Keeping the air inside your home clean is important for you and your family’s health. Poor air quality can have serious effects on those who suffer from allergies, asthma, and other respiratory ailments. Here are 5 tips to improve indoor air quality.
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality
There are a lot of ways to keep the air in your home clean and healthy, but it does require a bit of effort and investment on your part. The good news is that once you get into a routine, keeping your air clean doesn’t require a lot of time. Use the following tips to keep the air in your house clean.
Change Air Filters
When you’re running your air conditioner or furnace a lot, it’s important to replace the air filters regularly. These filters keep dust, pollen, and other allergens out of your house. If you don’t change the filters, then they become clogged and do more harm than good since contaminants will recirculate within your home. How often you change your filter depends on a lot of factors, but replacing it every few months is advised.
Clean Air Ducts
Air ducts move the air around your house and keep you comfortable. But over time, dust and other contaminants build up in the ducts and get blown out of your vents. Ducts that aren’t properly installed or insulated can become breeding grounds for mold and bacteria.
Because ducts are hidden in your walls and ceilings or in the crawlspace or basement, it’s best to have a professional do the cleaning. Fortunately, air ducts only need to be cleaned every three to five years.
Control Humidity
If you’re in an area that sees high humidity levels during the summer months, then you need to keep the humidity in your home low to improve indoor air quality. High humidity levels will make your home a perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew, which can cause serious problems for those with chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma. The humidity level in your house should fall between 35% – 50%.
To reduce humidity in your home, buy a dehumidifier and keep it running during the humid months. The size of the dehumidifier you need will depend on the size of your house. If you have certain problem areas, invest in dehumidifiers for just those rooms. Always use ventilation fans when cooking and showering.
Keep Rugs and Carpets Clean
Keeping your rugs and carpets clean can help you improve indoor air quality. Carpets and rugs are great traps for dust, hair, and other small particles, and if not cleaned regularly, those particles will get kicked back into the air. The best way to prevent this is to simply vacuum your carpets and rugs at least once or twice a week.
Improve Indoor Air Quality with an Air Purifier
Invest in a quality ionic air purifier to remove common pollutants from the air. For best results, place the air purifier in the most used areas of your home, like the living room. While air purifiers won’t remove all the pollutants, they will significantly reduce them and improve the quality of your air.
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