I work with folks disabled by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities who face a lot of obstacles when accessing rental and sale home viewings.
With 1/4 of the US population reporting some level of chemical sensitivities I think it's important to take some steps to make home viewings more accessible.
1. Paint
The first thing we can do to help is if we are repainting to use a zero-VOC paint. There are so many now, they range in price from very inexpensive lines like Valspar Pristine to high-end brands like many Benjamin Moore lines.
This is something that can now be easily found in hardware and paint stores locally.
On the trim we can avoid oil-based paints to minimize offgassing.
2. Use of air fresheners
The second part is to avoid the use of air fresheners that contain compounds that bother those with chemical sensitivity and other common environmental illnesses like asthma.
To make homes more accessible we would avoid plug-in air fresheners, typical aerosol air fresheners, wick stick air fresheners, diffusers, scented candles (the synthetics types), and potpourri.
Instead, it would be best to start with eliminating any malodors first (without chemicals). To do this we can bring in natural enzyme cleaners, natural mineral sprays, air out the place, and in some cases, we can use low levels of ozone (when the house is unoccupied).
If there is smoke odor in the walls, we can prime and paint that.
We can then bring in natural low scent products to add non-offensive scents at lower levels.
Lightly scented sprays made with natural essential oils are likely to be better for most people but many with chemical sensitivity and asthma are also sensitive to these compounds.
We can consider non-essential oil based products like the use of cedar woods in the closer, dried eucalyptus branches as a floral bouquet.
Brewing coffee or even baking goods can produce a very pleasing natural aroma.
3. Cleaning products
Instead of using harsh cleaning and disinfecting products, we can use natural products scented with low levels of citrus scents.
To disinfect in COVID times, hydrogen peroxide is a non-offensive odorless disinfectant. Alcohol can also be used when needed since it evaporates quickly.
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