Nearly one out of every five homeowners surveyed by Houzz recently rated their home as unhealthy, the social media website reported today. But what gets rated as a health issue varies widely, as does the amount of motivation homeowners feel to solve the problem.
Those among the 808 Houzz users who took the survey in October and rated their homes as unhealthy tended to live in older homes, be baby boomers or Generation X members, and in households with annual incomes below $50,000. Major concerns included excessive dust or pet dander, dust mites, mold/mildew/rot, and allergens.
"On average, however, over one in four of all homeowners say they are uncertain about many risk factors inside their home, including contaminants in drinking water, formaldehyde, lead and exhaust from gas-burning appliances or furnaces," Houzz said in a a news release. "A fifth (21%) of owners of “healthy” homes and over a third (34%) of owners of “non-healthy” homes said they weren’t sure about the presence of asbestos in their homes."
“There’s an emerging recognition among consumers that homes can have a significant impact on their health but less awareness of the systems and products they can put in place to create a healthy home,” Tom Kelly, owner, Neil Kelly Company, Portland, Ore., said in the news release.
Download the full Houzz Healthy Home Trends Study at http://info.houzz.com/rs/houzz/images/HouzzHealthyHomeStudy.pdf.
