How To Improve Indoor Air Quality

Indoor pollutants can enter your home in a variety of ways. While typical house dust is common, cleaning products, new furniture, and visitors can all bring in pollutants that decrease your home’s air quality. Mold, dust mites, and pet dander can also become irritating. This can make you and your family sick or even cause serious health problems.

Removing pesky allergens from your home doesn’t need to be difficult. Here are five steps you can take to eliminate indoor pollution and improve your home’s air quality. 

1. KEEP YOUR FLOORS CLEAN 

Dust, debris, and other allergens can accumulate on your floors. With family members and guests coming in and out of your home, dirt, pet dander and dust can build up. If your floors are not regularly cleaned, those pollutants can fly into the air as your family moves about.

Keeping your floors clean can help eliminate the amount of dust in your home. Vacuum or mop regularly, particularly in high traffic areas. Do what you can to eliminate the amount of dirt or dust that is brought into your home. Ask guests to take their shoes off and leave them at the door.

2. CONTROL YOUR HUMIDITY

Allergens like mold and dust mites are attracted to moisture. The more humidity in your home, the more mold and mites can grow. Keeping the humidity within your home between 30-50% can prevent allergens from growing. 

A dehumidifier is a great way to control the humidity in your home. In the summer, a properly designed air conditioning system can also reduce humidity as well as properly ventilating when showering, running the dishwasher, or using the clothes dryer. 

3. USE NATURAL CLEANING PRODUCTS 

Chemicals in cleaning products can add pollutants into your home's indoor air. While products like bleach or strong citrus scents may make your home feel clean, breathing in fumes from strong cleaning products can be incredibly harmful. 

Instead, opt for natural cleaning products without harsh chemicals. Not only is this better for your family and the environment, but they can also maintain the air quality within your home. Avoid using plug-in air fresheners and aerosol sprays around your home as much as possible. 

4. CREATE A NO-SMOKING ZONE 

Cigarette smoke contains numerous chemicals that can cause infections, illness, and breathing problems. When you exhale cigarette smoke into your home, it lingers in the air and can make breathing for you and your family uncomfortable and even difficult. 

Eliminating cigarette smoke from your home can dramatically increase the air quality indoors. Choosing to smoke outside, or requesting that your guests go outside to smoke, can help keep your indoor air quality at its best. 

5. CHANGE HVAC FILTERS REGULARLY

Your HVAC's air filters help prevent pesky allergens and dust from spreading throughout your home. Changing your filters regularly can dramatically improve your indoor air quality. If they are not changed regularly, air filters can become clogged. Not only does this push your HVAC system to work harder, increasing the strain on your equipment as well as your energy bills, but it also prevents your filter from effectively removing dirt, debris, and dust from the air within your home. Typically your standard air filter should be changed about every 90 days.

 For homes with family members particularly susceptible to allergies or with multiple pets, changing your standard filter about once a month is recommended. Air purification systems can also help to vastly improve your indoor air quality with the use of UV light to detoxify the air in your home and high efficiency filters which trap much smaller particles than standard filters. Combined they combat particles, bio-aerosols, microorganisms, odors and chemical vapors.