Having clean, pure air in your home creates a comfortable environment that can improve the health of everyone who lives there. If you have kids, family members with respiratory issues, or older relatives living with you, you’ll want to make sure that they have clean air to breathe. There are many steps that you can take to improve your home’s indoor air quality.
1. Replace Old Air Filters
Air filters are designed to collect dust, pollen, and other debris that would otherwise get into vents, ducts, or other parts of your HVAC system. Once it gets into the air, it can easily travel to every room in the house each time the system runs. Typically, an air filter can collect debris for about 30 to 90 days before it becomes too clogged to do its job. At that point, it simply allows particles to bounce off of it and back to wherever the air currents take it.
In addition to creating indoor air quality problems, particles can coat heating system parts, which can make them work harder than necessary. This can lead to motors overheating or other key components wearing out sooner. Additionally, dust and debris can disrupt electrical connections or damage any computer components that your system has. Fortunately, replacing an air filter is one of the easier home maintenance projects that you can undertake.
Of course, you can always call the folks at Emergency Air Heating Cooling & Plumbing in Chandler, AZ to help with your HVAC maintenance needs. Replacing air filters is just one of the ways that we can help improve your home’s air quality. In addition, we can clean and seal your ducts or install or maintain air purifiers in your house. Sealing or cleaning a duct can also improve your HVAC system’s efficiency as hot or cold air won’t escape through gaps or get backed up in ducts that are narrowed by debris.
2. Dust and Vacuum Regularly
Another easy way to improve your home’s indoor air quality is to dust or vacuum on a regular basis. Doing so can get rid of a significant amount of pet hair, pollen, or other airborne particles out of the air that you breathe. In addition, deep cleaning the carpets regularly can get rid of wine, milk, water, or other liquids that might create conditions for mold or mildew to form. Getting rid of liquids or dust particles can also make your home smell fresher and cleaner, which can make it a more pleasant place to live.
3. No Smoking
Smoking can be an easy way to create indoor air quality problems since smoke particles linger in the air for days or weeks. In addition, they can burrow into walls, ceilings, and fixtures where they are almost impossible to remove without the help of a professional remediation company. It’s also important to consider that smoke particles can turn surfaces yellow or even cause damage to furniture, countertops, or anything else that they make contact with.
If you have asthma, being in close proximity to cigarettes or any other type of smoke can cause significant breathing problems. Living in a home that has a high smoke content in the air can also cause issues even if you aren’t present when someone is smoking.
In the event that someone is smoking in the house, it may be possible to mitigate the potential damage by opening a window or otherwise circulating polluted air out in a timely manner. However, it is best to either refrain from smoking at home at all or ask anyone who wishes to smoke while on your property to do so outdoors.
4. Clean Up Before You Come Inside
Keeping the elements out of your house is an effective and immediate solution to your indoor air quality issues. For example, instead of coming straight inside after mowing the lawn, take off your shoes and rinse them off before entering the house. Taking your shoes off can minimize the amount of dirt that gets onto carpets and other interior surfaces.
You may also want to consider taking a dip in the pool or rinsing off with the hose before coming in to get rid of grass, pollen, and other pollutants that have become attached to your clothes or body. Some people like to enter the home through a separate entrance after they’ve been doing yardwork, perhaps one that’s adjacent to the laundry room or a bathroom where you can wash up immediately.
Put your clothes in the wash before entering a common area to further restrict the amount of debris that you’re bringing in from the outdoors. If your home doesn’t have a dedicated mud room, you can consider dedicating a small area of the house near the garage or front entrance as a place to keep sneakers or other dirty outdoor gear.
5. Keep Plants Away From Your House
It’s fairly common for homes to have flowers or shrubs to add color and curb appeal. However, they can also produce a significant amount of pollen that can cover your car, windows, and exterior surfaces. When you bring the car into the garage, pollen can then be blown into the house, and it can also get through gaps in a window screen to get inside your house. One way to minimize the risk of this happening is to move plants or shrubs several feet from the house.
Alternatively, you can choose to keep the windows closed and sealed throughout the year. However, this may make the house hot and uncomfortable unless you have a quality central air conditioning system. Even then, running the cooling system all day may not be ideal on marginally warm days or cooler nights when you want to experience a cool breeze while sleeping.
6. Bathe and Groom Your Pets
Grooming your pet on a routine basis can be an effective way to reduce the amount of hair and dander that they release into the air. It can also reduce the amount of fur or hair left on couches, clothes, rugs, and more. Ultimately, you won’t have to worry about itchy eyes, hives, or other issues because you’re lying on a couch that’s covered in hair or are wearing a shirt that has hair all over it.
Bathing your pets can also get rid of pollen, dirt, or other debris that might be trapped inside their coats. Dogs and parrots can get especially dusty if they aren’t cleaned on a weekly basis while cats can be wiped down with a cloth to keep them clean without bothering them too much.
If you are in need of indoor air quality services, don’t hesitate to call the folks at Emergency Air Heating Cooling & Plumbing today. In addition to indoor air quality assessments, we can also inspect your heating system or install a new cooling system in a timely and affordable manner. Give our Chandler office a call to schedule your next appointment today.
