WHAT IS INDOOR AIR PLUS?

EPA created Indoor airPLUS to help builders meet the growing consumer preference for homes with improved indoor air quality. EPA developed additional construction specifications to help improve indoor air quality in new homes.

WHY INDOOR AIR PLUS?
Indoor airPLUS qualified homes have numerous highlights:

improved indoor air quality

More than 30 additional design and construction features are included in Indoor airPLUS homes to help protect you against moisture and mold, pests, combustion gases, radon, and other airborne pollutants in your home.

Minimize Pollutants: Moisture and pest control, among other things, can help protect your family by eliminating common allergens from entering the home, such as mold and pest residue. Your builder will provide a first line defense against pests like cockroaches and rodents, by fully sealing, caulking, or screening where pests enter your home.

Improve Comfort: Your Indoor airPLUS home can provide a more comfortable living environment because it includes properly engineered HVAC system sizing, improved duct and equipment installation, improved filtration, and whole-house and spot ventilation to dilute and remove indoor pollutants.

Protect Against Combustion Pollutants: The home provides protection from potential exposure to combustion pollutants by the installation of heating equipment that cannot spill combustion gases inside the home and preventing pollutants in the garage from entering your house. Also, carbon monoxide alarms are in all sleeping areas.

Home Maintenance: After purchasing a home with the EPA Indoor airPLUS, you’ll receive a manual explaining your home’s indoor air quality features and how to operate your home to continue minimizing the risk of indoor air quality problems. In addition, your home will have a label as proof that it was built to the high indoor air quality specifications if you resell the home.

Energy Efficient: All Indoor airPLUS homes must first earn the ENERGY STAR label. ENERGY STAR qualified homes use substantially less energy for heating, cooling, and water heating thereby reducing your contribution to climate change.

WHAT ARE THE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS?

A builder must first design a home to earn the ENERGY STAR label — the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency. The result is a home that is significantly more energy efficient than a home built to minimum code, helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To earn the Indoor airPLUS label, the builder then adds up to 30 home design and construction features to help protect qualified homes from moisture and mold, pests, combustion gases, and other airborne pollutants. Before the home officially earns the Indoor airPLUS label, it is inspected by an independent third-party to ensure compliance with EPA’s rigorous guidelines and specifications.

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?

Contact Green Valley Builders or visit www.epa.gov/indoorairplus to learn more!