Your home’s indoor air quality is essential not only to keep your guests from running in the opposite direction but to improve your comfort! Keeping your indoor air quality at its best is not too difficult when you know what to keep an eye out for around your home. Here are some of the common causes of poor air quality so you can stay vigilant!
Cigarette Smoke
Cigarette smoke can do a number on your indoor air quality as the pollutants from the cigarette have a nasty habit of clinging to your walls and air filters. While a single cigarette will not permanently damage your home’s indoor air quality, prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke will.
Without proper ventilation or cleaning, the tar and nicotine will stain your walls with a yellow discoloration, as well as cling to your air ducts. If the residue from smoke is staining your walls, imagine your lungs.
Lack of Ventilation
Poor airflow and ventilation are an easy way to get your home’s air to feel stale. Proper ventilation can help reduce pollutants from accumulating in certain rooms and filter out allergens across your home. One way to improve your home’s ventilation is by opening windows or even some doors to get more fresh air into your home.
The best way to improve your home’s ventilation year-round is to ensure your HVAC system receives regular maintenance. Using your fan can help improve your home’s airflow, especially when it’s too cold to open a window, and you want to make sure your HVAC is correctly cared for so your fan does not kick the bucket.
Lack Of Cleaning
Dirty air filters are a common cause of poor air quality, as old filters build up pet dander, dead skin, dust, and other allergens. Without proper cleaning, you run the risk of putting strain on your HVAC system, reducing airflow efficiency and making it harder for you to breathe around your home.
Not only is it essential to clean your air filters every two to three months, but you should be keeping your home tidy as well. Having dust build-up across your floors is an excellent way to increase the allergens in your home and make your indoor air quality suffer. Take the time to sweep regularly and wipe down counters to get rid of any potential sources of pollution.
Cleaning Chemicals
While regular cleaning is helpful to cut down on potential air pollutants in your home, ironically, too much cleaning can cause your air quality to suffer. We use abrasive cleaning solutions such as grout cleaners or general degreasers when we say too much cleaning. Vapors from these cleaning solutions can damage your lungs, so always make sure to properly ventilate your home when cleaning to avoid a build-up of cleaning solution fumes.
Pesticides
We can all safely agree that having creepy crawlers around the home is never fun, so we understand having some pesticides around just in case. When using cleaning solutions, ensure proper ventilation when using pesticides to avoid inhaling fumes and letting the pesticides accumulate inside your home. Pesticide vapors are not only toxic for insects, but they can be toxic for you as well without proper ventilation.
If you need help improving your home’s indoor air quality, call (770) 343-7565. At Cunningham Associates we will take the weight off your shoulders and make sure your home’s air quality is nothing short of perfect.