Six More Ways To Make Your Bathroom A Healthier Place

Sometimes making your bathroom a healthier place begins at the ground level.

Replace bathroom floors that over 40 years old.

Vinyl flooring was in vogue in the 1960's and 1970's. Any flooring under wet feet and sometimes leaky plumbing, however, will begin to accumulate mold. Even if mold is not visible, it can cause a variety of toxic effects in the entire family. Replacing old floors with modern materials will put an end to the growth of mold — but you may not want to do this yourself. Before 1972, most vinyl floors were laid over asbestos, now recognized as a major source of chronic respiratory problems. Asbestos always has to be replaced by professionals trained to handle the material, because it's most dangerous when it is disturbed, causing small particles to be released.

Strip off any paint that is over 35 years old.

Lead is well known to cause learning disabilities in children exposed to it, and the largest single source of lead exposure is flaking paint. Lead was added to paint to give it a white color until 1978. Any bathroom paint job that hasn't been retouched since 1978 is likely to contain lead, and likely to be flaking and peeling badly by now. Strip off old paint, wearing a face mask or N95 respirator, and replace with any new paint of your choice, all of which will be lead-free. If you are scared to handle the lead paint yourself, allow a team of professionals to do it for you.

Make sure your bathroom fan ventilates to the outside.

Some bathroom fans only vent to the attic, where the moist air they carry out of the bathroom is trapped and heated to encourage the growth of mold. Your bathroom ventilation fan needs to be vented to the outdoors, and you need to run it every time you take a shower to keep dampness from accumulating in the bathroom. A lack of ventilation is a sure-fire recipe for mold growth, and some molds are toxic while others cause allergies.

Make sure your toilet is vented above your roof.

Have you ever noticed that the water in the toilet bowl seems to sink on a windy day? That is because wind blowing over your roof lowers air pressure, and your toilet, if it is properly connected, vents above the roof. Occasionally, however, builders vent toilets in the attic, giving sewer rats an opportunity to crawl up through the pipes into your house. Don't let this happen in your home. Make sure toilets are vented above the roof, not in the attic.

Keep up with caulk.

Icky cracks in caulk around bathroom tiles isn't just unsightly. These cracks admit moisture and create a hothouse for growing mildew, mold, and bacteria. Not only can the spores released by mold and mildew cause headaches, coughs, congestion, itchy eyes, runny nose, hives, and asthma, water damage to walls and floor boards can cost a lot of money to repair. Keeping up with caulking can prevent mold, mildew, and water damage.

Never mix household cleaners.

Mixing cleaners that contain chlorine, such as Comet or Clorox, with cleaners that contain ammonia, such as Mr. Clean, can trigger the release of the toxic gases chloramine and, if you use a great deal of ammonia, hydrazine. These gases literally burn the lungs, and they can also ignite and cause explosions. Only use one brand of cleaner at a time, especially when cleaning the toilet bowl.