You know smog and air pollution damage your lungs. But did you know air pollution doesn’t just occur outside? Most homeowners think the indoor air quality is automatically better than the air outside.
We hate to say it, but it’s not!
In fact, according to the EPA, your indoor air could have as many as two to five times the pollutants the air outside has! These pollutants include dust, pet dander, fumes created by paint, cleaning products and fragrances, mould, bacteria and more. These pollutants can exacerbate asthma, allergies or respiratory illnesses. Fortunately, there are things you can do about this. The following are a few ways that you can improve your home’s indoor air quality:
1. Let the Fresh Air in
Open your windows to let your home’s stale, polluted air cycle out while fresh air comes in. This will be even more effective if you run your ceiling fans or portable fans.
2. Use Green Cleaners
Many store-bought cleaners contain chemicals harmful to human health and the greater environment. Look online for genuinely green or use natural household products, like white vinegar and baking soda, to clean floors and surfaces instead.
3. Stock up on Houseplants
House plants make your home feel more comfortable and act as natural air filters. Leafy household plants absorb harmful chemicals in your air. Peace lilies, marginatas, bamboo palms and English ivies are especially good at removing benzene, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde from your indoor air.
4. Use a HEPA Filter Vacuum
Many pollutants at home come from your carpets and floors. They accumulate dust, debris and bacteria that are released when you step on them. So vacuuming regularly is very important to your home’s air quality. However, a poor quality vacuum cleaner will just end up spreading these pollutants around – a HEPA filter vacuum will ensure everything end sup stored away.
5. Get New Air Filters
Your furnace air filter prevents pollutants from spreading throughout your home via your air duct system. As air cycles through your ducts, the air filter traps a large percentage of dust or debris. However, if you don’t change or clean your air filters regularly, this dust and debris will build up to the point where your HVAC system will no longer work efficiently, and pollutants will begin building up on your registers – blowing into your home’s air.
6. Use Non-VOC Paint
If you are painting a wall or the entire house, only use zero VOC paint. Zero VOC paints mean there are no toxins or solvents in the paint to pollute your air.
Making sure that your indoor air quality is high is important to your comfort and your health. Because of this, you should use these six tips to reduce the pollutants in your air. Get in touch with a member of our team today and ask what we can do right now to improve your air quality at home.
