How to cover Very Tall Windows
Window Coverings, Indoor Air Quality and GreenGuard Certification
In selecting window coverings (blinds, shades, drapery or shutters) for your home or workplace, one often overlooked but very important factor to consider that greatly impacts your health is the impact of the window coverings on Indoor Air Quality.
Indoor air quality is often much worst then outdoor air quality with a particular concentration of manmade chemicals and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Concentrations of VOCs, which are emitted by everyday items like furniture, mattresses, cleaning supplies, and building materials, can be up to ten times higher indoors than outdoors. Poor indoor air quality trigger allergic reactions including worsening asthma, eczema, and allergic rhinitis by causing oxidative stress and inflammation.
For workplaces, provincial and federal government Occupational Health and Safety guidelines extensively cover the issue of Indoor Air Quality. However, such guidelines are often ignored when it comes to purchasing criteria for window coverings, with excessive focus on the lowest price.
If you are someone who works at a company office all day, you are likely exposed to a lot of VOCs and chemical emissions. The last thing you need is to come home to continue to be exposed again, giving your immune system no chance to rest.
Having been in the industry for over 15 years and representing a range of manufacturers and suppliers of blinds, shades, shutters products and drapery materials, it is surprising how unaware most homeowners are to this issue. Especially considering, the placement of window coverings gives it direct and almost constant exposure to UV light which accelerates the emission rate of some volatile compounds, in particular organic compounds.
The good news is that there is an easy way to select blinds, shades, drapery and shutters for your home that does not cause such Indoor Air Quality issues.
GREENGUARD Certification: is an independent, voluntary program that verifies a product meets stringent standards for low chemical and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions into indoor air. It ensures both the product and its manufacturing process are tested and reviewed for over 10,000 chemicals and VOC emissions, meeting industry baseline standards for low emissions.
Obviously, Greenguard Certified materials for window coverings such as for roller shades are not going to be the cheapest option, but they are still affordable. Reducing air quality problems at its source is cheaper in the long term then spending money on Air Purifiers in every room of your home and dealing with health issues due to excessive ongoing exposure to harmful chemical emissions.
