Does your homes’ air quality feel stagnant? Do you sometimes wonder if your home smells and feels fresh to those who visit? Do your allergies always seem to be a problem? The quality of your indoor air matters, especially if you suffer from allergies. Being able to do simple things to freshen the air you live in can not only lessen allergy flare ups but make your homes’ atmosphere more relaxing and enjoyable.
Everyone wants to breathe fresh air, whether they are outside or indoors. According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, people spend about 90% of their time inside, so it makes sense that we would want to ensure the quality of the air we breathe. Here we go over some simple ways you can affect the quality of air in your home.
- Keep Your Home Clean
- Keep The Plants Outside
- Change The Filters and Let Your House Breathe
- Invest In Air Purifiers
- Keep Your Crawl Space Dry
Keep Your Home Clean
Keeping your home clean can be a challenge. We all have busy lives and sometimes it feels like we can never get around to giving our home a deep clean. Even tidying up can be a chore! But a clean home can make a difference when it comes to your homes’ air quality. Focusing on ways to lessen dander, dust and mold in your home will make a significant difference in the air you breathe.
Some simple ways to achieve this is by eliminating clutter. As the air in your home circulates, it carries pollutants with it and given some time, these pollutants will settle throughout the interior of your home. Sometimes the reason we feel overwhelmed when thinking about cleaning is because there seems like there’s so much to clean! Minimizing items in your household will not only make you feel less of a weight at the thought of cleaning but will make cleaning easier as you will have less to clean around. Plus, you won’t have those items collecting pollutants that affect the quality of your homes’ air.
Vacuum with a Hepa Filter to catch all the nasty allergens. Wash bedding, pillows and drapes on a regular basis. Opt for hardwood flooring, especially if your prone to allergies and keep the shoes outside! Shoes track in so many pollutants, chemicals and bacteria that will sit within the fabric of your carpet and floors.
Keep the Plants Outside
For years we’ve been told that having plants indoors is better for our air quality because they release oxygen but what most don’t know is that having plants indoors can actually increase the amount of mold spores and bacteria in our homes outweighing the positives. Because it’s common for plants to get overwatered, the soil begins to grow mold and bacteria which releases spores into the air we breathe. This negates any benefits of having plants inside. If you are a plant lover you’re probably not willing to give up your plants to the great outdoors. If this is the case, make sure you only water as necessary. Let your plants sit outside every once in awhile. It’s good to let them breathe too!
Change The Filters and Let Your House Breathe
Filters are put in place for a reason. They catch all the teeny tiny pollutants that run through our air system. Changing these filters ensures that are air units are working efficiently and it reduces your cooling and heating bill. Another simple way to create fresh air in your home is by opening up your windows. Allowing fresh air to circulate in your home throughout the day greatly improves your air quality. It allows for all the stagnant air to leave and the fresh air to come in.
Turn on the vent option of your window fan or run a bathroom fan so the air in the room can be exported out. Even during the colder months this is necessary, though you may have to do it in shorter periods of time. It is particularly important that you do this when you know there are high levels of pollutants coming into your home. Using bleach when cleaning, painting your homes’ interior, sanding cabinets and even while cooking are great times to open a window or run your vents to help circulate the air.
Invest In Air Purifiers
If your a pet owner you know how much hair and dander are a part of your everyday life. Getting rid of a pet if they have allergies is not an option for many people, but you can cut down on the amount of allergens you breathe, making everyday life a lot more enjoyable. Placing these devices in common areas will help to eliminate the allergens circulating in the air. Ionic purifiers are suggested above others. Dehumidifiers work great in areas where mold is likely to grow. Damp areas like basements, crawlspaces and attics are a good place to start.
Keep Your Crawl Space Dry
Due to the stack effect, homes without visible crawl space moisture problems can experience high levels of humidity inside the home. This is usually caused by water vapor passing through the crawl space and floors. Mold and condensation can become a major problem when your crawl space is not kept dry, on top of the quality of your indoor air being affected. Being that 50% of the air you breathe inside your home comes from your crawl space, it’s an important that keep your crawl space dry and clean.
The average adult, when resting, inhales and exhales about 7 or 8 liters of air per minute. That totals about 11,000 liters of air per day. To say that the quality of air we breathe matters is an understatement. That’s a lot of air! And because we are inside most of the time, thinking about the quality of indoor air is important. Taking simple measures to ensure clean, fresh air is worth it.
