Breathe Easier: Twelve Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality
Even with warm weather, many of us are still spending more time indoors than in previous summers. This makes indoor air quality more important than ever.
Some exposure to mold and harmful chemicals is unavoidable, but too much can aggravate asthma and cause respiratory tract issues, headache, fatigue, and eye irritation – especially in children.
So how can you make sure the air your family breaths at home is healthy?
Jim shared some fantastic easy-to-implement tips to help improve indoor air quality.
Bathroom
1. Check that your bathroom fans vent outdoors – not into the crawl space or attic! Building codes do not require bathroom fans to vent outside, so it’s common, even in brand new homes, for fans to vent into the attic or crawl space. This can create a hotbed of mold.
2. After showering, leave the bathroom fan on for at least 10-15 minutes.
3. Every six to eight weeks, put water and a small amount of white vinegar into all sink drain traps and overflows.
4. One to two times per year, lift your toilet tank covers and check for mold. Spray the underside of the toilet tank cover with a mixture of vinegar and water.
Kitchen
5. Check your refrigerator drain pan at least once a year. When checking the drain pan, also vacuum the compressor and coil. Make sure your vacuum has a HEPA filter!
HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air. It’s a term to describe filters capable of trapping 99.97 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns. In plain English, it means HEPA filters prevent teeny tiny particles from leaking into the air.
Home Cleaning
6. If you use a home cleaning service, do not let your housekeeper use their own vacuum. Provide a HEPA filter vacuum for your housekeeper to use.
7. Use unscented cleaning, laundry, and personal care products. Researchers at the National Institute of Health surveyed scented consumer goods. They found the selected products emitted over 100 volatile organic compounds, including some that federal law classifies as toxic or hazardous.
As of now, the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act does not require companies to list what chemicals are included in their “fragrance,” so it’s safest to use unscented products. Also, never use plug-in deodorizers!
8. Only use beeswax and soy candles. The most common types of mass-produced candles are made of paraffin. Researchers at South Carolina State University found paraffin candles may be bad for indoor air quality. One likely reason is that paraffin candles emit benzene and toluene, known carcinogens, into the air.
Overall, the researchers recommend minimizing the use of paraffin candles as much as possible and suggest opening a window or turning on a vent when using any type of candle.
Outdoors
9. Install extensions for downspouts. Downspouts will bring moisture away from your house.
10. Regularly clean your gutters.
Doors and Furniture
11. It’s easy to leave the door to that unused guest room closed for months on end. Don’t! Regularly keep doors open between rooms and leave doors and windows open to the outside in nice weather.
12. Keep furniture five to six inches away from the wall to allow air to circulate behind your furniture. As I mentioned earlier, the walls behind furniture are a common area for mold to grow.
New research on indoor air quality is emerging every year. Keep yourself up-to-date on the latest tips, but only trust credible scientific-based resources such as the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health, and the American Medical Association. Do not get your information from vendors and contractors.
*This post is based on a “The Boost with Amanda Hofer” article originally published in Real Producers Magazine.