Even though your house may be better ventilated than your yard, your indoor air quality can be worse than outside.
This is because the chemical contaminants, like formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are not removed from your home. One thing that has also been found is that, in addition to circulating the air throughout the building, the heating and cooling system circulate these substances as well. Poor indoor air quality may have serious health consequences as a result.
In this article we will discuss 7 ways to improve your indoor air quality in order to allow you and your family to breathe cleaner and healthier air.
1. Improve Air Ventilation
You can improve ventilation in your home by opening windows for 10 minutes per hour during the day. Open your windows when the weather is warm to let in fresh air and eliminate stale indoor air from accumulating indoors.
Start by turning off any fans or air conditioners when cooking, using candles or incense, painting, smoking cigarettes indoors or while doing other activities that produce smoke.
Install an exhaust fan near your cooktop to remove cooking odors, smoke from candles or any other type of indoor pollution that might affect air quality. Use natural ventilation where possible instead of using artificial methods like forced-air heating or cooling systems.
2. Use Air Cleaners
Use air cleaners that are HEPA-certified and filter out particles as small as 0.3 microns in size.
Remove carpeting whenever possible, or at least get it professionally cleaned on a regular basis. This will help with allergies and asthma because vacuuming can stir up contaminants that might be resting in the carpet fibers.
3. Smoke Out Of the House
If you’re a smoker, try to smoke outside whenever possible. It will take some time for it to clear out from your home and your clothes will smell better.
4. Keep Plants Around
Put in a few house plants, as they will help to clean the air by absorbing some of the contaminants and releasing oxygen. The foliage of plants is great at absorbing chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene that are common in household cleaners, carpeting or new furniture.
5. Reduce Moisture
Reduce excess moisture from the air by using a dehumidifier (or an air conditioner with dehumidifier) and washing dishes in your dishwasher instead of washing by hand.
6. Maintain Air Conditioning
Keeping your air conditioner in a good working order can help filter out allergens and mold spores from the air, so it’s important to do that regularly. A dirty or faulty unit can actually release pollutants into the air you breathe.
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8. Vacuum Clean Carpets and Rugs
Vacuuming carpets and rugs on a regular basis will help keep allergens, mold spores and other pollutants at bay. An old vacuum with a full bag or one that loses suction is not doing its job, so it’s time to invest in a new model.
9. Make Your Bed
Making your bed each morning can reduce the number of dust mites that live in your sheets. Change your sheets once per week or more often if you have respiratory problems like asthma or allergies or if you have pets.
10. Do an Air Purge
An air purge is a technique for quickly clearing the air of pollutants. Remove all furnishings from the room and open windows to ventilate, then turn on an electric fan at high speed or light a fire in a fireplace to “burn off” contaminants.
11. Wash Hands Frequently
Using antibacterial soap when you wash your hands will reduce bacteria that could be living on them, which could lead to bad health outcomes like allergies, colds or even pneumonia. These bacteria can be expelled into indoor air.