Improve the Air Quality Inside Your Home
You could be experiencing poor air quality inside your home every day. You may not notice the small particles that are present in the air, but some or most of it could be dangerous for you and your family. The quality of indoor air can have a great impact on the health of your family members. There are many cases that the indoor air quality is worse than that of outdoor air quality.
There are many possible sources of air contaminants in every room of your home, but do not worry. Good thing is that there are many easy solutions that you can do to get rid of them. What could be the main causes of air contaminants inside your home?
Air Pollutants
The contaminants found outdoors can also be present indoors. These contaminants can all join forces and can cause further irritation to your lungs. Those pollutants include smokes from combustion devices as well as from gas-fired appliances. Let’s not forget also other allergens such as molds, pet dander and house dust mites. Appliances that are releasing gases and particulates are stoves, fireplaces, ovens, space heaters, water heaters and furnaces.
Having poor air quality can cause coughing, itchy or watery eyes, tightening of the chest, shortness of breath, sore throat and asthma attack. If your home has poor air quality, you can experience migraine frequently, colds, bronchitis and also chronic asthma.
Particulates in the air
Cleaning regularly is a great idea. However, you need to consider the cleaning products that you will use. Most of the cleaning products available in the market contain VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
You can decrease the amount of VOCs by selecting the products that describe “Low VOC” or “No VOC”. You can also purchase fragrance-free cleaning products instead. Cleaning products with fragrance contain particulates that are disperse into the air and can irritate the lungs.
Indoor Gases
Do you cook using propane stove or natural gas? Make sure that the gas jets are always cleaned and serviced yearly by an expert or a technician. In kitchens, stoves can emit nitrogen dioxide which is one of the most irritating gases. When nitrogen dioxide is combined with sunlight, it can produce ozone. This gas is not good to your health and can be so irritating as you can experience wheezing even if you do not have asthma.
If you are using gas stove, always make sure that the window is open or turn the exhaust fan on to avoid the lurking of nitrogen dioxide inside your home.
Secondhand Smoke
Secondhand smoke from cigarettes and tobacco is one major indoor air criminal. Tobacco is not just a threat to the person smoking but also to the people that surrounds the smoker. It is a risk factor for asthma and increases the chance of non-smoker to develop lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
Ways to have Better Indoor Air Quality
There are easy solutions to have better indoor air quality.
- Ventilate your home
We always keep our windows and doors shut especially during the winter. However, if it is not winter, it is better to open the windows from time to time to have an air exchange. For people living in polluted area, opening the window does not solve the problem as the outdoor air contains industrial pollution, gas emissions from vehicles, dirt and molds.
You can use a ventilation system with 10-inches high screen and extra filters. This can allow fresh air in while escorting indoor contaminants out.
- Use Air Conditioner
Air Conditioning units are often used using summer. When using AC, the pollutants are being eliminated from entering your home. AC units can also remove water from the atmosphere, pollen as well as particulate matter.
- Use HEPA filter
You can get the most out of your air conditioning unit using a disposable HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.
Another option that you can do is to get stand-alone HEPA air purifiers to clean the air inside your home. Improving the quality of air indoor can also improve the health of your family members. By simply increasing the ventilation and decreasing the use of irritating substances, you can lower the amount of irritants.
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