Garage Ventilation Fans and Other Garage Safety Tips

Many homes have garages, particularly newer construction. It’s not uncommon to find an attached two-car garage with a large family room or storage area sitting on top, or a connected garage with a mudroom or breezeway into the rest of the house. In addition to providing a safe area for cars, garages are also prime areas for storage for seasonal items, paints, tools, you name it! Some people can’t even fit their cars into their garage because of so many stored items. While this extra space and protection for your belongings is definitely useful, you may not realize the dangers that garages can pose to your health if you don’t take proper precatuions. Offroaders.com has provided a great article with six ways that you can make your garage a healthier place:

1. Install a Garage Exhaust Fan. We couldn’t agree with this suggestion more. Keeping cars, paints, tools, and other fuels and fume-emitting items in the garage can spell a recipe for disaster. Even if the garage isn’t attached to the house, having a garage ventilation or exhaust fan is important to circulate the air in your garage to expel the hazardous chemicals and keep the indoor air quality at a safe level.   

2. Safely Dispose of Unsafe Items. If you have chemical products or paints in your garage, unless you absolutely need them, it’s best to get rid of them. Remember to dispose of them safely by taking them to a center that specializes in hazardous waste removal.

3. Seal your garage from your house on the walls, ceiling and the door. While having some air circulation from the outside is important to maintaining your garage’s air quality safety level, you want to have a tight seal around where your garage connects to your house, if you have an attached garage. Also be sure to apply a weatherstrip to your connecting door, and make sure the seal is air tight. It would also be advisable to purchase a stand alone air purifier if you have a room above your garage in the event that opening windows will allow car exhaust in, depending on the placement of the windows.

4. Use a detached garage. While it may seem less convenient, having a detached garage will be safer for you and your family because any fumes are contained in a separate area from your living space. It’s still very important to eliminate unnecessary chemicals and to install a garage ventilation fan, but you will not have the added concern of sealing off common walls with the rest of your home. 

We wanted to add a couple of our own suggestions to the great list that Offroader came up with as well:

For HomeAire’s selection of garage ventilation solutions, click here. 

1. Wash and/or vacuum your car outside of the garage. This will prevent cleaning fumes from filling your garage, and will also prevent the exhaust from your vacuum and kicked up dust from getting expelled into a contained area.

2. Leave some windows open. If you live in a safe neighborhood, you may want to leave the windows of your garage open during the times that you’re home, particularly if you’re working out in the yard where you’re able to keep an eye out. This will give the ventilation a boost and help keep your garage’s air cleaner.

3. Use the front door whenever you can. Encourage your family to only go into the garage when necessary and to use other doors of your home when going outside. Try to keep the times that you go in and out of your garage minimal as to avoid letting fumes into the house unnecessarily.

4. Use a separate shed for dangerous items. If you have things like paints or other chemicals that you aren’t using but that you may use in a couple of years for projects like re-painting your house or staining your deck, use a small, detached, well ventilated shed instead. You will enter this space much less often and will have removed the chemicals from areas that you’re more frequently using (and breathing in!).