Homes today are constructed with energy efficiency in mind. This involves added insulation and tightly sealed doors and windows to keep heating and cooling costs affordable. While this is good for your heating and cooling costs, it’s not so good for your indoor air quality.
Because air has decreased chances to escape, contaminants can build up and impact your home’s indoor air quality. In reality, your house’s air can actually be 2–5 times more unhealthy than the outdoors, according to the EPA. That’s not good for anyone, but it’s particularly detrimental for loved ones with allergies, asthma, other respiratory conditions or heart disease.
Let’s go over some of these everyday contaminants and how you can boost your home’s indoor air quality.
When you picture pollutants, you may think about smog or tobacco smoke. But lots of substances that impact your air quality are normal substances. These things have chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
They include:
Other everyday pollutants include:
Some people are more sensitive to VOCs than others. The EPA says symptoms of VOC exposure entail:
In bad situations, the EPA says VOCs are linked to respiratory and heart diseases.
It isn’t hard to enhance your home’s air quality. Here are several ideas from Harvard Medical School:
Regularly cleaning and washing surfaces that attract allergens, including furniture, carpet and bedding, will help decrease on dust, dust mites and pet dander in your house.
This essential filter keeps your house comfy and air healthy. How often you should change your air filter depends on the kind of filter you have. Flat filters should be changed every month, while pleated filters should be changed every three months. If you’re not sure if your filter should be changed, pull it out and angle it to the light. Get a new one if you can’t see light through it.
If someone in your family deals with allergies or asthma, we suggest having a filter with a better MERV rating. The bigger the number this is, the better your filter is at eliminating contaminants.
Keep fresh air circulating by opening windows whenever the temperature allows. We also suggest running exhaust fans in your bathroom and kitchen frequently to get rid of pollutants and draw in more fresh air.
From whole-home air purifiers, Knochelmann Service Experts has a solution to help your household breathe better. We’ll help you select the right option during your free home comfort assessment. Contact us at 859-905-0834 to schedule yours now!
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