August 3, 2025 • 45 mins
Gary takes your calls along with his expert advice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:31):
Well, it's the weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome aboard, you're at home with Gary Sullivan, and yep,
we're talking a little home improvement. And you know, one
of the things the last caller, great question talking about ventilation,
and the we've been talking about ventilation for a long time,
will continue to talk about home ventilation, whether it's in
(00:56):
the attic or whether it's the whole home, because if
you had an experience like many of us this past
month or two or three, the price of electricity, your
utility bill has probably increased in you might even use
the words significantly. I don't know mine was, And you
(01:21):
know the question all the time, what are you going
to do about it? But there are certainly some things
we can do about it, and it does really involve insulation,
and when you increase insulation, you have to think about ventilation,
and that color talking about the attic and how important
(01:44):
ventilation is, and me talking about the article I read
and talking about seventy percent of the homes are inadequately ventilated.
That's scary, that's really scary. And then the question is
too is when was the last time you've been up
in your attic? Probably not, And if you if you
(02:09):
physically can't get up inside your attic. Maybe you can
get a handy person up there to just kind of
scope things out. Sometimes we have decent, a decent ventilation system,
but it's not functioning because we got insulation covering up
(02:29):
the ventilation, or we have gable vents right next to
the ridge vent and we're not really lifting all that
hot air out of the attic. And then all your
insulation is doing. Then is this creating a barrier from
a really hot attic sometimes as much as one hundred
and forty degrees. It's laying on top of some five
(02:52):
ays dry wall, and it's kind of insulating that heat
from the bedrooms to get into the bedrooms.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Well, you know, it's some of that heats.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Still getting in any type of you know, like canlight
or anything unless it's cocked. You know, that heat's getting
down into those bedrooms, making them a little uncomfortable. So
if we can and then it doesn't satisfy that thermostat,
and then the air handler keeps running and that's not good.
That's costing you money. That well doesn't need to be
(03:26):
costing you money. So we can talk about the ventilation
and the insulation and if you do get somebody up
there to just kind of poke around in that attic.
It might take a quick measurement of the insulation.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
On the floor.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I don't have the data on how many homes are
under insulated, but I'm sure there's a bunch, especially homes
before nineteen seventy seven, we didn't even insulate the walls.
You can now have foam pumped in those walls at
least cut down the draft. Add some our value. But
(04:06):
the Department of Energy is assigned in our value for
different regions of the country. Where I'm at, I think
it's an R forty two for a remodel. Maybe new
constructions are thirty eight, But each our value is worth
about two and a half inches of a fiberglass or
cellulose insulation. Do a quick calculation in that particular region,
(04:31):
you're probably going to need sixteen seventeen inches of insulation.
You go up there with the art stick, you're leveled
to find three inches of insulation. Just think about that.
Three inches of insulation in an attic, no insulation in
the walls, and Apartment of Energy is recommending And I'll
(04:56):
use my region because I know those numbers and our
nineteen in the walls, but even more importantly is eliminating
that draft or just as important. And then fifteen sixteen
seventeen inches in the attic and you got three my gosh,
think about the amount of money you're throwing away. And
(05:18):
then if it's improperly ventilated, remember that attic's probably one
hundred and forty degrees.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I'm not here scary as just a facts.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So if you you know, ten times or not ten times,
it would be a little exaggeration. But you know, you
got three inches of insulation, and you're you're adding another
foot of insulation. I think how significant that is in
terms of keeping that heat from entering, you know, through
(05:51):
the ceiling of the upper floor of the house. And
then if you could you know, when you add that
insulation and then you increase the ventilation and all of
a sudden, you're attic temperature. Isn't it one hundred and
forty degrees? You're allowing that heat to escape. Let's say
it's one hundred and five or one hundred and ten.
(06:11):
That'd be a good reading. Think about the savings. Think
about how much less that ac is going to be running.
It'll be significant. So we can certainly talk about that
other things too. Is that the filter on your air handler.
(06:32):
I know, this is about the easiest woman improvement project
there is, and changing that out timely manners really important.
You basically got three types of filters. You got a flat, well,
you got more net. But if you've got the disposable filters,
you got a flat filter probably going to run you
a buck. Air passes through it very well, doesn't filter
(06:58):
out real small party so I'll let you be the judge.
But if you have those flat ones, those need to
be changed every thirty days. Then if you just have
a standard pleated filter, you got more coverage to filter
out more particles. Those can be changed every ninety days.
And then you have some of your really dense pleated
(07:20):
filters that are probably twelve bucks apiece, again every ninety days.
You got some of the newer ones are four inches
thick and they're pleated. That's like every six months. However,
when you get really hot weather and you don't quite
have the good ventilation, you don't quite have the good insulation,
(07:44):
you might want to change those out every sixty seventy
days because as they get dirty, it impedes the airflow.
So then you get the triple win wammy. You got
the not enough insulation, not enough ventilation, and not enough
air being blown to the far reaches of the house.
(08:05):
You're starting to see a little theme here right Also
on the outside of the home where the compressor is.
Make sure that compressor is you know, it needs air,
needs a free flow of air. That means we don't
stack garbage cans around it. We don't look the bushes
(08:26):
grow over it or around it. It needs good airflow.
We don't cut the grass and blow the clippings into
the compressor area. So having those clean and air free
flowing around it is another component of driving energy costs down.
(08:49):
And then we can get in all the other things,
you know, the energy of fishing glass, the tint on windows,
the weather stripping on doors, the calking around windows, uh,
the ceiling up around any penetration in the house, dryer
vents that are going through the brick, you know, little
(09:09):
expandable foam around that. There's certainly ways we can drive
down the cost of our energy usage. Talk to somebody yesterday.
They were talking about the door sweeps on the bottom
of a door, the threshold. Again, those are areas where
leaks occur and the hot air enters, so things to check.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's for sure, all right?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Taking your calls at eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five, You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight hundred eighty two three talk. This is at
home with Gary Soliman.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
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Pro and back at it.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
We go at home with Gary Sullivan, is we talk
a little home improvement. You know, one other thing we
were talking about, you know, just saving energy. It's something
we haven't talked about for a while, and we have
talked about it in the past, but since we're on
the kick of insulation and ventilation and filters and the
(13:00):
you know, different things you can do. The duck work
leading from your air handler to the vents in your house,
the registers in your house. We talk about so many
of the homes with duckwork. It's just not very efficient
in many cases. I actually one of my jobs in
(13:22):
my younger, younger, younger years was helping install furnaces and duckwork.
And back then it was the old you know, it
wasn't aluminum piping, it wasn't a flexible duck work. It
was like it was old steel piping, and we would
(13:43):
put that together in the same sections, in the same
manner you would with the aluminum, but then you would
literally screw them together. So those seams were you know,
they weren't weather stripped, but they weren't going to come apart. Nowadays,
not so much. They're they're lighter, they're thinner. We snap
them together, we shove them together, and that's that. And
(14:07):
there's a leakage problem around a lot of the duck work.
So you're paying to condition that air, be it heat
or be at cool. And the question is how much
are you losing through the duck works before it gets
(14:29):
to the inside the living quarters.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Of the home.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Probably a lot. I actually had mine tested years ago,
probably twenty years ago, and I was losing about twenty
three percent of the air. And when I started examining
(14:54):
where and why, I was finding the pl on them
above the air handler, I'd find where they crimped that
plund them on top the corners and stuff. I can
almost put two fingers in there. So I was heating
and cooling that and it was going in the basement,
(15:15):
and we don't live in the basement. It was the
unfinished side of the basement. It wasn't helping me, you know,
very little. And then when I started checking the duckwork
that I could see running through in between the joist
in the basement, I started seeing the same thing. This
(15:37):
seems were not really air tight by any stretch of
the imagination. I started using silicon calking and aluminum tape
and started taping that up. And there's even a product
out there that professionally can be blown into the duck
work to seal the interior parts of the duck work
(15:59):
and including the parts you can't see, like behind the walls.
How much you losing behind the walls, And it made
a significant difference. So you know, it's one thing. There's
so many things we can do to make our home
more efficient. And again, if you you know, got your
(16:24):
utility bill in the last month or so, and you're like, whoa, whoa,
what's going on here? This is and I'm reading comments
from people, you know, in the last three months my
utility bills up thirty percent. Well, I don't know, you know,
I don't know what's going on there, but I'm talking
in generalities. Things you can address, things you can do,
(16:48):
even the garage, and I know you don't live in
the garage. But if you got an old wood garage
door or an old steel pan garage door, and that
garage door when in it's a you know, ninety degrees outside,
it's one hundred and five in your garage, maybe insulated
(17:10):
garage doors, because you know, as the garage got kind
of so does the house, and a lot of the garage.
The back wall, if it's an attached garage, you know,
butt right up against the family room or the kitchen
or dining room or something, and that that hot air
is gonna find its way in. I know it's insulate
(17:31):
to a degree. I don't know to what degree, or
maybe even if it is insulaate other areas to take
a look at. And even the calking around windows, the threshold,
the rubber seals. Maybe you've got an insulated garage door,
but you have never changed the seal at the bottom
of that door. All those little things. And that's why
(17:52):
I always talk about maintenance, how important maintenance is in
your home, and if you really concentrate on maintenance. I
had a neighbor literally I think he was in his
house maybe twenty years. He has since moved, and he
(18:13):
was a property manager.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So he was.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Probably a little overly cautious of what he did to
his house, and he documented everything. He was so proud
of it. It was literally a notebook of forty pages
of documentation of everything he did in his house. And
he showed it to me. He's like, look at look
(18:37):
at look at what you know. That's like, well, I
don't have that. I'm not that thorough. I do it,
but I don't document it. And it was so it
was so very thorough. I mean he you know, if
he went out and walked around that house and falt
sltwhere pipes and wires and dryer vents and every thing
(19:00):
was coming through the shell of the house and he
calked it tight or use an expandable foam, he would
document that. He would document the day today I tightened up,
and you know today I found a crack running through
the brick. I put a clear sealer over that and
marked where the crack was ending at this point and.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He could follow that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
But you know, it's a little extreme, but very very
important to do that maintenance. All right, Well, we've been
talking a little bit about ventilation and insulation. Now we're
going to talk a little bit more about whole house ventilation.
Erica Lacoy joins us as we talk to her. If
she's with easy Breath, that's next.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You're at home with Garry Sulivan.
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Speaker 1 (22:28):
Oh, it is that time of year.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It started about two weeks ago. When you say, Danny
start getting a lot of calls about humidity, Yes, sir,
and I've been in the process of whining for the
last two to three weeks about how hot and human
it is.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I wouldn't say whining like the rest of us light complaining,
so you know, when it's hot and humid, and then
we start having problems with humidity inside our home, and
then that breeds other problems, and that all means I
call Erica Laqual from Easy Breathe and say.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Hey, we got to talk about making our home that healthy, happy,
happy place again. And Erica, welcome again at home with
Gary Salivn.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
How you doing.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
I'm great, Gary, happy to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
We started getting humidity calls by the abundance about two
weeks ago, and well why not. I mean, all I
was doing was raining in ninety degrees.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And that's not good.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, So why don't just to start, let's talk about
humidity inside homes. To start, why does the air get
so humid in our homes?
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Well, that's a great question. Obviously, part of what's going
on is it's relative what's happening outside, right, so during
during times like this, it really becomes a forefront. But
humidity is something that we're always battling within our structures.
Specifically when it comes to the foundation, a basement, a
crawl space. Those tend to be the areas of biggest
(24:09):
concern when it comes to humidity, not only because there's
a lack of airflow and they're very stagnant environments, but
there's actually a transmission from the soil. The moisture in
the soil absorbs into that relatively drier space. And I'm
talking about the vapor, that water, vapor, that humidity. We're
not talking about the liquid water that trickles across the floor,
(24:31):
bubbles up through the cracks. That is that's the bulk water.
That's a different discussion. But that humidity is evident even
in dry basements that don't have or dry crawl space
that have no water intrusion. They just have the liquid
water intrusion. I'm talking about that vapor. So you know,
there's a law of thermodynamics and physics that says that
(24:53):
wet moves to dry. Like when you put a paper
towel on a spill on the counter. You know, the
spill doesn't that the towel doesn't make the the toil
doesn't make the water dry. The water makes the towel wet. Right,
Wet moves to dry. So the air in this in
(25:14):
the space is relatively drier compared to the moisture in
the soil. Especially when it rains and we have higher
water tables, there's a higher concentration of that in the soil,
so we have more of that migration into that basement
or cross space space. That's probably the biggest contributor to
high humidity.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, and there's a.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
There's there's a ton of moisture or vapor going through
the walls in a basement or cross space or through
the floor or through the ground. Do you got any
idea how much water vapor? I mean, if we condensed
all that, would it be a five gallon bucket of water?
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Actually it can be anywhere between ten to fifteen gallons
a day really, so like think of that milk gallon, right,
Ten to fifteen of those a day is being absorbed
in the form of water vapor into the average basement
or cross space. Yeah, that's a lot, No wonder, right,
no wonder, it feels we'll.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Get into what.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
It makes the basement stinct, but it also makes our
home kind of uncomfortable. Last week I was preaching, you know,
if you can get your humidity under control, you can
probably set your air conditioner seventy six, seventy eight. If
you run seventy percent humidity probably got set seventy two
or seventy three.
Speaker 7 (26:39):
Right, Yes, that discussion is one we're having a lot
as well. That relationship between your air conditioner and the humidity.
It's you know, that's what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You're right, Gary, Right, Well, I preach the humidity levels
inside your home thirty five percent in the winter and
maybe fifty five percent and in the summer.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That's where you want to be.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
And homeowners could really help themselves by getting a couple
humidity guides, maybe one in the basement, one on the
first floor, because as the problem gets bad in the basement,
that's where the water's going through the walls, or the
water vapors going through the walls, but it marches all
the way up to the different levels of the house.
Speaker 7 (27:22):
Sure does. Yeah, you know there's that you know, again
another law of physics. Not to be too technical, but
you know that that heat rising, that stack effect where
the heat rises up through the home and it drags
that humidity right up with it. That's why when you
open the basement steps, you know, you open the door
of the basement, of the latch to the cross space,
you get hit right away, and that's because that air
(27:45):
is being drawn up. So you're right, you know, that
increased humidity. You can have, you know, the discussion between
what's going on upstairs and how it relates to downstairs,
and what's going on downstairs and how it relates to upstairs.
There's a whole story there that you know. We educate
folks too on the daily right.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well, we talked about the smells, We've talked about you know,
just the uncomfortable costing us more money because it's too humid.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
But high humidity, I.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Gosh, I've had friends that have had this problem, especially
like if they had a house in Florida and it's set,
you know, just sad during the summertime. They weren't going
down and they didn't leave the air conditioner on low
enough and there was mold growing on the furniture. Does
this happen in our homes if we're living in.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
Them, It sure can, absolutely. You know, that humidity level
is key. Humidity above a certain point, and there's some
discussion between like fifty five and sixty percent humidity is
what mold needs to thrive. So in order to keep
mold and mildews and odors and bacteria and fungus and
(29:00):
pests and all those naziness you know, if we keep
that humidity level low enough, those things won't thrive. They
don't have the conditions necessary to grow. So, you know,
I know it's a big problem. But if we can
just look at it from maybe like a thirty thousand
foot view and say, okay, we need to maintain healthy
humidity levels throughout our entire structure, that's the number one
(29:22):
way you can prevent mold from happening in the first place.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Now, of course, our air conditioner is a big do youmidifier,
and then there's portable do you emidifiers, and of course
our homes continue to get tight because I've been preaching
after seeing a couple of my electric bills this summer,
like holy cow, we got to do something. So we're
talking about more insulation, but then that drives up the
(29:50):
humidity levels, and that always brings me to your product.
We need, we need to have some ventilation, and it
it needs to be controlled. We can't open all the windows.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Especially when it's been like this, right, it's so you're right, exactly, Yeah,
So you don't want to open the windows when it's raining,
and you know, opening the windows has more of a sucking,
you know component than it does blowing out right open
the windows and it draws the air in. So we
don't really get much ventilation just by opening windows unless
(30:26):
you've got specific cross breezes with you know, two different
windows directly across from each other. So you're right, ventilation
is a key component to an overall healthy home, but
specifically when it comes to you know, managing indoor pollutants,
which humidity is one of the ones at top of
mind right now.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Sure, sure, So you're exactly right, because again your analogy
with moistures drawn to dry, so if you're sitting with
ninety three degrees outside in eighty five percent humidity when
you open the windows, guess what your humidity is inside
your home. So there's a little science involved here, folks.
(31:07):
And Erica's been with easybreed. Gosh, twenty years longer, I'll
lose track. Twenty two, Yeah, twenty two. Well, so you've
seen this whole industry grow. This controlled ventilation. You don't
filter it, you control.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
The ventilation, correct.
Speaker 7 (31:27):
Yeah, there's no reason to spend the extra money to
filter or you know, do any sort of modification to
the molecular structure, like condense it into the liquid form
like a standard to humidifier does easy breathe. We approach
it by simple ventilation, so it keeps operational costs very low.
We're removing the air in its whole state. So if
(31:50):
it's humid, sticky damp air, we're removing that sticky, damp,
humid air to the outside, making room for cleaner, dryer
air to come down and replace it. So it's more
of an air exchange by using you know, ventilation at
the very lowest level as the driving force behind that
air exchange and pollutant removal.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Sure, so it's been replaced. Sure there's some outdoor air,
but it's a minimal amount. How many times does an
easy breed change out the air in your home? I
mean a few times a day absolutely.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
It really depends on the size of the structure, but
anywhere between three to six times a day you'll have
complete air exchanges. You know, we don't move the air
faster than the HVAC system conditions it. We want to
be very clear about that. We don't tack the existing
air handler. We don't want to do that. We want
the air handler to do its job, and we just
(32:43):
borrow enough of that air bring it down so you
replace the bad, sticky, polluted air with a cleaner, dryer
air quality from the upper levels.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
It makes so much sense.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And we're we focused just the last ten minutes on humidity.
There's other pollutants in our in our homes all the time.
We use aerosols, and we got furniture and carpeting. There's
off guessing there's pollutants in our home anyway.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Oh, absolutely, humidity. Like you said, humidity seems to be
top of mine right now. But overall, indoor air quality
gets significantly improved. Are testing over the last twenty plus
years has shown a decrease in airborne pollutants, which is
basically everything that's floating in the air. Those airborne pollutants
get a reduction of about eighty five percent once we
(33:32):
start ventilating the air because the air no longer is stagnant.
There's a very gentle breeze that allows for that air exchange,
so nothing has the ability to concentrate and build up
to unhealthy levels like humidity, danders, allergens, bacterias, those types
of things.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, you got about ten more myths for me.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
We can take a break and come back and talk
a little bit more about the easy breath.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Fair enough, Sure sounds great.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
MAKA do that and we'll continue our discussion with Erica.
From easy breathe and the moisture and the pollutants that
we trap in our homes. This is important stuff and
I for the last twenty some years have watched this
industry become very very important.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Just as Erica has. And I think people are catching on.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
But if you've been on the fence about doing something
about it by increasing the ventilation, maybe the day's the day.
All right, we'll continue with Erica. You're at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. Is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
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Did you know that indoor error is five times more
plued than outdoor air. Are you working from home or
do you have a gym or play room in your basement?
You know breathing clean air is important to your health
and that's why I love my Easy Breath ventilation system.
(35:39):
It replaces dirty indoor air with cleaner, healthier air and
right now save two hundred and fifty dollars off during
the month of August. Plus, you received two eumitistats with
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two seventy three, twenty eight or visit Easybreed dot com. Well,
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(36:20):
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(36:41):
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Speaker 1 (36:48):
To just to drop.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
It's a better way to spray. So pick up a
can at a home hardware AutoStore near you and always
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Speaker 4 (36:55):
Products and work it like a pro. O.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Our friend, Erica from Easy Breath, that's with us when
talking about how an easy breath works and how to
maintain healthy humidity levels. Again, it expels the damp, polluted air,
the toxic air from the lowest level of your home
or wherever the problem is to the outside and replaces
(37:33):
the bad air with cleaner air, ventilates the home and
again that air exchange you you know, occurs you know, six, eight,
ten times a day. And Erica, you have a special
going on right now. I want to make sure we
tell everybody about that. It's true the month of August,
So if people been hearing us talk about it over
(37:55):
the years, the month of August is the time to
take advantage of the special.
Speaker 7 (37:59):
Ear Absolutely the big summer sale. It's two hundred and
fifty dollars off the Easy Breeds, whether it's for your basement,
your cross space. We have a garage system and this
month we're giving away two free humidity monitors with every
easy Breef purchase, along with a humidity guide for homeowners
(38:21):
to really help people understand the best way to manage
their home with regards to humidity and understanding the relationship
between outdoor and indoor and upstairs and downstairs, and actually
give you ways to help monitor that. So, yeah, we're
very excited about that. We've been having this conversation with
homeowners for years now and thought this would be a
great way to help further the knowledge.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Sure, And one of the cool things is, you know,
we can't see pollutants. Sometimes we can't smell pollutants. It
might irritate our eyes or our throats or something. But
with the humidity monitors, you can see it.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I know.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yet the less we can when somebody callor they go, like,
my basement humidity seventy five percent, and I said, well,
what's upstairs?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Want I don't know.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I said, we'll move that thing upstairs because it could
be seventy five percent upstairs, and thank goodness, it was
like fifty eight percent, so it was still downstairs, but
it's going to get upstairs. So if you know that information,
you can really, you know, you can really help control it.
Now the easy breathe is there any maintenance on this device?
Speaker 7 (39:31):
No? You know, the easy Breed is is a ventilation system,
so drawing the air off the lowest level of the
floor of the basement or cross space, and it's evacuated
it to the outside through a six inch hole, very
similar to the dryer vent. You know, it's got a
vent cover with the flaps, so when the airstream is
being exhausted, it's open and if for any reason, the
(39:52):
unit cycles on and off because it is governed by
a humid of stats, so if it reaches that desired level,
little cloth, and the only that we ask is maybe
every other month or every three months, you vacuum around
the base where the intake is because those larger particles
are sometimes the little tumble weeds of hair or hat
hair tends to accumulate right right right.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
What what's the cost of the electricity on this? I mean,
I know de amidifiers are expensive to operate. Where's the
easy Breed come in there?
Speaker 7 (40:29):
Yeah, that's a great question. We get that asked all
the time because folks are used to paying thirty, forty, fifty, sixty,
sometimes one hundred dollars a month depending on how many
dehumidifiers are running. The easy Breath because it's so simple,
and we're not spending a lot of energy to modify
the air, whether to filter it or condense it or
run it through you know uv zappers. We're simply exhausting it.
(40:51):
So the easy breed is very economical and only two
to four dollars a month, so it's the cost of
like a thirty watt light bulb. Yeah, we're very, very
energy efficient, so no concerns with regard to operation costs
it all.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Are there different sizes of an easy Breath.
Speaker 7 (41:09):
Yes, we have various units systems for various applications. So
whether it's going into a basement or crawl space or garage,
you know, we've got various models that service the specific
needs of the context where it's being installed.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Okay, is there a warranty on the easy Breath.
Speaker 7 (41:28):
Yeah, best in the business. Gary. We have a ten
year warranty, which you know, we've had this now for
over twenty years and we still find ourselves one of
the best in the business. It's very very rare to
find a ten year warranty on any sort of home apply.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
I agree, we're.
Speaker 7 (41:43):
Going strong at ten years. Yeah, and they live well
beyond that, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Just to let you know that mine's well over ten.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
We've had them fifteen years. Sure, that's right, you're still
going strong.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I check it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I check it every now and then. I always tell
the story. One day I can. You can barely hear it.
By the way, it's not loud, folks. You can put
it right down in the theater in the basement if
you wanted to. But I unplugged it one year. It's like,
does this thing really working or what?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
You know?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
It's been so nice and I unplugged it within a day.
You could smell it. You could just smell a little
bit of dampness. You could smell it and plug it
right back in and go on. So how about the installation.
If you're pulling air out, that tells me we gotta
we got to go through the brick or the foundation
(42:33):
or something.
Speaker 7 (42:35):
Yeah, oftentimes you know, the right above the rim joys
the still played area. That's generally we don't we don't
prefer going through brick, but certainly that is an area
if that's the only, you know, place we have to drill.
But yeah, it's a six inch hold, just like your
dryer event creating that penetration to allow the airstream. So
you know, we offer professional install we our DIY kit
(42:58):
is very very popular. Lots of DIY homeowners have the
ability to do this, so we have a do it
yourself installation kit that we offer. But also you know
that's not in the cards for you. We do have
a network of professional installers throughout the country that can
we can you know, marry you with one of those
sure and get this installed. It only takes about an
(43:19):
hour and a half to two hours. It isn't you know,
huge you know, time commitment. So it's a it's a
great little project and makes a big big improvement. You know,
people ask us all the time, Like you said, it's
so hard to see this, but you can feel it.
And a great analogy is when you're taking a shower
and you don't turn on your vents, Well, yeah, your
your bathroom fan right. Figure out how humid and sticky
(43:41):
that gets. So that's what's happening to your basement and
you left years and years of accumulation, no wonder it
gets much being damp.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Money.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Take advantage of this sale again.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Call Easy Breathe give them a call on Monday morning
and it's eight six six eight to two seventy three
twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
That's eight sixty six eight two.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Two seventy three twenty eight, and have a conversation with him.
If you've heard us talking about it in the past,
maybe it's time to do something again. That's two hundred
and fifty dollars off plus two free humidity monitors, a
humidity guide for you, and that's sales during the month
of August, Erica. Thank you so much for joining us today.
(44:23):
Certainly appreciate your time.
Speaker 7 (44:25):
Thank you Gary.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
All right, I have a going by bye.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
All right, Uh your calls next at eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five year at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Takes it right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 2 (45:01):
About the difficulty the deput
Well, it's the weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome aboard, you're at home with Gary Sullivan, and yep,
we're talking a little home improvement. And you know, one
of the things the last caller, great question talking about ventilation,
and the we've been talking about ventilation for a long time,
will continue to talk about home ventilation, whether it's in
(00:56):
the attic or whether it's the whole home, because if
you had an experience like many of us this past
month or two or three, the price of electricity, your
utility bill has probably increased in you might even use
the words significantly. I don't know mine was, And you
(01:21):
know the question all the time, what are you going
to do about it? But there are certainly some things
we can do about it, and it does really involve insulation,
and when you increase insulation, you have to think about ventilation,
and that color talking about the attic and how important
(01:44):
ventilation is, and me talking about the article I read
and talking about seventy percent of the homes are inadequately ventilated.
That's scary, that's really scary. And then the question is
too is when was the last time you've been up
in your attic? Probably not, And if you if you
(02:09):
physically can't get up inside your attic. Maybe you can
get a handy person up there to just kind of
scope things out. Sometimes we have decent, a decent ventilation system,
but it's not functioning because we got insulation covering up
(02:29):
the ventilation, or we have gable vents right next to
the ridge vent and we're not really lifting all that
hot air out of the attic. And then all your
insulation is doing. Then is this creating a barrier from
a really hot attic sometimes as much as one hundred
and forty degrees. It's laying on top of some five
(02:52):
ays dry wall, and it's kind of insulating that heat
from the bedrooms to get into the bedrooms.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Well, you know, it's some of that heats.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Still getting in any type of you know, like canlight
or anything unless it's cocked. You know, that heat's getting
down into those bedrooms, making them a little uncomfortable. So
if we can and then it doesn't satisfy that thermostat,
and then the air handler keeps running and that's not good.
That's costing you money. That well doesn't need to be
(03:26):
costing you money. So we can talk about the ventilation
and the insulation and if you do get somebody up
there to just kind of poke around in that attic.
It might take a quick measurement of the insulation.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
On the floor.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I don't have the data on how many homes are
under insulated, but I'm sure there's a bunch, especially homes
before nineteen seventy seven, we didn't even insulate the walls.
You can now have foam pumped in those walls at
least cut down the draft. Add some our value. But
(04:06):
the Department of Energy is assigned in our value for
different regions of the country. Where I'm at, I think
it's an R forty two for a remodel. Maybe new
constructions are thirty eight, But each our value is worth
about two and a half inches of a fiberglass or
cellulose insulation. Do a quick calculation in that particular region,
(04:31):
you're probably going to need sixteen seventeen inches of insulation.
You go up there with the art stick, you're leveled
to find three inches of insulation. Just think about that.
Three inches of insulation in an attic, no insulation in
the walls, and Apartment of Energy is recommending And I'll
(04:56):
use my region because I know those numbers and our
nineteen in the walls, but even more importantly is eliminating
that draft or just as important. And then fifteen sixteen
seventeen inches in the attic and you got three my gosh,
think about the amount of money you're throwing away. And
(05:18):
then if it's improperly ventilated, remember that attic's probably one
hundred and forty degrees.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I'm not here scary as just a facts.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So if you you know, ten times or not ten times,
it would be a little exaggeration. But you know, you
got three inches of insulation, and you're you're adding another
foot of insulation. I think how significant that is in
terms of keeping that heat from entering, you know, through
(05:51):
the ceiling of the upper floor of the house. And
then if you could you know, when you add that
insulation and then you increase the ventilation and all of
a sudden, you're attic temperature. Isn't it one hundred and
forty degrees? You're allowing that heat to escape. Let's say
it's one hundred and five or one hundred and ten.
(06:11):
That'd be a good reading. Think about the savings. Think
about how much less that ac is going to be running.
It'll be significant. So we can certainly talk about that
other things too. Is that the filter on your air handler.
(06:32):
I know, this is about the easiest woman improvement project
there is, and changing that out timely manners really important.
You basically got three types of filters. You got a flat, well,
you got more net. But if you've got the disposable filters,
you got a flat filter probably going to run you
a buck. Air passes through it very well, doesn't filter
(06:58):
out real small party so I'll let you be the judge.
But if you have those flat ones, those need to
be changed every thirty days. Then if you just have
a standard pleated filter, you got more coverage to filter
out more particles. Those can be changed every ninety days.
And then you have some of your really dense pleated
(07:20):
filters that are probably twelve bucks apiece, again every ninety days.
You got some of the newer ones are four inches
thick and they're pleated. That's like every six months. However,
when you get really hot weather and you don't quite
have the good ventilation, you don't quite have the good insulation,
(07:44):
you might want to change those out every sixty seventy
days because as they get dirty, it impedes the airflow.
So then you get the triple win wammy. You got
the not enough insulation, not enough ventilation, and not enough
air being blown to the far reaches of the house.
(08:05):
You're starting to see a little theme here right Also
on the outside of the home where the compressor is.
Make sure that compressor is you know, it needs air,
needs a free flow of air. That means we don't
stack garbage cans around it. We don't look the bushes
(08:26):
grow over it or around it. It needs good airflow.
We don't cut the grass and blow the clippings into
the compressor area. So having those clean and air free
flowing around it is another component of driving energy costs down.
(08:49):
And then we can get in all the other things,
you know, the energy of fishing glass, the tint on windows,
the weather stripping on doors, the calking around windows, uh,
the ceiling up around any penetration in the house, dryer
vents that are going through the brick, you know, little
(09:09):
expandable foam around that. There's certainly ways we can drive
down the cost of our energy usage. Talk to somebody yesterday.
They were talking about the door sweeps on the bottom
of a door, the threshold. Again, those are areas where
leaks occur and the hot air enters, so things to check.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's for sure, all right?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Taking your calls at eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five, You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Solutions to your home improvement are as easy as calling
one eight hundred eighty two three talk. This is at
home with Gary Soliman.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Did you know that indoor air is five times more
pollued than outdoor air? Are you working from home or
do you have a gym or play room in your basement?
You know, breathing clean air is important to your health,
and that's why I love my Easy Breathed ventilation system.
It replaces dirty indoor air with cleaner, healthier air, and
right now save two hundred and fifty dollars off during
(10:28):
the month of August. Plusure received two umitistats with every
Easy Breathed purchase. Call today eight six six eight two
two seventy three twenty eight or visit easybreed dot com. Hey,
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Ah summertime and that means more time doing things outside
and Blaster products can really help by lubricating and protecting
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It's odorless and provides the longest lasting lubrication you can
(11:54):
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Speaker 4 (12:04):
So pick up a.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
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Speaker 1 (12:10):
Pro and back at it.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
We go at home with Gary Sullivan, is we talk
a little home improvement. You know, one other thing we
were talking about, you know, just saving energy. It's something
we haven't talked about for a while, and we have
talked about it in the past, but since we're on
the kick of insulation and ventilation and filters and the
(13:00):
you know, different things you can do. The duck work
leading from your air handler to the vents in your house,
the registers in your house. We talk about so many
of the homes with duckwork. It's just not very efficient
in many cases. I actually one of my jobs in
(13:22):
my younger, younger, younger years was helping install furnaces and duckwork.
And back then it was the old you know, it
wasn't aluminum piping, it wasn't a flexible duck work. It
was like it was old steel piping, and we would
(13:43):
put that together in the same sections, in the same
manner you would with the aluminum, but then you would
literally screw them together. So those seams were you know,
they weren't weather stripped, but they weren't going to come apart. Nowadays,
not so much. They're they're lighter, they're thinner. We snap
them together, we shove them together, and that's that. And
(14:07):
there's a leakage problem around a lot of the duck work.
So you're paying to condition that air, be it heat
or be at cool. And the question is how much
are you losing through the duck works before it gets
(14:29):
to the inside the living quarters.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Of the home.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Probably a lot. I actually had mine tested years ago,
probably twenty years ago, and I was losing about twenty
three percent of the air. And when I started examining
(14:54):
where and why, I was finding the pl on them
above the air handler, I'd find where they crimped that
plund them on top the corners and stuff. I can
almost put two fingers in there. So I was heating
and cooling that and it was going in the basement,
(15:15):
and we don't live in the basement. It was the
unfinished side of the basement. It wasn't helping me, you know,
very little. And then when I started checking the duckwork
that I could see running through in between the joist
in the basement, I started seeing the same thing. This
(15:37):
seems were not really air tight by any stretch of
the imagination. I started using silicon calking and aluminum tape
and started taping that up. And there's even a product
out there that professionally can be blown into the duck
work to seal the interior parts of the duck work
(15:59):
and including the parts you can't see, like behind the walls.
How much you losing behind the walls, And it made
a significant difference. So you know, it's one thing. There's
so many things we can do to make our home
more efficient. And again, if you you know, got your
(16:24):
utility bill in the last month or so, and you're like, whoa, whoa,
what's going on here? This is and I'm reading comments
from people, you know, in the last three months my
utility bills up thirty percent. Well, I don't know, you know,
I don't know what's going on there, but I'm talking
in generalities. Things you can address, things you can do,
(16:48):
even the garage, and I know you don't live in
the garage. But if you got an old wood garage
door or an old steel pan garage door, and that
garage door when in it's a you know, ninety degrees outside,
it's one hundred and five in your garage, maybe insulated
(17:10):
garage doors, because you know, as the garage got kind
of so does the house, and a lot of the garage.
The back wall, if it's an attached garage, you know,
butt right up against the family room or the kitchen
or dining room or something, and that that hot air
is gonna find its way in. I know it's insulate
(17:31):
to a degree. I don't know to what degree, or
maybe even if it is insulaate other areas to take
a look at. And even the calking around windows, the threshold,
the rubber seals. Maybe you've got an insulated garage door,
but you have never changed the seal at the bottom
of that door. All those little things. And that's why
(17:52):
I always talk about maintenance, how important maintenance is in
your home, and if you really concentrate on maintenance. I
had a neighbor literally I think he was in his
house maybe twenty years. He has since moved, and he
(18:13):
was a property manager.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So he was.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Probably a little overly cautious of what he did to
his house, and he documented everything. He was so proud
of it. It was literally a notebook of forty pages
of documentation of everything he did in his house. And
he showed it to me. He's like, look at look
(18:37):
at look at what you know. That's like, well, I
don't have that. I'm not that thorough. I do it,
but I don't document it. And it was so it
was so very thorough. I mean he you know, if
he went out and walked around that house and falt
sltwhere pipes and wires and dryer vents and every thing
(19:00):
was coming through the shell of the house and he
calked it tight or use an expandable foam, he would
document that. He would document the day today I tightened up,
and you know today I found a crack running through
the brick. I put a clear sealer over that and
marked where the crack was ending at this point and.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He could follow that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
But you know, it's a little extreme, but very very
important to do that maintenance. All right, Well, we've been
talking a little bit about ventilation and insulation. Now we're
going to talk a little bit more about whole house ventilation.
Erica Lacoy joins us as we talk to her. If
she's with easy Breath, that's next.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You're at home with Garry Sulivan.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It's the weekend and you have fixed questions. Give Gary
a call at what eight hundred and eighty two three
talk please, He's at home with Gary's Ellivant.
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Speaker 1 (22:28):
Oh, it is that time of year.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It started about two weeks ago. When you say, Danny
start getting a lot of calls about humidity, Yes, sir,
and I've been in the process of whining for the
last two to three weeks about how hot and human
it is.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I wouldn't say whining like the rest of us light complaining,
so you know, when it's hot and humid, and then
we start having problems with humidity inside our home, and
then that breeds other problems, and that all means I
call Erica Laqual from Easy Breathe and say.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Hey, we got to talk about making our home that healthy, happy,
happy place again. And Erica, welcome again at home with
Gary Salivn.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
How you doing.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
I'm great, Gary, happy to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
We started getting humidity calls by the abundance about two
weeks ago, and well why not. I mean, all I
was doing was raining in ninety degrees.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And that's not good.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, So why don't just to start, let's talk about
humidity inside homes. To start, why does the air get
so humid in our homes?
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Well, that's a great question. Obviously, part of what's going
on is it's relative what's happening outside, right, so during
during times like this, it really becomes a forefront. But
humidity is something that we're always battling within our structures.
Specifically when it comes to the foundation, a basement, a
crawl space. Those tend to be the areas of biggest
(24:09):
concern when it comes to humidity, not only because there's
a lack of airflow and they're very stagnant environments, but
there's actually a transmission from the soil. The moisture in
the soil absorbs into that relatively drier space. And I'm
talking about the vapor, that water, vapor, that humidity. We're
not talking about the liquid water that trickles across the floor,
(24:31):
bubbles up through the cracks. That is that's the bulk water.
That's a different discussion. But that humidity is evident even
in dry basements that don't have or dry crawl space
that have no water intrusion. They just have the liquid
water intrusion. I'm talking about that vapor. So you know,
there's a law of thermodynamics and physics that says that
(24:53):
wet moves to dry. Like when you put a paper
towel on a spill on the counter. You know, the
spill doesn't that the towel doesn't make the the toil
doesn't make the water dry. The water makes the towel wet. Right,
Wet moves to dry. So the air in this in
(25:14):
the space is relatively drier compared to the moisture in
the soil. Especially when it rains and we have higher
water tables, there's a higher concentration of that in the soil,
so we have more of that migration into that basement
or cross space space. That's probably the biggest contributor to
high humidity.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, and there's a.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
There's there's a ton of moisture or vapor going through
the walls in a basement or cross space or through
the floor or through the ground. Do you got any
idea how much water vapor? I mean, if we condensed
all that, would it be a five gallon bucket of water?
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Actually it can be anywhere between ten to fifteen gallons
a day really, so like think of that milk gallon, right,
Ten to fifteen of those a day is being absorbed
in the form of water vapor into the average basement
or cross space. Yeah, that's a lot, No wonder, right,
no wonder, it feels we'll.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Get into what.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
It makes the basement stinct, but it also makes our
home kind of uncomfortable. Last week I was preaching, you know,
if you can get your humidity under control, you can
probably set your air conditioner seventy six, seventy eight. If
you run seventy percent humidity probably got set seventy two
or seventy three.
Speaker 7 (26:39):
Right, Yes, that discussion is one we're having a lot
as well. That relationship between your air conditioner and the humidity.
It's you know, that's what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You're right, Gary, Right, Well, I preach the humidity levels
inside your home thirty five percent in the winter and
maybe fifty five percent and in the summer.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That's where you want to be.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
And homeowners could really help themselves by getting a couple
humidity guides, maybe one in the basement, one on the
first floor, because as the problem gets bad in the basement,
that's where the water's going through the walls, or the
water vapors going through the walls, but it marches all
the way up to the different levels of the house.
Speaker 7 (27:22):
Sure does. Yeah, you know there's that you know, again
another law of physics. Not to be too technical, but
you know that that heat rising, that stack effect where
the heat rises up through the home and it drags
that humidity right up with it. That's why when you
open the basement steps, you know, you open the door
of the basement, of the latch to the cross space,
you get hit right away, and that's because that air
(27:45):
is being drawn up. So you're right, you know, that
increased humidity. You can have, you know, the discussion between
what's going on upstairs and how it relates to downstairs,
and what's going on downstairs and how it relates to upstairs.
There's a whole story there that you know. We educate
folks too on the daily right.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well, we talked about the smells, We've talked about you know,
just the uncomfortable costing us more money because it's too humid.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
But high humidity, I.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Gosh, I've had friends that have had this problem, especially
like if they had a house in Florida and it's set,
you know, just sad during the summertime. They weren't going
down and they didn't leave the air conditioner on low
enough and there was mold growing on the furniture. Does
this happen in our homes if we're living in.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
Them, It sure can, absolutely. You know, that humidity level
is key. Humidity above a certain point, and there's some
discussion between like fifty five and sixty percent humidity is
what mold needs to thrive. So in order to keep
mold and mildews and odors and bacteria and fungus and
(29:00):
pests and all those naziness you know, if we keep
that humidity level low enough, those things won't thrive. They
don't have the conditions necessary to grow. So, you know,
I know it's a big problem. But if we can
just look at it from maybe like a thirty thousand
foot view and say, okay, we need to maintain healthy
humidity levels throughout our entire structure, that's the number one
(29:22):
way you can prevent mold from happening in the first place.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Now, of course, our air conditioner is a big do youmidifier,
and then there's portable do you emidifiers, and of course
our homes continue to get tight because I've been preaching
after seeing a couple of my electric bills this summer,
like holy cow, we got to do something. So we're
talking about more insulation, but then that drives up the
(29:50):
humidity levels, and that always brings me to your product.
We need, we need to have some ventilation, and it
it needs to be controlled. We can't open all the windows.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Especially when it's been like this, right, it's so you're right, exactly, Yeah,
So you don't want to open the windows when it's raining,
and you know, opening the windows has more of a sucking,
you know component than it does blowing out right open
the windows and it draws the air in. So we
don't really get much ventilation just by opening windows unless
(30:26):
you've got specific cross breezes with you know, two different
windows directly across from each other. So you're right, ventilation
is a key component to an overall healthy home, but
specifically when it comes to you know, managing indoor pollutants,
which humidity is one of the ones at top of
mind right now.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Sure, sure, So you're exactly right, because again your analogy
with moistures drawn to dry, so if you're sitting with
ninety three degrees outside in eighty five percent humidity when
you open the windows, guess what your humidity is inside
your home. So there's a little science involved here, folks.
(31:07):
And Erica's been with easybreed. Gosh, twenty years longer, I'll
lose track. Twenty two, Yeah, twenty two. Well, so you've
seen this whole industry grow. This controlled ventilation. You don't
filter it, you control.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
The ventilation, correct.
Speaker 7 (31:27):
Yeah, there's no reason to spend the extra money to
filter or you know, do any sort of modification to
the molecular structure, like condense it into the liquid form
like a standard to humidifier does easy breathe. We approach
it by simple ventilation, so it keeps operational costs very low.
We're removing the air in its whole state. So if
(31:50):
it's humid, sticky damp air, we're removing that sticky, damp,
humid air to the outside, making room for cleaner, dryer
air to come down and replace it. So it's more
of an air exchange by using you know, ventilation at
the very lowest level as the driving force behind that
air exchange and pollutant removal.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Sure, so it's been replaced. Sure there's some outdoor air,
but it's a minimal amount. How many times does an
easy breed change out the air in your home? I
mean a few times a day absolutely.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
It really depends on the size of the structure, but
anywhere between three to six times a day you'll have
complete air exchanges. You know, we don't move the air
faster than the HVAC system conditions it. We want to
be very clear about that. We don't tack the existing
air handler. We don't want to do that. We want
the air handler to do its job, and we just
(32:43):
borrow enough of that air bring it down so you
replace the bad, sticky, polluted air with a cleaner, dryer
air quality from the upper levels.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
It makes so much sense.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And we're we focused just the last ten minutes on humidity.
There's other pollutants in our in our homes all the time.
We use aerosols, and we got furniture and carpeting. There's
off guessing there's pollutants in our home anyway.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Oh, absolutely, humidity. Like you said, humidity seems to be
top of mine right now. But overall, indoor air quality
gets significantly improved. Are testing over the last twenty plus
years has shown a decrease in airborne pollutants, which is
basically everything that's floating in the air. Those airborne pollutants
get a reduction of about eighty five percent once we
(33:32):
start ventilating the air because the air no longer is stagnant.
There's a very gentle breeze that allows for that air exchange,
so nothing has the ability to concentrate and build up
to unhealthy levels like humidity, danders, allergens, bacterias, those types
of things.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, you got about ten more myths for me.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
We can take a break and come back and talk
a little bit more about the easy breath.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Fair enough, Sure sounds great.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
MAKA do that and we'll continue our discussion with Erica.
From easy breathe and the moisture and the pollutants that
we trap in our homes. This is important stuff and
I for the last twenty some years have watched this
industry become very very important.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Just as Erica has. And I think people are catching on.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
But if you've been on the fence about doing something
about it by increasing the ventilation, maybe the day's the day.
All right, we'll continue with Erica. You're at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. Is at Home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
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Did you know that indoor error is five times more
plued than outdoor air. Are you working from home or
do you have a gym or play room in your basement?
You know breathing clean air is important to your health
and that's why I love my Easy Breath ventilation system.
(35:39):
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Speaker 1 (36:48):
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Speaker 2 (36:49):
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Speaker 4 (36:55):
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Speaker 2 (37:12):
Our friend, Erica from Easy Breath, that's with us when
talking about how an easy breath works and how to
maintain healthy humidity levels. Again, it expels the damp, polluted air,
the toxic air from the lowest level of your home
or wherever the problem is to the outside and replaces
(37:33):
the bad air with cleaner air, ventilates the home and
again that air exchange you you know, occurs you know, six, eight,
ten times a day. And Erica, you have a special
going on right now. I want to make sure we
tell everybody about that. It's true the month of August,
So if people been hearing us talk about it over
(37:55):
the years, the month of August is the time to
take advantage of the special.
Speaker 7 (37:59):
Ear Absolutely the big summer sale. It's two hundred and
fifty dollars off the Easy Breeds, whether it's for your basement,
your cross space. We have a garage system and this
month we're giving away two free humidity monitors with every
easy Breef purchase, along with a humidity guide for homeowners
(38:21):
to really help people understand the best way to manage
their home with regards to humidity and understanding the relationship
between outdoor and indoor and upstairs and downstairs, and actually
give you ways to help monitor that. So, yeah, we're
very excited about that. We've been having this conversation with
homeowners for years now and thought this would be a
great way to help further the knowledge.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Sure, And one of the cool things is, you know,
we can't see pollutants. Sometimes we can't smell pollutants. It
might irritate our eyes or our throats or something. But
with the humidity monitors, you can see it.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I know.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yet the less we can when somebody callor they go, like,
my basement humidity seventy five percent, and I said, well,
what's upstairs?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Want I don't know.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I said, we'll move that thing upstairs because it could
be seventy five percent upstairs, and thank goodness, it was
like fifty eight percent, so it was still downstairs, but
it's going to get upstairs. So if you know that information,
you can really, you know, you can really help control it.
Now the easy breathe is there any maintenance on this device?
Speaker 7 (39:31):
No? You know, the easy Breed is is a ventilation system,
so drawing the air off the lowest level of the
floor of the basement or cross space, and it's evacuated
it to the outside through a six inch hole, very
similar to the dryer vent. You know, it's got a
vent cover with the flaps, so when the airstream is
being exhausted, it's open and if for any reason, the
(39:52):
unit cycles on and off because it is governed by
a humid of stats, so if it reaches that desired level,
little cloth, and the only that we ask is maybe
every other month or every three months, you vacuum around
the base where the intake is because those larger particles
are sometimes the little tumble weeds of hair or hat
hair tends to accumulate right right right.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
What what's the cost of the electricity on this? I mean,
I know de amidifiers are expensive to operate. Where's the
easy Breed come in there?
Speaker 7 (40:29):
Yeah, that's a great question. We get that asked all
the time because folks are used to paying thirty, forty, fifty, sixty,
sometimes one hundred dollars a month depending on how many
dehumidifiers are running. The easy Breath because it's so simple,
and we're not spending a lot of energy to modify
the air, whether to filter it or condense it or
run it through you know uv zappers. We're simply exhausting it.
(40:51):
So the easy breed is very economical and only two
to four dollars a month, so it's the cost of
like a thirty watt light bulb. Yeah, we're very, very
energy efficient, so no concerns with regard to operation costs
it all.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Are there different sizes of an easy Breath.
Speaker 7 (41:09):
Yes, we have various units systems for various applications. So
whether it's going into a basement or crawl space or garage,
you know, we've got various models that service the specific
needs of the context where it's being installed.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Okay, is there a warranty on the easy Breath.
Speaker 7 (41:28):
Yeah, best in the business. Gary. We have a ten
year warranty, which you know, we've had this now for
over twenty years and we still find ourselves one of
the best in the business. It's very very rare to
find a ten year warranty on any sort of home apply.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
I agree, we're.
Speaker 7 (41:43):
Going strong at ten years. Yeah, and they live well
beyond that, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Just to let you know that mine's well over ten.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
We've had them fifteen years. Sure, that's right, you're still
going strong.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I check it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I check it every now and then. I always tell
the story. One day I can. You can barely hear it.
By the way, it's not loud, folks. You can put
it right down in the theater in the basement if
you wanted to. But I unplugged it one year. It's like,
does this thing really working or what?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
You know?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
It's been so nice and I unplugged it within a day.
You could smell it. You could just smell a little
bit of dampness. You could smell it and plug it
right back in and go on. So how about the installation.
If you're pulling air out, that tells me we gotta
we got to go through the brick or the foundation
(42:33):
or something.
Speaker 7 (42:35):
Yeah, oftentimes you know, the right above the rim joys
the still played area. That's generally we don't we don't
prefer going through brick, but certainly that is an area
if that's the only, you know, place we have to drill.
But yeah, it's a six inch hold, just like your
dryer event creating that penetration to allow the airstream. So
you know, we offer professional install we our DIY kit
(42:58):
is very very popular. Lots of DIY homeowners have the
ability to do this, so we have a do it
yourself installation kit that we offer. But also you know
that's not in the cards for you. We do have
a network of professional installers throughout the country that can
we can you know, marry you with one of those
sure and get this installed. It only takes about an
(43:19):
hour and a half to two hours. It isn't you know,
huge you know, time commitment. So it's a it's a
great little project and makes a big big improvement. You know,
people ask us all the time, Like you said, it's
so hard to see this, but you can feel it.
And a great analogy is when you're taking a shower
and you don't turn on your vents, Well, yeah, your
your bathroom fan right. Figure out how humid and sticky
(43:41):
that gets. So that's what's happening to your basement and
you left years and years of accumulation, no wonder it
gets much being damp.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Money.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Take advantage of this sale again.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Call Easy Breathe give them a call on Monday morning
and it's eight six six eight to two seventy three
twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
That's eight sixty six eight two.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Two seventy three twenty eight, and have a conversation with him.
If you've heard us talking about it in the past,
maybe it's time to do something again. That's two hundred
and fifty dollars off plus two free humidity monitors, a
humidity guide for you, and that's sales during the month
of August, Erica. Thank you so much for joining us today.
(44:23):
Certainly appreciate your time.
Speaker 7 (44:25):
Thank you Gary.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
All right, I have a going by bye.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
All right, Uh your calls next at eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five year at Home with
Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Takes it right with a call to Gary Sullivan at
one eight hundred eight two three talk. This is at
Home with Gary Sullivan
Speaker 2 (45:01):
About the difficulty the deput
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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