As seasons change, so do the needs of family household. In the winter, for example, you’re more likely to turn the inside of your home into your children’s playground, as winter storms and frigid weather make outside play impossible. Letting your children play inside the house, while supervised, is alright to do. However, you have to make sure you’re on top of your indoor air quality.
Indoor Air Quality can Breed Illness during Winter.
The closed environment of a home during Winter months can breed illness and other problems due to bad air quality. Therefore, it is essential that cleaner Indoor Air Quality is achieved or at least improved. Here, we will provide examples of ways to improve your indoor air quality during Winter.
Ensuring GREAT Indoor Air Quality During Winter
Have you heard of the phrase, “Eliminate, isolate and ventilate”? This pertains to keeping a healthy and aerated home in which its residents can breathe and live comfortably. Eliminate chemicals which pose a danger to your IAQ. Isolate the hard to rid pollutants so that they are not invading your living space. Last, but not least, ventilate your home in such a way that pollutants and excess moisture (the prime culprit of mold growth) are replaced with fresh outside air.
1. Elimination
To eliminate, look at the labels of what you buy. Whether it’s paint, carpets, textiles, pottery, or cleaning products such as air fresheners or floor cleaners. Look at the labels and ask the sellers what the product was made and treated with. Also, there are alternatives to many of the products we use that are harming our IAQ and, thusly, ourselves. By alternatives, we mean that the ingredients of the products use little to no pollutants, such as very low or no VOC containing paint. As well, get rid of anything directly affected by mold and mildew, fix any plumbing leaks (to reduce excess moisture), test regularly for carbon monoxide, and make sure to clean, dust and vacuum regularly to reduce allergens.
2. Isolate
One of the most harmful things concerning IAQ and our health are Radon gas and Exhaust. Typically speaking, radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that emanating from the soil. While easy to take care of, the solution will be an out-of-pocket cost best handled by professionals. But it would be money well spent to protect the lives of you and anyone else living in your home.
3. Ventilate
Aside from opening the window or the door occasionally to let the fresh, but cold, air in, you might want to look at the air ducts and vents inside your home. Make sure the exhaust fans are truly venting towards the outside, that appliances are working properly and no exhaust is escaping into living spaces, cleaning your chimney flue at least every month, having a sealed-combustion hot water heater, furnace or boiler, using energy-efficient electric fans, and making sure that the balance of air going out is not greater than the air coming in.
Remembering to eliminate, isolate and ventilate on an appropriate schedule will improve your indoor air quality during winter and save you money and certain health problems going forward. Remember, it’s working smarter, not harder, that wins the day.