I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach. Thank you for coming to learn about how you can take advantage of all that I have to share with you to make your home healthier, more comfortable, and safer.  This podcast series is about my book, Living Green Effortlessly- Simple Choices for a Better Home.  I wrote the book because I understand that making more educated and better choices about our homes can have a big impact on how we live in our homes. By making some simple changes and better choices, we can have far healthier and safer outcomes.  This series will incorporate my book, and it will cover the basics of all the systems and features of your home. We will also explain how to make the best of all the features. In each session of the series, we will cover another chapter in the book. We will read some excerpts from the book and the stories that go along with them.  Today, we will be covering Chapter Two: Your Comfort, Health, and Safety: Start Where You Live. Stay tuned for more! Between you and the outdoors Between you and the outdoors are the roof, the walls, the windows, the floors, and the doors. Those keep you safe, warm, and comfortable inside your house. The roof and gutters handle the rain and snow and keep you dry. Inside the walls, under the roof, and in the basement ceiling, there is insulation. That acts as a sweater for your home. It keeps the wind out and the heated air inside during the winter. and it keeps the cooled air inside, in the summertime. An envelope of protection No matter what it has been made of, your house surrounds you with an envelope of protection from the elements. Even so, there are still places in that envelope where the outdoor elements can get in, and where the energy that you are paying for can get out. That costs you money, makes you uncomfortably cold in the winter, and too hot in the summer.       Sealing and insulating Focus on sealing and insulating the envelope of your house.  Our homes are our everything Since Covid, our homes have become our everything. They are where we work, play, cook, gather, relax, and work out. How our home structure supports all these activities is critical to our lives, especially when we are living so much harder in our homes. Doing things differently Now, after spending so much time at home, it would be the time to consider if you have changed the way you think about your home, or if there are any things about it you might want to change or do differently. My aim I aim to help you to find the things you can do to make your home more comfortable, healthier, and support you better.  A tight home A tight home is an efficient home. Using quality building materials is necessary to prevent having moisture problems, components wearing out, or pollutants in the air. Finding air leaks It can be hard to find air leaks in your home. You could consider hiring a pro like a home energy assessor or auditor to help you find them, or you may want to go the DIY route to find the leaks and seal them yourself. Materials Your local hardware store will be very happy to assist you in finding the right materials for your particular application.  Insulation Insulation works better when the air leaks get plugged. So look out for tiny holes in the insulation of the attic. If you find any, plug them up to help you stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Air quality A tight building envelope does not allow for any fresh air to enter the home unless you make it happen.  Good ventilation Many health problems can get tied to breathing contaminated air. To protect your health, your home needs to have good ventilation. You can achieve that by either opening the windows or with the HVAC system. Anti-allergy filters Getting custom-made anti-allergy Green Screen air filters for your HVAC system is one way for you to start improving the air quality in your home. (The coupon code is greenhomecoach.) You can also add an air purifier and an advanced filtration system if you need to do so. Bath