As Winter sets in here in The Bay Area, we begin to shut our windows and fire up the furnaces for another long Winter. We no longer have fresh air to filter through our home and seal our homes shut for the next several months. Indoor air quality can become a problem in a home when certain maintenance steps aren’t maintained.
Recently we had our kitchen remodeled and hired a highly rated kitchen remodeling company in Sunnyvale to renovate our kitchen. During the process, they uncovered mold in our HVAC ducts which led to a larger renovation than anticipated.
Here are a few tips to help improve the indoor air quality of your home.
Easy-Going Air Cleaning Tips
Here are a few things you should be thinking of, to keep your family safe and sound on cold winter days when you’re inside with the windows closed (and keep the value of your property healthy too).
- When you move in for the first time, or before the start of a new season, give the place a thorough clean, including ceilings, light fittings, walls and floors. A mild solution of a cup of ammonia in five liters of warm water will help sterilize them for mold and germs.
- Get into a habit of cleaning regularly after that, and keeping an eye on the dirt you import yourself, often inadvertently. Make it a rule for everybody to leave outdoor shoes and damp overcoats in the porch, and ban smoking indoors completely.
- Perhaps the most important thing of all is to keep green and black mold at bay. That’s not only because it’s unsightly and an indication of bad hygiene habits. It’s also a sign of creeping dampness that can lead to chronic bronchial problems too.
- Before you buy new furniture or change the coverings on your floors, demand access to health warnings on the internet. If they’re cheap imported goods, don’t bet your health on them being good for you!
- Constantly purify your home with good quality high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. When you change them regularly as you should, you’ll be amazed at what you otherwise could be breathing in. Be sure to check the filter in your furnace as outlined in the manual, this alone will greatly reduce the particles floating in the air inside your home.
- Exchange your household vacuum cleaner for one that’s HEPA filter equipped too. If you don’t, well, then you’re just recycling dust mites and mould spores while you’re standing close nearby.
- Invest in indoor plants. These not only look good, they also recycle carbon gases into pure, safe oxygen that you can freely breathe – and tell you at the same time if your air is becoming too moist or dry.
Sleep peacefully at night on pillows and mattresses encased with anti-dust mite coverings, knowing you’ve done everything you possibly can to keep the air quality safer for your healthy, loving family. Such things are easy as you cross over to a healthier way of life, and it’s worth it, isn’t it?
What to Do with a Really Filthy House
Sometimes stuff happens to our homes. We rent our home out spotlessly clean, and get it back full of mold and filth. If you’re faced with that right now, don’t risk your precious health and time.