It’s been estimated that the average individual spends a shocking 90% of their life inside an indoor environment. In addition, our homes are becoming more energy efficient – with improved insulation and a reduction in ventilation – which is great for our wallets, but not so wonderful for the air we breathe inside our homes.
Five tips To Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
Even though the thought of breathing in pollutants can be intimidating, indoor air pollution is something that’s very common and often unavoidable. Fortunately, there are some simple changes you can make to help improve the air quality of your home and make it easier for you to breathe. Here are five practical tips that can help you.
Change your air filter often- When your HVAC filters get too filled with dirt and dust, it reduces the amount of airflow and can make your HVAC system run less efficiently. Worse still, the excess grime clogging your filter can end up in your air ducts and in your living space, introducing a host of airborne allergens and other undesirable particles!
As the temperatures rise, don’t forget to replace your air filter every month or two. Not only is it simple to do, but it can also help promote better indoor air quality and energy efficiency. So beat the heat and upgrade your air filter today!
Regularly vacuum carpet and rugs- To keep the air in your home fresh and dust-free, make sure to vacuum your carpets and rugs regularly – especially if you have pets. Vacuuming once a week is a great way to reduce the amount of pet dander and dust in your home. Don’t forget to clean other dust-collecting areas, like your drapes, bedding, and cluttered spots.
Use vents to remove cooking fumes- Keep your kitchen air fresh and healthy with an exhaust fan! Exhaust fans help get rid of fumes and moisture from cooking, as well as unpleasant odors.
Get a handle on humidity- Bacteria-filled air can be a health hazard. Fortunately, dehumidifiers can help keep your home safe and healthy by removing excess moisture from the air, reducing the amount of bacteria, mold, and allergens.
Incorporate air-purifying plants into your living space- Freshen up your home with these easy-to-care-for, air-purifying plants! Snake plants, aloe vera plants and pothos plants (aka Devil’s Ivy) not only look beautiful, but they help to remove dust, germs and other contaminants from the air. Add a pop of greenery to your living space and breathe a little easier!
Breathe easy in your own home! With just a few simple steps, you can purify the air and improve your health and overall quality of life. Get ready to breathe easier – follow our tips for improving indoor air quality today.
Breathe Easier
Regularly changing your air filters can provide multiple benefits.
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Improved indoor air quality
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Cleaner home
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Fewer indoor allergens
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Improved system efficiency
What’s the Source of Indoor Pollution?
It may seem like your home is in pristine condition, but it could be harboring dangerous levels of toxins that could be impacting your health. This includes mold and mildew growing in showers, dust and pollen lurking in the air, and various pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde that may be given off by the materials used to build your home, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
When it comes to older edifices, lead paint and asbestos floor tiles are commonplace and can be incredibly hazardous if agitated. Surprisingly, even some regular household items such as chemical-based cleansers and deodorizers can adversely impact your indoor air quality.
What Symptoms Could You Experience?
The consequences of inhaling bad air can have serious consequences, leading to sneezes, sniffles, and more serious symptoms like coughing, congestion, and the inability to take a deep breath. It all depends on how bad the air is and your individual level of sensitivity.
In extreme cases, one may experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, or even a rapid heartbeat. Prolonged contact can prompt fatigue and even result in lung cancer.
Do air purifiers improve air quality?
Struggling with poor indoor air quality? You’re not alone! Here’s the good news – the most effective way to improve air quality is to reduce or remove the sources of pollutants and to ventilate with clean outdoor air. Plus, research shows that using filtration can help supplement source control and ventilation.
Upgrade your home’s air quality with a portable air cleaner or a better air filter for your furnace or HVAC system. Portable air cleaners, also known as air purifiers or air sanitizers, are specifically designed to get rid of toxins and allergens in a single room or area.
Keep your home air clean with central furnace or HVAC filters! These filters are designed to filter air throughout your home. Plus, portable air cleaners and HVAC filters can reduce indoor air pollution, though they can’t remove all pollutants from the air.
How do I Conduct Air Quality Testing?
Now that you’ve got a few clues about the pollution in your home, let’s find out if they’re right. Luckily, you have some tools to help you pinpoint the source of the pollution – whether it’s inside or out.
When investigating the air quality in your home, please be conscious that the readings can vary depending on the time of day, ventilation, and the location within the house, such as upstairs or downstairs, in addition to if doors and windows are open or closed. In order to comprehend the trends, measure the pollution over a prolonged span of time.
For instance, if your humidity readings at home are higher in the kitchen, it could likely be attributed to the cooking that takes place there. On the other hand, if you get higher PM level readings near an open window, then the readings are coming in from the outside.
Measuring Air Quality
Measuring outdoor sources of pollution in your area is made easy with the US EPA’s free website and App, AirNow. It’s available on both Google Play and Apple iOS, and it will give your local area a real-time score, known as the Air Quality Index (AQI), based off of the PM and Ozone levels in your region.
Plus, AirNow can be used both in the US and in Canada. And not only that, but indoor air quality can be monitored with the many air quality monitors available on the market which can monitor pollutants like VOC and PM.
This can assist you in making well informed and accurate observations regarding the sources of air pollution. The well known company Airthings produce a variety of products, but the most noteworthy is the Airthings Wave Plus.
The Wave Plus can give you readings on total VOC, humidity, temperature, CO2, radon, and also measure air pressure. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t have a feature to measure PM levels.
If you’re looking for an air quality monitor that offers the utmost in precision and accuracy, then the Huma-i Smart HI300 is the one to go for. As the top rated air quality monitor of 2022, this advanced portable unit not only measures CO2, VOC, PM2.5, PM10, Temperate, and Humidity, but it does so with the utmost accuracy and precision.