You may not realize it, but indoor air is most likely anywhere between two and five times more polluted than outdoor air. Since we spend most of our time inside our homes and offices, you might as well make sure that the air you and your family are breathing is as clean as possible. Use these eight methods to effectively clean the air circulating in your home and keep it clean for as long as possible.
- Improve the Ventilation in Your Home
While opening the windows in your home is a good way to bring in fresh air, it’s not necessarily effective for bringing in clean air. The reason is that the air outside of your home is filled with mold, industrial pollution and dust in addition to harmful by-products created from the gas emissions expelled by vehicles. What you’ll want to do is utilize trickle ventilation, which is a screen with a series of filters that helps bring in fresh air and screen out harmful pollutants.
- Always Smoke Outside
Never allow anyone to smoke inside of your residence. Not only can smoke cling to the walls, ceiling, floor and your furniture, it’s also harmful to everyone, not just the individual who’s smoking. You might not realize it, but roughly 7,500 to 15,000 children are admitted to the hospital or become sick every year because of a respiratory tract infection. Anyone in your house who has a lung or cardiovascular illness will be at risk of further health complications.
- Install an Air Purifier with a HEPA Filter
A quality air purifier is one of the best ways to improve your home’s indoor air quality. There are air purifiers that scrub the air in a single room and larger ones that can clean the air in your entire home. It’s best that you use air purifiers that offer quiet operation rather than models that can be quite noisy, since you are more likely to use a quiet air purifier at all times of the day. There are several different types of air purifiers for you to choose from, depending on the size of the room and which harmful particulates you’d like to filter out.
You can also install HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters in your air conditioner as a way to increase clean air in your home. If you do decide to use HEPA filters, make sure that you change them regularly for maximum efficiency.
- Turn on Your Air Conditioning Unit
Running your air conditioner is also a great way to clean the air in your home in addition to cooling it down or warming it up. A majority of water pollutants are water-soluble, which means that while your air conditioner pulls water from the air inside of your home it’s also pulling pollutants out. Another advantage to using your air conditioner to improve your air quality is that it can get rid of particulate matter and pollen.
- Install a Carbon Monoxide Detector
It’s estimated that more than roughly 400 people die every year as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning in addition to thousands of people who either become sick or require medical assistance as a result of being exposed to carbon monoxide.
The largest issue with carbon monoxide is that you can’t smell it, which makes it harder to determine whether or not it’s present in your home. Some of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include flu-like symptoms. You may notice that you feel better when you’re not in your home, and there’s a chance that you may notice a difference in your pets. It’s best that you install carbon monoxide detectors close to bedrooms and that you have all of the appliances in your home that burn fuel inspected every year by a professional technician.
- Clean the Gas Jets of Your Stove
If you use a stove that uses propane or natural gas, it’s recommended that you have your gas jets cleaned and maintained at least once a year by a reputable technician in order that you can be sure the gas is burning cleanly.
Your stove gives off nitrogen dioxide, which can create ozone if it’s exposed to sunlight. The irritating gas has been known to cause wheezing in perfectly healthy individuals. In addition to having your gas jets clean, it’s a good idea to open up a window so that any nitrogen dioxide your gas stove creates can be dispersed. You can also turn on the exhaust fan to keep the gas from building up.
- Choose Your Cleaning Products Wisely
While keeping your home clean can also improve your air quality, you can do more harm than good if you aren’t careful of the cleaning products you use. It’s best that you use products that contain either low or no VOCs, which or volatile organic compounds. You might also want to switch to cleaning products that are fragrance-free, no matter how much you might like having your home smell like a blossoming lemon tree.
Another good idea is to use liquid or paste cleaning products since they don’t spread as many particulates in the air as sprays. As you’re cleaning, keep an eye out for spots of mold since there might be spores spreading through the air of your home.
- Take Care of Leaks
Have your basement, roof and foundation checked for leaks and signs of leakage and have any problem areas repaired as soon as possible. Rain and high humidity can enter your home through leaks and lead to mildew and mold, which can lead to coughing, wheezing and other asthma symptoms. In addition to having your home inspected at least once a year for leaks, you’ll also want to make sure that rain and water runoff is channeled away from your home’s foundation as much as possible to keep runoff from seeping into your basement.
Put these methods into practice and see if your breathing and health in general don’t improve. Not only can you save your indoor air, you might also be able to save on medical bills by introducing clean air into your home.
Let us help you choose the correct air purifier for your needs. Our knowledgeable, friendly and honest customer service representatives are available to you 24 hours a day. Just contact us or call 888.866.8862.
