Methods to Maintain Air Quality in Your Home

There are many things to consider with homeownership, but indoor air quality is an often-overlooked detail. Ask yourself: how many times have you considered whether the air in your home was safe to breathe?
It’s a known fact that the air you breathe outside is a mix of pollutants and allergens; each time you come home, you bring polluted air inside. As such, you have to take extra steps to ensure air quality within your home. 

Why Air Quality Matters

Air quality is something people all take for granted, indoors and outdoors. Whether the air is breathable is a consideration most people never even think about. However, you have to remember that many aspects of air quality are out of your control. 

Pollution, from car exhaust to production waste, enters the air daily. Each time you step outside offers a new chance for these pollutants to come into your home. 

Poor indoor air quality can also make it more difficult for any sick member of your family to get better. This consideration is especially important around this time of year, when cold and flu cases are surging in communities here in Oakland Park. 

Poor indoor air quality can exacerbate sickness and cause it to stick around longer. During flu season, it’s important to watch your indoor air quality and make sure it’s good enough for your family.

What Makes Air Quality Management Hard?

Here are just a few of the things making indoor air quality management a challenge:

Pollutants and Allergens

Every time you open the door or the window, outside air wafts into your home. This circulation can bring any pollutants or allergens present outside in along with it. Indoor pollutant concentrations can be up to five times higher than the outdoor pollution in Oakland Park! If allergens are especially bad outside, this can be difficult to fix. 

Mold 

Despite your best efforts, mold can sometimes enter your home. Mold grows in dark, damp spaces like kitchens, bathrooms, and basements. 

When mold begins to grow indoors, it gives off a telltale musty smell. This smell is not only bothersome but also dangerous. Anyone living with breathing conditions such as asthma must take extra care not to allow mold to grow in their homes. 

Cleaning Supplies

Believe it or not, there are harmful compounds in your cleaning supplies that get into the air each time you use them. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are compounds found in common household cleaning products. 

These compounds get into the air each time you use your favorite cleaning supplies. They can linger in the air for a considerable amount of time. 

Pets 

You love our pets, it’s true, but you probably don’t love their dander! Pet dander is made up of accumulating dead skin your pets shed daily. Over time, this dander will collect and worsen any animal allergies for your family. If you have many pets, this is an especially important fact not to overlook! 

Humidity

Here in Oakland Park, humidity is a constant part of the weather. Unfortunately, humidity comes with dust and fungus, making it easier for mold to flourish. If you have poor ventilation in your home, humid air can cause bacteria to grow in your vents. That bacteria can spread to the rest of the house through the AC system. 

Altogether, these elements can add up to a significant decrease in the quality of your home’s air. 

What You Can Do

The good news is that there are several easy steps you can take to fight back and improve the air quality in your home:

Replace HVAC Air Filter

If you have an HVAC system in your home, you have a filter that needs changing! This replacement is the fastest and easiest step to improve the air quality in your home. 

Filters should be replaced every few months or sooner, depending on the number of toxins they pull in from the air. Develop a habit of checking your filters regularly and replacing them when needed. 

Filters can be purchased at your local hardware store when they’re ready to be changed. A good tip is to buy your filters in bulk; you’ll be more likely to change your air filter when it’s time if you don’t have to leave home to get a new one.

Purchase an Air Purifier

This appliance is an often-overlooked element in homes with robust AC units. But air purification is still an important part of indoor air quality management. While your HVAC system will do the heaviest lifting, an air purifier is still a good investment. Most air purifiers are quiet and small so that they won’t be an eyesore. 

Many purifiers are made with reusable filters, making them environmentally friendly as well. An air purifier will help decrease the amount of dust and pollutants that come into your home. This device will trap the dust from your clothes and shoes before it has a chance to settle into your carpets. 

Don’t Smoke Indoors

If you’ve ever been around someone while they smoke, you know the smoke and the smell tend to stick to everything. 

From clothes to furniture, the smell can be hard to get out. Heavy, prolonged indoor smoking can even change the colors of your walls! Smoking outdoors will give your HVAC filter and air purifiers one less toxin to filter out of your air.

Air Circulation and Ventilation

When pollutants and dust have a chance to settle in your home, they begin to accumulate. Keeping air flowing is one easy way to keep these toxins from landing and sticking to your clothes and carpet. 

Open your air vents and windows, and use fans to improve air circulation and ventilation. It may also be a good idea to check over your AC unit to make sure an AC repair isn’t needed to increase air circulation in your home.

These are all steps anyone can take to improve indoor air quality. There are times, though, when these steps aren’t enough. It’s important to know what you can do to help yourself, but it’s equally important to know when to call in the professionals. 

How Can a Professional Help? 

A professional can help you take many steps towards better indoor air quality, including: 

Cleaning Your Carpets

There are a lot of machines you can rent to steam clean your carpets, but there isn’t a substitute for a professional carpet cleaning. A carpet cleaning will remove dust and pollutants that have settled deep into your carpet. You would be surprised at how much easier you’ll breathe after a deep carpet cleaning by a pro!

Servicing Your AC 

One of the best things you can do to improve indoor air quality is to have a professional assess your AC unit. Even if you are not experiencing problems with your unit, you could still benefit from an AC repair. 

You may not be able to tell when your AC unit isn’t functioning as efficiently as it could be; even the best units could use an AC tune-up at one time or another. Professionals recommend having your AC unit checked once a year at the least. 

This way, you can proactively catch issues before they become bigger problems. Warm weather keeps AC units necessary year-round, and the last thing you want is to endure an Oakland Park summer without your AC!

If you would benefit from an AC tune-up or a professional indoor air quality evaluation, contact the team at Abraham HVAC today! Our air purification experts are ready to help your family breathe easy at home.