components and materials. Fiberglass insulation, for example, once commonly contained formaldehyde, but formaldehyde-free versions are now available.

It’s also important that your home have adequate ventilation. Older homes, with their leaky door and windows and uninsulated walls and ceilings, often had numerous paths through which inside air could flow out and outside air be introduced. Today, because we’re building our homes to be more energy efficient and moisture resistant – and because we’re bringing into our homes so many more potentially troublesome materials – it sometimes isn’t enough to rely on passive ventilation. Some new homes have mechanical ventilation systems that bring

outside air into the home at regular intervals, helping to dilute the stale air with fresher outside air.

Here are a few commonsense steps to protecting air quality in your home.

Adhesives, paints and sealers. Use solvent-free adhesives and water based, low- or zero-VOC, formaldehyde-free interior paints and sealers. VOCs pollute the air inside your home (they also contribute to the formation of smog outside). If you’ve ever noticed that “new paint” smell in a home, you’re breathing chemicals offgassing from the paint.

Flooring. Consider smooth flooring surfaces

instead of carpet. Hardwood, concrete, compressed bamboo, and tile floors are easier to keep free of contaminants such as dust mites and pet dander than carpeted surfaces.

Formaldehyde in furnishings and building products. An array of home furnishings and building products contain formaldehyde, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers to be a probable human carcinogen. With some products, the formaldehyde will continue to offgas long after you bring the product home. Pressed-wood products such as particleboard, medium density fiberboard and plywood – often used for furniture, cabinets, countertop substrates and shelves – typically contain a urea-formaldehyde binder. Purchase