Maintaining your home’s indoor air quality, or IAQ, is vital as a homeowner, regardless of who is living in your household at the time. However, if you are living in a residence with children, pets, or individuals with a suppressed or compromised immune system, it is even more imperative to tend to the indoor air quality score in your home year-round. Knowing how to improve your home’s indoor air quality can reduce exposure to potential mold spores, bacteria, dirt, dust, and debris over time.
Change Air Filters Regularly
It is estimated that approximately 70% of all American homes currently have central air conditioning systems or units in place, according to Bookings. If your home has a modern HVAC system or even central cooling solutions in place, you will still need to take the time to inspect and change air filters regularly. In most instances, air filters in furnaces and air conditioners should be inspected and changed between once every 30 days and once every six months, depending on the system you have installed and the environment you are living in at the time.
Check Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
As a homeowner, you will also want to take the time to regularly inspect smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Conducting regular inspections of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors is a way to verify that each is working appropriately to detect potential gasses and other harmful chemicals or levels of smoke in the atmosphere. Ensuring your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working appropriately year-round is also a way for you to maintain your peace of mind as a homeowner at all times.
Air Out Your Home Daily
Air pollution is no joke, and can wreak havoc inside residential homes, where air pollution is typically measured as five times higher than the pollution outdoors, regardless of your current lifestyle. In some larger buildings, it is not improbable to discover the atmosphere is 100 times more polluted than the outside, according to the EPA, or Environment Protection Agency. If you want to protect your home from storing toxic chemicals, gasses, and other potential spores, you can do so by opting to air out your home for 10 to 15 minutes each day. Airing out your home will refresh your environment while clearing it from toxic chemicals and gaseous releases.
Invest in an Upgraded Ventilation System
Air pollution particles can be smaller than 1/30th the diameter of human hair, which can surpass the body’s natural defense system if inhaled, according to the American Lung Association. Investing in an upgraded ventilation system is a way for you to optimize the benefits of ventilated solutions indoors, regardless of the size and layout of your current home. Choosing to invest in an upgraded ventilation system may be costly, but it can also add to the value and appeal of your home while also ensuring proper airflow and a higher indoor air quality, or IAQ score.
Avoid Smoking in the Home
If you are looking for simple ways to improve the indoor air quality of your home, be sure to avoid smoking tobacco anytime you are indoors. Avoiding the use of tobacco in the home is not only a way to keep your walls from collecting smoke residue buildup, but it will also assist in improving the overall quality of the air inside.
Understanding the importance of IAQ, or indoor air quality, is essential whenever you live in a closed residence, regardless of your location and surroundings outdoors. The more cognizant you are of your indoor air quality at any time, the easier it will be for you to determine when it is time to invest in new filters or an entirely upgraded indoor ventilation system for your home. When you know how to measure the air quality inside your home, you can find the appropriate solution to improve it as quickly as possible.
