The Secret Hiding Places Of Chemicals In Your Home

by - 10/03/2017 09:21:00 PM



The word chemical scares a lot of people. They think that anything man-made is unnatural and shouldn’t be put into the body. That’s not quite true, there are plenty of chemicals that are good for you, and plenty that occurs naturally. Trying to rid your life of any kind of chemical entirely is impossible and not good for you. However, there are a lot of chemicals that are bad for you which you should be trying to avoid. Swapping out a lot of your cleaning and beauty products for natural alternatives is a great way to reduce the number of harmful chemicals that you’re ingesting, but that’s only a small portion of what you come into contact with on a daily basis. Harmful chemicals are hiding everywhere, in places that you would never have thought of. These are the secret hiding spots of dangerous chemicals around the house.

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Mattresses

Everybody is going crazy for memory foam mattresses. They’re the latest innovation in mattress technology and widely considered the most comfortable and healthy mattress that you can use. But there is another side to the story. A lot of people complain of a strange chemical smell when they first open their mattress. This happens because there are a lot of chemicals that are used in the manufacturing of the mattress, like glue for example, that are released from the mattress over the first couple of weeks. If you’re sleeping on the mattress straight away, there is some danger of inhaling these chemicals. Opening it in a garage or another well-ventilated area and letting it air out for a while should get rid of most of it before bringing it inside. It’s also worth visiting Choose Mattress to learn about the different alternatives to a memory foam mattress and look into some of them instead. Chemicals are a big problem in memory foam mattresses in particular but they are in almost all mattresses. Regulations state that they need to be fire resistant so you can never avoid chemicals entirely. That’s why it’s best to play it safe and air out any mattresses before you use them.

Carpets

You get the same problem with carpets as you do with mattresses in that some of the materials used can release harmful chemicals into the home. The materials used to make the carpets themselves are fine, but the glue that is used to stick them down isn’t. They cause a lot of health problems if you inhale too much of them, luckily they will fade after a few days. When you get a new carpet put in you just need to make sure that you have somewhere else to stay for a couple of days until all of the fumes have aired out.

Pressed Wood

Pressed wood products were a popular construction material in the 1970’s and they’ve left a nasty legacy behind them. Wooden panels that were used for insulation in houses were made from lots of old wooden offcuts that were pressed into large sheets. The problem was, the glue that they used is often made from something called urea-formaldehyde which is a nasty chemical that can cause watery eyes and a burning sensation in the throat. Newer pressed wood products are fine because there is more regulation now and the materials that are used are safer. If you’ve got an older house, it might be worth getting it checked to make sure that the house is safe if you’ve been experiencing some of the symptoms.

Laser Printers

Anybody that uses a computer at home regularly is likely to have a laser printer in the house. You’d be surprised at the amount of chemicals that some of them pump out. A lot of them are fine but certain models put out a lot of toxins. Studies into the dangers of laser printers in the home found that some gave out emissions that researchers said were comparable to the levels in cigarette smoke. That’s only in rare cases but you could still be filling your home with toxic chemicals. Printing photographs, and using a new cartridge both contribute to the levels. The particles that are given out can easily be inhaled and stick in the lungs causing respiratory problems. As a general rule, you should try to avoid using it as much as possible, and keep the printer in a well-ventilated room, especially when you’re using it. Printer manufacturers have only commented to say that they are looking into the results of the research at the moment.

It’s easy to remove chemicals from your home when they’re right in front of you, but it gets a lot harder when they’re hiding.



 

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