What Are the Best Ways to Improve My Air Quality at Home? – Reliable HVAC Services in California
You spend a third of your life sleeping and the next eight hours at work. That leaves only three hours to enjoy your home. But what if your home is filled with pollutants that make you sick?
For this reason, you should seriously think about the air quality at home.
Clean air is vital to the health and happiness of your family. When it comes down to it, your home should be a place where you can relax and feel at ease. It’s essential to take care of your home and its occupants by keeping the air within clean and healthy. Your whole family will benefit!
So if your home smells like paint or chemicals, has a musty odor from basement flooding, or may even have mold problems, then your air quality is not as good as it could be. Poor home indoor air quality can lead to headaches, allergies, and respiratory problems—issues that no one should have to deal with in their own home.
Take immediate action to improve your indoor air quality today.
Crack a Window Open
The simplest and easiest way to improve your home’s indoor air in terms of air quality is by opening windows. Even when it’s cold outside, take a few minutes every day to open up the windows and let in some fresh air.
It may seem obvious, but keeping the air flowing fresh is the cheapest and easiest way to improve the air quality in your home.
It may be counterintuitive to open your windows during the winter when you want to stay warm and save money on central heating, but allowing oxygen to get in is vital. Also: take special care to keep rooms well ventilated when using harsh chemical cleaners or decorations.
Reduce the Number of Contaminants in Your Home.
The first step to (actually) improving your air quality is identifying what can be causing it. This may require some detective work and a little more time spent with your nose to see what you can smell. Start by opening all the windows for fresh air and set up an air purifier or a vacuum cleaner with filters on high.
Next, identify the chemicals or smells that are coming from your home. You may need to get a professional opinion about what needs cleaning or treatment. Try giving your house a deep clean and throwing away any old furniture or items that could be trapping contaminants like mold, dust mites, and mildew.
If you have pets, consider limiting their access to certain rooms in the house, like the kitchen, where they could be leaving their fur behind as they roam around. Keep in mind that if you keep them outdoors during the day, they will bring in pollen, dirt, and other allergens when they come back inside at night.
Lastly, if you notice strong chemical smells coming from somewhere in your home—perhaps near a drain or under the sink—consider looking into ways to seal off those areas of your home where you’re noticing these smells coming from.
Keep Your Home Clean
One of the best ways to improve your air quality at home is by keeping it clean. Regularly sweep and vacuum your floor, clean the kitchen, deep-clean your bathroom, mop your floors, and more.
Dust control is also essential for reducing allergens in the air. Cleaning up spills as soon as they happen can also help reduce indoor air pollution.
If you have a mold problem, removing mold from hard surfaces with bleach or soap and water can minimize mold growth. If you have a musty odor from flooding, use fans and open windows to ventilate the area.
Make Sure You’re Using Safe Cleaning Products
One of the things you can do to improve air quality in your home is to make sure you’re using safe cleaning products. If you’re not using safe cleaning products in your home, then your family could be breathing in toxins that an air purifier hasn’t filtered. This can lead to respiratory illnesses such as asthma and allergy issues. Safer cleaners will also reduce the number of toxic chemicals you’re exposing yourself and your loved ones too.
Even if you have a housekeeper, using environmentally friendly and healthy products is beneficial. When shopping for household cleaners, look for labels that state “non-toxic,” “natural,” and “biodegradable.”
Also, be sure to read the labels on cleaning products and follow directions carefully. Keep in mind that some cleaners need to be used with water or other ingredients. For example, if you use vinegar as a cleaner, you’ll need to mix it with water before scrubbing the surface.
Get a humidifier to keep moisture levels at an optimum level.
Another way to improve your air quality at home is by getting a humidifier. Humidifiers are an excellent way to improve your air quality, and they don’t come with any harmful chemicals.
Humidifiers can help relieve you of your allergies and hay fever symptoms. But it isn’t just allergies; a humidifier can also help you sleep better, as well as relieve you of a dry throat and chapped lips.
Humidifiers are a great idea for homes with small children who suffer from asthma and other respiratory problems. If you have a baby, you probably notice the dry, itchy skin at the back of the neck. If you use a humidifier, you can relieve your baby from this discomfort and make them more comfortable.
You’ll also want to clean your humidifier regularly to keep it running smoothly and efficiently.
Consider Investing in an Air Purifier
Air purifiers work best when they’re nearby the source of the smell—such as near the kitchen sink or toilet. Doing so will help trap more odor-causing particles before they get into the rest of your home. You could also try installing an air purifier or an indoor air filter near the places where people spend a lot of time at home, like bedrooms or living rooms.
If you have an air purifier already installed, then by all means– use it! Your air purifier removes particles from the air that are too small to be detected by your nose or eyes. These particles can cause adverse health effects and even lead to illness over time.
You should change your filter at least once a month, but every couple of months is better if there is a lot of indoor activity or a family member suffers from allergies or asthma.
If you don’t have an air purifier, now might be a good time to invest in one. You may also want to consider upgrading if you’ve had your current filter for five years or longer since they lose its effectiveness after this point.
Make Sure Your Carbon Monoxide Detector is in Working Order
Many factors can contribute to poor air quality, but one of the most important things you can do for your family’s health is make sure your carbon monoxide detector is in working order.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that poses an invisible threat to your home. It comes from combustion sources like wood-burning stoves, fireplaces, and furnaces. You may think it’s an old wives’ tale or that you’re safe because you have a gas stove or furnace—but any appliance can emit carbon monoxide when not adequately maintained.
A carbon monoxide detector will sound an alarm when it detects dangerous gas levels. But be careful! If you have pets who sleep near these detectors, they could trigger false alarms when they get too close, and then the battery dies prematurely.
Best practice: Install your detectors at least 20 feet away from pets’ sleep, so they don’t trigger false alarms.
Keep Your Rugs and Carpets Clean
One of the major causes of poor indoor air quality is dirty carpets and rugs. The longer dirt and debris are on your mat, the more likely it is to release toxic chemicals—especially if you have pets. Rugs can trap dirt and dust particles, contributing to poor indoor air quality.
Regular vacuuming should be a part of your weekly routine. And for those areas that need extra care, you can use a rug cleaner with a fresh scent like lemon or lavender. You can also use natural products like vinegar, baking soda, or essential oils to give your home a fresh smell without the chemicals found in traditional cleaners.
Use a Smart Thermostat When You Can
One great way to improve your air quality at home is by installing a smart thermostat. This device can help you monitor the temperature in your home and keep it at the perfect temperature for you and your family.
A smart thermostat can also consider factors like humidity, so if you live in a humid climate, this could be an excellent option for you. But that’s not all. A smart thermostat can also save money on your energy bills, and it can even automate your heating and cooling system.
Add Plants to Your House to Improve Air Quality and Make it Look Nicer
You’ll want to start by adding plants to your home and making sure they are thriving. Plants release oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants, and add a touch of green to any space. Your home will look better, and you will breathe easier once you start surrounding it with living plants.
Some plants have been proven to work better than others, so if you’re trying to find a plant for the best results, we recommend looking into these:
- Spider plants
- Ferns
- Bamboo
- English ivy
- Lilies
And don’t forget about the health benefits! Plants are linked with reduced levels of stress and improved air quality. Adding greenery to your home will make it look prettier and give you cleaner air.
Consider a Home Ventilation System
With the rise of pollution in our cities, a home ventilation system is becoming more and more critical to your family’s health.
A home ventilation system may seem like a luxury, but it’s a necessity if you live in a city. Air purifiers can help purify the air, but they don’t improve the air quality. A home ventilation system takes fresh air from outside your home and pumps it into your ductwork. Your ductwork then distributes cleaner outdoor air while removing stagnant indoor air.
This means you have to have a good filter in your ventilation system to remove the pollutants from outside — like pollen, smog, and dust — from your home.
A Final Word on Improving Your Air Quality at Home
Clean air is vital to the health and happiness of your family. This is especially true for parents with small children with allergies or asthma. It is also essential for adults who are susceptible to respiratory problems.
Keeping your home clean is an excellent start to improving your air quality, but did you know that you can help even more by taking a few extra measures? The All Year team specializes in home cleaning and maintenance. If you want to keep your home in tip-top shape, we encourage you to give the All Year team a call today!