According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most people spend 90% of their time indoors. This statistic is not meant to shock you though; instead, it’s meant to get you thinking about a very important topic: Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Learn more about the various ways you can improve your home’s IAQ below!
1. Keep Your Home Clean
Keeping surfaces, furniture, and other objects in your home clean is an effective way to improve indoor air quality. Your home’s décor and furniture will collect dust, appliances may grow mold, and carpets can hold on to quite a bit of dirt. Your bathroom, humid by nature, may become a breeding ground for mold and mildew, as well. To prevent allergens from entering the air, clean and dust regularly, remembering to dust furniture, shelves, and decorations frequently.
2. Invest in an Air Purifier for Your Home
Using an air purifier is one of the best ways to improve your home’s IAQ. An air purifier attached to your homes duct system is the best way to improve your air quality throughout your entire home. This will help you to trap allergens and filter out pollutants.
3. Routinely Change Your Filters
If you are using air purifiers (which we strongly recommend), then to keep your air purifiers working optimally, it is important to change your filters regularly. If you are not using air purifiers, you most likely are using a heating or central air system that uses filters, and we recommend that you change these filters consistently and on schedule (following the lifespan of the filter). Replacing filters routinely will help to ensure that the filter itself is working at maximum efficiency to filter particles, dust, and pollutants.
4. Improve Ventilation
Closed windows offer very little ventilation. The air indoors can become stagnant very quickly, lasting from a few days to a few weeks, if you keep your windows closed. Moreover, many heating and cooling systems don’t bring fresh air into your house, either. Under these types of conditions, pollutants can build up. By opening windows and doors during nice weather, you allow fresh air to circulate through your house.
5. Do Not Smoke Inside:
Smoking in your home harms the air quality. Additionally, second-hand (smoke from someone else) and even third-hand smoke (smoke on clothing, for example) lowers IAQ. Smoking is one of the most harmful pollutants to indoor air. Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals that can cause cancer, breathing problems, and heart attacks. Secondhand smoke can be extremely harmful to children on top of causing overpowering odors throughout your home.
6. Test and Monitor Radon Levels
Radon is a colorless, odorless, and radioactive gas that comes from the naturally decaying uranium found in soil. Almost any home can have a radon problem, which can have major consequences, as radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. We encourage you to test for radon to help ensure there are no harmful chemicals or gases in the air.
Schneider Heating & Air Conditioning is the leader in heating, cooling, ventilation, and air quality products and services in the La Crosse area. We have been serving the Coulee Region for more than 80 years. Our technicians are highly and continually trained utilizing the most sophisticated HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) technologies and equipment. All of our service technicians are NATE (North American Technician Excellence) certified—the largest non-profit certification organization that is governed, owned, operated, developed, and supported by the HVAC industry. At Schneider Heating & Air Conditioning, we pride ourselves on amazing customer service. Contact us today and ask for Aeroseal duct sealing.