Being too comfortable in the realms of our own home might lead us to disregard the quality of air indoors. However, it is also important to remember that airborne pollutants and contaminants outdoors could also be entering your own home.
Improving the air quality inside your home is as important as wanting clean air outdoors. This article will discuss the signs that you have dirty air inside your home and provide ways on how to fix it.
How Do You Know You Have Dirty Air Inside?
The first thing you need to do is check if you have poor air quality indoors. Here are some ways on how you can spot dirty air indoors.
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Check for Allergies
One of the most obvious clues that you have dirty air inside your home is if you or any members of your family are getting allergic episodes. Allergies could be a reaction to the contaminants and air pollutants inside your home.
Usually, these allergies will be caused by dust or other irritants indoors. Some symptoms of an allergic reaction include sneezing, coughing, headaches, congestion, and watery eyes.
Odd Smells
Be aware of your surroundings even if it’s in your own home.
Sometimes, even a faint smell of something odd is already a sign that you have dirty air inside your home and your 16x25x1 Air Filter might need replacement. So, watch out for weird smells.
Need to Constantly Clean Surfaces
If after just cleaning, you already see dust forming, then this is a sign that your air conditioning system might already be spewing pollutants.
Constantly dusty surfaces despite regular cleaning is a clear sign that your air is full of pollutants.
Dust that appears out of nowhere even though your windows and doors are closed is a sign that you might want to make the necessary measures to clean your internal air.
How Do You Fix It?
Now that you know the signs to watch out for, here are some ways on how you can fix it.
Install High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter
One way to make sure that your air conditioner will be effective in preventing dirty air from coming into your home is to install a HEPA filter in your HVAC system.
This way, your air conditioner can filter out dust and other harmful particles from entering your home when it’s turned on.
As a safer alternative, you can also get stand-alone HEPA air cleaners to ensure higher air quality. However, since it uses a fan, it can be a bit noisy.
Check Your Air Ducts
Dirty air ducts can be the cause of the bad quality of indoor air.
Since air ducts are responsible for the distribution of cold and hot air, contaminants easily spread from one room to another if it is not cleaned regularly.
Air ducts that aren’t cleaned regularly will build up mold and dust, which may result in a high reduction of indoor air quality.
Make Use of Cooking Vents
Another way to fix this is to install cooking vents. Many of the pollutants indoors are caused by what’s happening in your kitchen.
Harmful contaminants, such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, are being released by your gas stove whenever it’s on.
The same goes for electric burners as well. So, since you can’t prevent yourself from cooking, make use of cooking vents to absorb the harmful contaminants.
Buy Indoor Plants
Plants are the earth’s natural air filters. To improve the quality of air in your own home, it will also be helpful to have some indoor plants.
Ferns and Monstera leafed plants are good indoor plants that can also help with the quality of air.
In addition, you can also plant large palm trees outside your home to filter the air coming into your home through your windows.
Control the Humidity
Humidity and moist surfaces are breeding grounds for mold and mildew.
To prevent mold from growing and eventually contaminating indoors your air quality, you may buy a humidifier and set it up inside your home to maintain humidity levels.
This is important because even your air conditioners can gather molds if your home is too humid.
Conclusion
Pay attention to your surroundings even if you are in your own home. By doing this, you will see if the air quality inside your home is clean or unclean.
If your home has dirty air circulating, you need to take things in control and make amends. You must take the necessary steps to ensure your indoor air is clean by installing filters and other tips listed above.
