3 Steps to Improve Your Home's Air Quality In Winter
On January 9, 2013, The American Lung Association released its list of the top filthiest air in the country and Provo, Utah was ranked 7th in short-term particle polluted cities.
You would assume with the air quality dropping, it would be smart to stay inside where the air is clear, right? Wrong. During the winter time, your home is especially vulnerable to worsening air conditions. Allergies and respiratory problems may become more prominent during the season because of unwanted particles in the air. Why? Because they’re trapped in your home.
To preserve heat and protect from the cold, houses are sealed off from the chilly outdoors, trapping warm air inside the house so that it keeps your house heated without expending too much energy. Unfortunately, this also means that unwanted allergens and pollutants are trapped in the house as well. To find out what these pollutants are, and how to handle them, here are a few useful steps to improve your home’s air quality during winter.
Introduce Purifiers to Your Home
Air Purifier
With bad air quality outside, opening a window is out of the picture. However, bringing an air purifier into your home will do the job for you. An efficient and effective purifier will clear out the pollutants in the air. Any Hour Services is qualified to install air purifiers in Utah homes across the state.
Furnace Air Filter
Your furnace has an air filter that keeps pollutants and particles from entering your house. However, not replacing it frequently will reduce its efficiency, so make sure to change out filters when you need to.
House Plants and Herbs
Different types of plants, such as the Peace Lily and the Dracaena, can be used to add oxygen to the air. Adding herbs like Thyme, Basil, and Sage will also add to the effect. By placing living plants and herbs around your home, you can naturally improve your air quality.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are natural oils extracted from raw plant materials through distillation. By using essential oil diffusers or spritzers, you can clean out the air. Just make sure that there aren’t any chemical additives in the oil.
Locate the Sources and Reduce the Pollutants
A big part of keeping your home’s air clear is finding where the pollutants and allergens are coming from. By doing this, you can maintain those sources and keep out unwelcomed particles. A number of household things can produce pollutants, so it’s important to know what they are:
Combustion Sources
A lot of allergens and pollutants come from things that combust, such as wood, oil, gasoline, kerosene, and coal. Household appliances such as dryers, stoves, fireplaces, and even heating systems often use combustible materials. To solve this, don’t leave these appliances on longer than they need to be, and keep them well-maintained.
Pets
During the cold months of winter, pets tend to stay inside along with their owners. Because of this, animal dander and other allergens become more concentrated in the air of your home, so if you have a furry/feathery buddy in your home, then an air purifier will become necessary to prevent further decay of air quality in your home.
Improvement, Crafts and Restoration Projects
Sanding, Painting, Welding, Woodworking, etc. These activities and the materials used to complete them produce airborne particles that move around the air inside your home. Since your home is keeping everything inside, those particles can’t escape, worsening your home’s air quality. By cleaning up the area, you will reduce the pollutants and allergens in the air. Make sure to wear the proper protection equipment (dust cloths, masks, etc.) and vacuum each room. A little cleaning goes a long way.
Check Up and Clean Up
Checkup
Even when you have purifiers, you’ll still need to search for any remaining particles that may be causing issues in your home. A home with ventilation concerns or a basement is open to mold, so make sure to check for mold in all the places that moister gathers. As well, radon is a colorless, odorless, and radioactive gas that causes lung issues, so getting professionals to check your house will prevent dangerous gases like radon from going un-treated.
Clean Up
Putting plants and purifiers around your house can only go so far. To take care of the rest of the problem, you need to keep your house clean. Dusting and vacuuming will remove the particles that weren’t taken in by purifiers.
If you don’t keep your air clean, you could be open to long-lasting colds, headaches, or even bronchitis. This is because bad air can cause a wave of sickness to roll over your home.
Keeping your home’s air quality high is very important, especially during the winter. With so many trapped pollutants and allergens in your home, respiratory problems will arise. By following these easy steps, you can keep your air breathable and clear, avoiding higher risks of sickness and respiratory problems.
Jan 13th 2016
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