Take a Breath: How to Improve the Air Quality in Your Home

With Spring in full swing and Summer on deck, you might be tempted to throw open your windows and let the fresh air inside. You unlatch the window lock, slide open the pane and inhale deeply, which leads to watery eyes and a sputtering cough!

Whether it’s pollen or air pollutants, many Americans are sensitive to contaminants in the air. According to the New York Times, climate change is contributing to a more extended pollen season as well as an increase in the amount of pollen in the air. And, despite the lockdown in 2020, air pollutants in the U.S. rose 6.7% last year due to the devastating wildfires in California, Washington, and Oregon.

The COVID pandemic has brought a renewed focus toward improving indoor air quality, which, no doubt, helps reduce the transmission of COVID-19 but also helps reduce irritants in the air. There are marked health benefits to improving the quality of your home’s air that will stretch far beyond the COVID pandemic. Check out some of the steps Americans are taking to improve the quality of air in their home.

Clean Your Home Right

This seems like an obvious tip at first, but the way you clean your home matters. 

Don’t Use Traditional Dusters and Old Vacuums

Traditional feather dusters and similar cleaning tools don’t effectively pick up the dust, pollen, and spores found in many homes. Using them may, in fact, cause the allergens to spread around more easily. Old vacuums work in much the same way. They can pick up the larger visible particles, but allergens that are too small to see are just picked up and blown out the exhaust.

As strange as it is to say - vacuum technology has vastly improved over the years. Recently vacuum manufacturers have focused on filtering out those micro-pollutants. Using electrostatic filters, newer vacuums remove the pollutants too small to see by using an electric charge to attract them to the filter.

Be Mindful of What Needs Cleaning

So, you’ve dusted up hard surfaces and vacuumed any rugs. Cleaning complete! At least, it would be in a perfect world. Dust, pollen, and mold spores are more resilient than that. Textured surfaces of any kind - like wall art, plants, popcorn ceilings, or textured wallpapers can all allow pollutants to accumulate. Cloth items like sofas, upholstered chairs, bedclothes, hanging linens, and curtains are all heavily textured on the small scale and trap multitudes of pollutants.

Vacuum and scrub down sofas and upholstered furniture regularly. Also, make sure you frequently wash linens, curtains, and other cloth items that can trap pollutants.

Choose Minimalism Over Clutter

It is a mathematical fact that the more items you have in a given space, the larger the total surface area of that space becomes. Your home is not immune to this fact. The more items you have on shelves, the more furniture and other things you own that take up space, the more area pollutants have to accumulate. 

Cleaning a large amount of items is quite time-consuming. The best way to save some time and save yourself from allergies is to downsize and get rid of anything you don’t use or need.

Use Electrostatic Air Filters

If your home has a forced-air system, then changing the filters every few months is a must. When you do replace the filters, make sure they are electrostatic filters. Much like the electrostatic filters used in the vacuums mentioned above, these types of filters work the same way. They use an electric charge to trap micropollutants and prevent them from recirculating inside your entire home. 

If you haven’t used electrostatic filters before and your ventilation system is older, you should consider having your vents cleaned. Over time, dust, mold, and other pollutants can accumulate to the sides of your ventilation shafts. This process snowballs like a clogged drain - a slight coating of dust will ultimately collect larger and larger layers.   

Invest in a Dehumidifier (Not An Ionic Air Purifier)

Ionic air purifiers have become a popular way to improve your home’s air quality, but in reality, multiple studies have shown these expensive devices do little to remove allergens and pollutants from the air. Air purifiers are advertised as fanless and noiseless, but it's the “fanlessness” that is at the heart of their ineffectiveness. Without the suction of a fan, not enough air can circulate between the charged plates. Instead, invest in a dehumidifier. 

Dehumidifiers can be used in dark and damp areas of your home to reduce moisture and prevent mold growth. If you have mold in one area of your house, there is a good chance you can find spores of it in other areas of your home. By using a dehumidifier in the dampest part of your house, you can reduce allergens and pollutants everywhere inside your home. 

Start Improving the Quality of Your Home’s Air

Instead of one quick fix, improving your home’s air quality can be achieved through many small steps that add up over time. Start cleaning your home the right way and make the necessary investments that will amount to excellent-quality air for you and your family.

About the Author

Jennifer Bell is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey. She writes for All American Plumbing, an HVAC company specializing in AC repair in Cherry Hill.