Improving Your Home’s Air Quality
If your home doesn’t have very good air quality, you and your family could be experiencing the consequences as a result. You could suffer from headaches, exacerbated asthma and allergies, disturbed sleep, nausea, and other issues. It’s best to make sure the air in your home is clean and fresh, so you can keep your family as healthy as possible. If you’re concerned about what you are breathing in on a daily basis, here are a few ideas to help you take little steps that can improve the air quality in your home in a big way.
Idea 1: Add Houseplants
Certain plants can remove large pollutants like radon, pesticides, carbon monoxide, and other harmful molecules that disturb the quality of your air. These pollutants are known for causing fatigue, cancer, headaches, and nervous system disorders, among other things. A NASA study recommended that home should have one plant that is 6-8 inches in diameter for every 100 square feet the house holds. Some of the best plants to clean the air in a home include the peace lily, the Boston fern, rubber plants, and philodendron, among others.
Idea 2: Change Your HVAC Filter
Mark your calendar to take a peek at the filter on your HVAC once a month. If there is a visible buildup of dust, clean it off or change it out. It should be changed once every three months, at least. Make sure the new filters you get match the right dimensions on your HVAC and get a higher MERV rating to do better in air quality all the way around.
Idea 3: Consider an Air Cleaner
You can attach a home air cleaner to your HVAC system to help you filter the air that goes through your home. There are several different air cleaner options. One has a HEPA filter that captures particles before they go into the air. The filters last anywhere from 2-4 years, depending on your circumstances. There are also systems with activated carbon, which can capture gases, odor, smoke, and other chemical emissions.
Idea 4: Move Furniture Around
If you placed your furniture in the home in one position and have never moved it, you might want to change things up to get the air quality on a better level. Watch for problems that could cause issues with ventilation. If your couch is over a vent, for example, or if the vent is boxed in behind a chair or coffee table, proper ventilation in that room may not be possible, which can then affect the air quality. Get a free path of airflow to ventilate the house more fully and move that stale air out as new air comes in.
Idea 5: Ventilate the House
Getting stale air out of the home is important and you can do that by opening windows, using fans, or putting a ventilation system onto the HVAC unit. It can then filter new air as it comes in and push old air back out.
Ensure Good Air Quality
Everyone wants to breathe in clean air at home and if you want to improve your air quality, or you don’t know what you have now, the professionals at Stephens Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning can help.