Known as the Merck Allergy Relief House, the picket-fenced building is well worth a visit as it makes its way across Canada. It has already stopped in Vancouver, moves on to Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall in June and financial district workers with pollen and dust issues will next get a chance to visit at Toronto’s Bay and Wellington streets. Then the Relief House heads off to Montreal.

A giant touch screen offers an allergy-quiz to test knowledge, while a 3D display shows an in-depth visual description of allergy symptoms, without the need for 3D glasses. Tablets, mounted on stands, can be found throughout the house, welcoming visitors to participate in questionnaires, quizzes and an allergy app.

The house is divided
into sections, each representing a different Merck product: hydraSense (a nasal rinse), Claritin and Aerius (new-generation antihistamines).

The Claritin room contains a touch-screen allergy quiz, plus a tablet running a special Claritin app, which gives up-to-date pollen and mold counts for the area. For those interested in getting a closer look at their allergen, the Aerius room contains powerful microscopes showing highly magnified images of pollen and dust on attached screens.

Friendly brand ambassadors provide helpful information on the products and respond to any questions visitors may have. For questions they can’t answer, an allergist and a pharmacist stop by during designated hours to field questions from anyone who is interested.

Numerous product samples (at the cost of a penny for legal reasons) are offered. Anyone can take the samples with them to see which relieves their symptoms the most, or to give to a friend who has allergies.

Visitors are encouraged to join communities connected with the products using the provided computers and tablets. These include the hydraSense “Dolphins Club”, where members get free coupons, a newsletter, and can even get help planning a baby shower.

Other screens display a contest entry form for Aerius, prizes of which include an in-home visit by an allergist and $10,000-worth of allergy-proofing home renovations.

The Merck Allergy Relief House is at the Toronto locations until June 21. It will be up and running again in Montreal in the fall.

Relief House’s full schedule:

Toronto:
June 10-16, Yorkdale Shopping Mall (3401 Dufferin Street)
June 18-21, Royal Bank Plaza (corner of Bay and Wellington)

Montreal:
September 16-22, Complexe Desjardins (150 Rue Ste. Catherine West)

For more information, including the allergist’s schedule, visit allergyreliefhouse.ca.

People with environmental sensitivities, allergies and asthma are often taught to shun basements as dark, dank places laden with triggers such as mold and chemical fumes. And that stereotype can hold true. But the basement also presents much needed extra space. So let’s show you how to make your downstairs a safe, comfortable and breathable area.

Damp Downstairs

In school, we learn that hot air rises, and cold air falls. This means that in warmer weather, hot moist air leaks into your house and cools as it falls into the basement. As the hot air cools, the relative humidity is increasing as temperature drops, causing the damp feeling in the basement.

In fact, the air can reach the dew point – the temperature at which water falls out of it. When you add furnishings such as carpets and old upholstered furniture, which can absorb and hold the water vapor, this creates a musty, and potentially moldy basement.

As air moves through cracks in the basement walls, windows and elsewhere, it also brings with it dust, pollens and molds found outside. These end up in the basement as well. Add a few kids, pets and some glues and paints from hobbies and the workshop, and you’ve got the ingredients for an unhealthy space.

What To Do: Outside

To allergen-proof inside, start by minimizing what gets in. Grading is a major component of keeping your basement dry and refers to the slope of the land around the house. You want a “positive” slope or grade – which means the water runs away from the house.

With a “negative” slope, water pools and seeps into the ground, adding hydrostatic pressure to the foundation walls. Excessive water pressure will ultimately lead a wall system to fail and allow water to enter the basement. I recommend that you walk around your house during a heavy rain to assess how the water is moving around the building.

• Grading work does not have to be dramatic, but it must have a positive slope away from the building on all sides. How you can do this:
– Using a shovel and a wheelbarrow, create simple slopes in the areas of concern.
– Specifically, build up the soil closest to the house (keep it off siding, though), and dig down the soil that’s farther away from the building. Your slope must lose incline as you move away from the foundation. You can add grass seed to control erosion.

• The downspouts on your home are also extremely important as they release a large volume of water near the base of your home. It is imperative that downspouts direct water far away from the foundation. They should extend four to six feet from the building.

• Also consider the window wells. They keep snow off windows and ledges and reduce the risk of high water against a window, the weakest point in the basement walls. Wells should be at least six inches deeper than the bottom of the windowsill. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. recommends that you then dig down a further six to eight inches and fill with gravel to aid in drainage. (I often take the gravel even deeper.)

• Waterproofing: The only way to ensure your basement is completely dry, however, is to dig out the foundation from the outside, and add a waterproofing barrier of some kind. That entails hiring a waterproofing company and can be expensive. Be sure to check references if dealing with a larger job, and call utility companies before they dig.

Next Page: What to Do Inside