Tips to Help Boost Your Indoor Air Quality

February 21, 2015

Good health depends in part on the quality of the air you breathe. Unfortunately, the air in the typical home is rife with particles including dust mite debris, pollen, mold spores and bacteria, just to name a few.

There are a number of ways to improve indoor air quality in your Greenville area home. The best approach is three-pronged: Source control, air cleaning, and ventilation.

Control the Source

Keeping pollutants out of your home is the best way to improve indoor air quality.

Remove your shoes before entering to avoid tracking in pollen, mold, animal feces, pesticides, and all the other icky things you step in.
Use non-toxic, biodegradable household cleaners.
Maintain combustion appliances like the furnace, stove, and water heater to reduce emissions.

Clean the Air

Removing particulate pollutants from your air can help you breathe easier.

Invest in a portable air cleaner, such as a mechanical air cleaner that utilizes a filter to trap particles or an electronic air cleaner that uses electrostatic technology to attract particles, which you can then dispose of.
Invest in high-quality, pleated air filters for your HVAC system to trap particles as air enters the unit. Check the air filter every month, and when you can’t see the filter material due to the dust, replace it.
Install a whole-house air cleaner in the ductwork, such as UV lights that kill biological contaminants like mold and bacteria or a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter to trap the smallest particles.

Ventilate

Ventilation brings in fresh outdoor air while sending stale indoor air outside.

Keep the windows open on nice days.
Turn on the kitchen and bathroom fans when cooking, bathing, or using chemicals, including body care products.
Consider a mechanical ventilation system if your home is tightly sealed. Energy recovery and heat recovery ventilators (ERVs and HRVs) send stale indoor air outside and bring in fresh outdoor air, which is humidified or dehumidified (ERV) or heated or cooled (HRV) before reaching your rooms.

For more expert tips on ways to improve indoor air quality, please contact us in the Greenville area at J & J Mechanical.