chemicals in your garage, have leaking vehicles in the garage, or open the connecting door frequently, run the fan continuously on low to reduce the potential for interior air contamination.

If you want more information about ventilating your garage to maintain indoor air quality, contact Around the Clock Air Conditioning and Heating. We are a full-service HVAC company serving Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about indoor air quality and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Around the Clock Air Conditioning & Heating services Los Angeles, North Hollywood and the surrounding areas in California. Visit our website to see our current specials and get started today!