Pain Cave Indoor Air Quality and Illness

tspinner21

Hey everyone, I've got my cave setup in my garage and I've been dealing with this nasty head cold for almost three weeks now.

After each NOS bike WKO my cold get really bad for a couple of days then subsides some...

I'm wondering two things:

1. Am I just pushing to hard or,

2. Do I have some kind of indoor air quality issue.... (i.e. mold, dirt, dust, etc... damn allergies(

Any thoughts?

-Tom S

drjohnson08

Hey Tom, it's hard for us to diagnose the air quality in your pain cave without being there or seeing some type of environmental test (re mold). I live in a real old building and I would love to put my trainer in my garage but I don't for 2 reasons, there is a film of dust on everything and it's extremely drafty and wouldn't be warm enough in the winter.

Is it possible that if you've had a head cold for almost 3 weeks maybe it's more than a cold or something else going on? It very well could be allergies, do you have allergies when you ride or run outside?

Is it cold in your pain cave? I know in colder weather when I ride or run and really get my heart rate up my nose runs like a faucet and it will sometimes take a few hours for that to settle down. Maybe that's the case here?

tspinner21

Posted By Doug Johnson on 17 Nov 2015 06:50 PM


Hey Tom, it's hard for us to diagnose the air quality in your pain cave without being there or seeing some type of environmental test (re mold). I live in a real old building and I would love to put my trainer in my garage but I don't for 2 reasons, there is a film of dust on everything and it's extremely drafty and wouldn't be warm enough in the winter.



Is it possible that if you've had a head cold for almost 3 weeks maybe it's more than a cold or something else going on? It very well could be allergies, do you have allergies when you ride or run outside?



Is it cold in your pain cave? I know in colder weather when I ride or run and really get my heart rate up my nose runs like a faucet and it will sometimes take a few hours for that to settle down. Maybe that's the case here?

Thanks Doug for the thoughts. First yes, I have just a few allergies  and yes I live in one of the top ten "Worst places to live with allergies" In the good ol' Lehigh valley in PA. That being said, about 6 years ago I began and finished allergy treatments (main offenders trees, household dust, and mold) there's none of that in a garage !

so, a little environmental background: 

Air Quality: 

Particulate matter:

There was a mold issue in the garage (molded drywall) near the garage door and sump pump area. I've removed the bad and replaced with Hardi-board and painted with mold proof film paint. Next is the dust in the garage, and yes the same its over everything.

Temp/humidity:

Garage is right off the furnace room, so if the door is left open the night before the temp ranges near 65°F. humidity is typical of outside conditions.

Next Steps:

Air Filtration:

I have a blower from an old bounce house. I'm going to rig a homemade filtration device (engineered with cardboard and duct tape ) attached to the blower inlet and a hose from the outlet and attach to the ceiling (filtered air and fan all in one, pictures to follow).

Head Cold Status: There is a nasty viral cold going around (which I think I have), nothing to do but wait it out... Worst case it's turned to a sinus infection. If i'm not better by next week (post Final Exam for Grad School, reduced stress) then I think it's time to seek medical help.

Thanks again for the ideas and thoughts! I welcome any insight I can get! 

 

 

tspinner21

Well I got the Air Purifier built and it is helping (definitely cleaner smelling environment) I also used a wrap over my nose and mouth and that really stopped my coughing and the next day I was fine as well! See the link below (my oldest was helping me engineer and testing it out! )

Air Purifier