Houses today are built with energy efficiency in mind. This involves added insulation and tightly sealed doors and windows to keep utility costs reasonable. While this is positive for your energy costs, it’s not so good for your indoor air quality.
As air has fewer chances to escape, contaminants can increase and impact your house’s indoor air quality. In fact, your house’s air can actually be 2–5 times worse than the outdoors, according to the EPA. That’s not good for anyone, but it’s specifically detrimental for loved ones with allergies, asthma, other respiratory concerns or heart disease.
Let’s discuss some of these routine contaminants and how you can enhance your house’s indoor air quality.
When you visualize pollutants, you may think about smog or tobacco smoke. But a lot of substances that impact your air quality are normal substances. These things have chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
They include:
Other everyday pollutants include:
Some people are more affected by VOCs than others. The EPA says symptoms of VOC exposure entail:
In bad cases, the EPA says VOCs can lead to respiratory and heart diseases.
It isn’t hard to boost your house’s air quality. Here are several ideas from Harvard Medical School:
Frequently cleaning and washing surfaces that attract allergens, including furniture, carpet and bedding, will help cut down on dust, dust mites and pet dander in your house.
This essential filter keeps your house comfy and air healthy. How often you should change your air filter depends on the kind of filter you use. Flat filters should be replaced every month, while pleated filters should be replaced every three months. If you don’t know if your filter should be replaced, remove it and hold it up to the light. Get a new one if you can’t see light through it.
If someone in your family deals with allergies or asthma, we suggest having a filter with a better MERV rating. The higher the number this is, the better your filter is at eliminating contaminants.
Keep fresh air moving by opening windows whenever the temperature allows. We also suggest running exhaust fans in your bathroom and kitchen frequently to get rid of pollutants and introduce more fresh air.
From whole-home air purifiers, Donelson Air Service Experts has a fix to help your household breathe better. We’ll help you find the ideal option during your free home comfort assessment. Give us a call at 615-953-9885 to request yours now!
By Brian Sodoma, for Service Experts With autumn coming soon, homeowners will soon be preparing for the cold months ahead. Cold weather adds even more demand on your heating and cooling system. To prepare your heating system for the heavy work it will be doing, regular HVAC maintenance should be... Continue reading
When you look at ultraviolet light, you may picture getting sunburned after a few hours spent relaxing at the pool. And yet, UV light is also a tool for increasing indoor air quality. Sunscreen protects against UVA and UVB rays, but UVC is the kind of light found in air purification. If you suffer... Continue reading
Indoor allergens affect millions of people in the U.S. each year. It’s common for many to look outside the home for potential allergens triggering sniffles, watery eyes, respiratory problems and even asthma flare-ups. But many are surprised to learn that indoor dust mites, molds, animal dander... Continue reading
© 2023 Service Experts, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning, and the Service Experts logo and design are registered trademarks of Service Experts LLC and used under license by SE Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved. *Not applicable to the Advantage Program. See your signed Advantage Program Agreement for full details and exclusions. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is subject to certain restrictions and limitations as set forth in the applicable Terms and Conditions.
