Breathing clean air inside our homes and workplaces isn't just a comfort; it's a crucial factor for our health and well-being. Yet, many of us may not consider the role our HVAC systems play in ensuring the air we breathe is fresh and free of contaminants. Below, we'll explore ten essential ways to improve your indoor air quality, ensuring a healthier, more comfortable environment at home or work.
Significance of Indoor Air Quality
Having great indoor air quality is crucial for great health and wellness of ourselves and our family, we typically cannot see the harmful contaminants in our air due to the particles being too small or the gases being invisible, so having a plan for better indoor air quality will help with achieving excellent air that will make you feel great and prevent you from getting ill as often.
The Crucial Role of Indoor Air Quality
I have become very passionate about indoor air quality as when I grew up, we were not educated on this topic, I don’t think anyone was, I mean, we were drinking out of the hose and riding bikes without helmets and jumping off rooftops onto trampolines. I was also very sick all the time with flu, viruses, and allergies.
Looking back now I know it was due to the air quality outside and inside in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Nowadays we have become much more mindful of our surroundings and the things we consume so we can stay healthy and live longer. A lot of us take the air we breathe for granted and don’t think twice about how we’ve gotten sick, why we have allergies, or why our home has a funky odor.
We typically just mask these factors using harmful chemical sprays, medication that our doctor has given us, and just dealing with these ailments. Because of this, I began to start wondering WHY.
As a result, I found that when these things do happen to us, not even our doctor really knows how we’re living, what kind of conditions we’re living under, where we are located, or even what kind of animals we have in our home.
So, I began doing A LOT of research on indoor air quality, and how to fix our indoor air quality and make it better, not just better but excellent. So here’s what I came up with for a DIY way of improving your air quality.
10 Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality
Get an air filter with a high MERV rating
This will not just help with large particulates which you can see, but they will remove smaller particulates down to the micron level (140x smaller than a hair follicle) which are the harmful particles for our lungs. You will need to change these filters often (around once a month) unless you have a proper air cleaner installed professionally which can last up to a year.
Run your fan often
there is a setting on your thermostat labeled fan, turn that on often for cleaning your home. Having a proper filter will help with turning your HVAC system into a whole home air cleaning system.
Clean your air ducts at least every 5 years
This will help with removing any particles or other harmful elements from your system, which even cleans your heater preventing those dust particles from burning when they come on causing a horrible smell and affecting your sinuses, throat, eyes, and wellness.
Place indoor plants around your home
This will help with turning harmful carbon dioxide and other gases into healthy breathable air. These are natural air purifiers and are also great for the feng shui of your home and also make your home smell better.
Open windows often
Opening the windows and doors throughout your home will help bring in clean air from outside and into your home. I like to leave my fan on when I open windows that way it helps to bring the air in and will bring that air through the filter to be cleaned.
Have your home professionally cleaned at least every 6 months
When I say professionally I mean cleaning carpets and furniture along with blinds. This will help remove any harmful components inside your home that would make their way into the air and your lungs.
Having carpets or rugs instead of tile or wood
Using a particle counter and indoor air quality testing instruments I found that homes with carpets have fewer particles flying around as they get trapped into fabrics, which you can vacuum and remove along with professional cleaning will help remove these particles.
I’ve read that people recommend the opposite but you would have to clean your home daily to prevent a home with tile or wood from having high levels of particles in the air.
Seal your registers and attic access
These areas typically have gaps that can cause horrible attic air to enter your home, especially on hot days when the attic pressure is greater than your home’s. Sealing your register ( vent in ceiling or floor) requires you to remove the grill and seal the seam between the can and drywall using silicone.
Sealing your attic requires using a foam tape which, when the lid rests on it, seals the attic access gap.
Reduce off-gassing
Un-filtered water and harmful chemical cleaning solutions cause what’s called 'off-gassing' which results in harmful gasses in our air when used. Having a good water cleaning device (water purifier) will help reduce the harmful off-gassing every time we run the dishwasher or the tap, and by not using harmful chemicals and sprays to clean your home your air will have less horrible gasses in the air can be harmful when inhaled.
Use a high-quality room air purifier
This helps destroy gases, helps remove odors, and causes particles to stick together helping them get trapped in your filter. They also reduce bacteria, mold, flu, viruses, and much more for healthier breathable air.
These are our best suggestions for improving your air quality on your own. There is a much more scientific way using high-tech equipment and materials and would require a professional to design and install, which is what we specialize in.
We have developed a system utilizing a variety of components to improve air quality inside your home while efficiently removing particulates and purifying your home air while also achieving a level of comfortability and efficiency that is unprecedented.
Below is a description of some things we can do to make your home's air quality not just great but EXCELLENT for your health, life, family, stamina, and mood not to mention you will feel great having the most efficient and comfortable home.
Professional Solutions From Integrity Air Heating & Cooling Specialist
Our complete Healthy Home System includes dehumidification for greater efficiency and comfortability in the summer. Humidifying in the winter helps lubricate sinuses, furniture, and throat while improving efficiency and comfortability.
A top-of-the-line heating and cooling system achieves the highest efficiency on average, saving $8-10k every 10-12 years, while also delivering the best performance.
Having a high-tech and top-of-the-line air purifier destroys odors, VOCs, chemicals, viruses, flu, and diseases, and helps filter air. Having a properly designed air cleaner with a high MERV rating improves system efficiency and filtration performance resulting in the cleanest air in your home.
It will also include a fresh air delivery system allowing for proper air changes per hour bringing in fresh air from outside and exhausting harmful stagnant air in your home while filtering that air through the filtration system before supplying it into your home.
Professional duct cleaning removes harmful dust and particles which can cause illness and allergies. We also seal all your vents and registers preventing harmful attic air from entering your home.
There are a variety of methods, and we would love to design a customized system just for you or offer ways that you could personally improve your home’s indoor air quality. Contact us to find out how we can improve your home or office's air quality.