What if I share with you a 3-pronged approach, aimed at enhancing the quality of air in your home? I know you will love the idea because poor indoor air quality has been a silent assassin for long. It has offered fertile grounds for allergens, and they have done enough to make our home a high dome of respiratory illnesses.
In fact, science tells us that poor quality of indoor air can not only trigger asthma and bronchitis related fears but also process less oxygen than the threshold limit to our brain, thus making us considerably duller. So here then is my 3-pronged approach.
Strategy 1# Nip contaminants in the bud
All of us who are admirers of the adage “prevention is better than cure”, will love my first strategy. Nip the allergens in their bud. Do not allow contaminants to enter your home at all.
You will also need to be diligent yourself for maintaining indoor air quality standards. Have you not been a culprit of carrying your muddy shoes all the way from the garage to your kitchen (I know you were labouring with the grocery, but hey!)
You will have to give up on conventional cleaners and shift to non-toxic cleaners.
Track all the emissions, whether it be from the furnace area or the kitchen. This will help you keep a tab on pollutants and also reduce the chances of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I am sure you would have gone through a list of inert (natural) gases during your school days. You might even faintly recollect that Radon was one such gas which contributed to the devious cause of lung cancer. This gas seeps in from the crawl spaces in basement. You will do well to get your home checked for Radon.
Thankfully, we live in times when lead paints are phased out and asbestos abatement crews are readily available.
Strategy 2# Keep fit vents and ensure proper air circulation
Second strategy is to enhance the quantity of air coming in and quicken the release of stale air that might have built in your home. Before I talk about ventilation, let me shed light on the need to put a decent number of return-air grilles.
Oftentimes, lack of such return-air ducts or their poor location results in uneven distribution of conditioned air. Such situations are a case in point for poor indoor air quality because the pressurised air in crawl spaces and attic fissures fill in at places where there should only be conditioned air.
Keeping your kitchen and bathroom vents in fine shape will ensure that any chemical remnant is blown out in time.
Strategy 3# Use portable air cleaners
3rd and last strategy is centred on portable air cleaners. I don’t mean the point-to-use ones like the tankless water heaters but those which can be used in a whole-house format. You can use electronic or gas phase air cleaners.
Former uses the principle of electrostatic attraction to rip away particles from the room atmosphere and collect in on a sediment plate. The latter uses activated carbon as a sorbent to eliminate pollutant gases.
If you dread mould spores (can be the case for homes close to the harbour area) go for UV light-based cleaners which can dominate biological contaminants easily.
Use this 3-pronged approach for improving the indoor air quality of your home many notches.
What is your plan of action against air pollutants and biological contaminants?
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