Chemical analysis

The common belief is that wood burning in fireplaces are only used a few times a year. However, for our neighbours (stay at home moms) lighting a fire was a morning ritual and the fires were kept burning all day and into the night.

It is no use complaining to the local council as they have a record around the globe of doing nothing, but angry neighbours have been known to vandalize your home or car.

The other problem is section 29 of the Real Estate Act (Canada) where one has to declare any problems with the property; then finding a buyer is difficult. We just moved out and hope we do not again have wood burning neighbours.

I ran an analysis of chemicals in the air and there were significant levels of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and benzene plus a range of PAHs. The filters were blackened by wood smoke. Overall pollution was literally 100 times the city’s background level.