Book-My House is Killing Me!

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Review from The Human Ecologist, a Human Ecology Action League publication: (THE's version may be edited slightly different from my version below.)

MY HOUSE IS KILLING ME!: The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma

By C. May

Hardback or paperback; 310 pages plus glossary and resource guide. 2001. Baltimore, land: The Hopkins University Press. $16.95 paperback; $42.50 hardback, Order by calling 800-537-5487. Also available at amazon.com.

Reviewed by M.

Here’s a book you can confidently recommend to skeptics and people who already understand the link between poor indoor air quality and temporary or chronic illness. MY HOUSE IS KILLING ME!: The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma also should be required reading for medical professionals, builders and renovators, home owners and anyone considering buying or renting a home.

Skeptics may be sufficiently impressed by the publisher (The Hopkins University Press), Hopkins physician Samet’s foreword and the endorsements by physicians from Harvard and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology to open the book. Then they’ll keep reading.

Readers get a crash course in how to prevent indoor air quality problems or how to identify and fix problems that may be causing or acerbating health problems. Author May, president of a home inspection company, methodically walks the reader through every room of the house and explains what could make you sick there. Then he explores the less-obvious but potentially problematic areas—attic, basement, heating and cooling systems and exterior.

May discusses severe chemical sensitivities as well as the more commonly understood respiratory and allergic responses. His information is solid without being overly technical. The photos of everything from poorly maintained air ducts to molds are worth many words.

Each room or area of the house has its own chapter, plus there are chapters on renovation and construction, and cleaning. The excellent “Recommendations” that conclude each chapter serve as review.

(Following info edited out.)

At the end of the book are a glossary of technical vocabulary and a resource guide for information, products and services. While the book focuses on the home, information can also apply to other buildings.

Even if you know a lot about indoor air quality, you’ll find new information or be amazed at May’s simply told stories from his many years of experience—stories about both “ordinary” and disastrous houses and the dramatic health problems they’ve caused. Everyone who breathes indoors could benefit from May’s knowledge.

Also see May’s web site at: www.myhouseiskillingme.com.

McMaine , a public relations consultant in St. Cloud, Minn., holds a master’s in technical communications and business from the University of Minnesota.