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10 Tips to Ensure Your Indoor Air is Safe to Breathe

10 tips indoor air quality

Most Canadians today spend nearly all of their daily time indoors. This wouldn't be so bad if our indoor air was safe to breathe.

But recent testing statistics have highlighted an alarming increase in the quantity and volume of toxins in indoor air nationwide.

In this article, learn how and why our indoor air has become so polluted and what you can do to purify your family's indoor air.

Airtight Homes Increase Indoor Toxicity

Over the last half-century, builders have become increasingly focused on building airtight, draft-free homes. While this can be good for energy bills and temperature control, it has not been good for overall indoor air purity.

The more airtight any space becomes, the less natural air circulation and ventilation occurs to keep air fresh and pure. The air becomes staler and increasingly more toxic.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average adult takes between 17,000 and 24,000 breaths daily.

When the air you are taking into your lungs and circulating to your cells is clean and pure, this is no cause for worry. But when the air you are breathing in becomes stale and laced with pollutants, your cells become sick and weak over time. This can open the door to lung disease, asthma, cancer, heart disease, and stroke, among other serious health issues.

What is Polluting Our Indoor Air Supply?

Here, you might naturally assume the answer lies in smog, carbon emissions, and other outdoor toxins that are seeping into your home from the outside.

But since homes have become evermore airtight, it has gotten harder for outside toxins to gain entry. Rather, we as homeowners have unwittingly been polluting our own air from within the home.

Here is a list of some of the most common indoor air pollutants found in the average Canadian home today:

  • Tobacco smoke and formaldehyde (a byproduct of burning tobacco)

  • Smoke from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces

  • Chemicals from cleaning products, air "fresheners," scented candles

  • Dust and dust mites

  • Allergens, pollen, mould, and mildew

  • Bacteria, viruses, and fungi

  • Craft and home improvement supplies (paint, glue, solvents, sprays)

  • Carbon monoxide (emitted from appliances)

  • Dirt and debris from clogged air ducts, vents, filters, and pipes

  • Radon (seeping up through the foundation of a home)

  • Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides

  • Ozone (printers, copiers, and other home office equipment)

As you can see, this is a long and potent list of toxins and pollutants, many of which may already be circulating freely inside your home.

10 Tips to Clean Up Your Indoor Air

With these 10 tips, you can begin to clean and purify the air inside your home.

Tip 1: Bring in a professional for an air quality (IAQ) test

This test can tell you precisely which toxins and pollutants are present in what quantities in your home's indoor air. The test is fast and unobtrusive and can help you prioritize where to start with improving the air quality in your home.

Tip 2: Change out regular air filters and replace them with HEPA-rated filters

HEPA-rated filters continue to be the industry standard for filtering out 99.97 percent of airborne toxins. You can also upgrade to a HEPA-rated vacuum cleaner.

Tip 3: Have your indoor air ducts professionally cleaned

Over time, the duct system that carries temperature-controlled air from room to room can become clogged with debris, dust, dander, bacteria, and other toxins. Unless you clean the ducts out from time to time, they will just continue to accumulate more pollutants, which then get pushed back out into your home.

Having your air ducts cleaned is like pushing the air quality reset button for your home, so you start again with a fresh and clean HVAC system.

Tip 4: Have your dryer vents professionally cleaned

It is always a good idea to have your dryer vents cleaned at the same time you have your air ducts cleaned, since the deep vents inside your clothes dryer collects much of the same type of debris as what you will find inside your air ducts.

Tip 5: Do not smoke or burn wood inside the home

Burning tobacco or wood will emit formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and other by-products that can exacerbate allergies and asthma symptoms and build up over time to toxic levels.

Tip 6: Install a heat or energy recovery ventilator to freshen stale air

A heat recovery ventilator (also called an energy recovery ventilator) can ensure that fresh incoming air and stale outgoing air do not meet and commingle.

Tip 7: Regulate your home's humidity levels (aim for 30-50 percent)

Generally speaking, air tends to be more humid in warm weather and less humid in cold weather. At either end of the spectrum, conditions can be conducive to the spread of germs, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, mould, and mildew. Maintaining a humidity range of 30-50 percent lessens the chances of this occurring.

Tip 8: Use ventilation fans in bathrooms and kitchens, and ceiling or floor fans in main areas and bedrooms

Ventilation not only keeps air moving so it stays fresher and cleaner, but it also keeps humidity levels inside the home more balanced, so mould and mildew do not take root.

Tip 9: Clean only with natural, healthy products

Baking soda, lemon juice, coffee grounds, white vinegar, essential oils, and pure water are all amazingly effective cleaning and disinfecting tools. Even better, not a single one has toxic chemicals.

Tip 10: Open windows and doors on pleasant days to get air circulating

Air circulation is quite simply essential to keeping your indoor air more pure, clean, fresh, and safe to breathe.

Contact Gravenhurst For Help

We’re here to help. We have extensive experience with indoor air quality. If you have any questions or concerns about your home’s air quality, feel free to contact us by phone at 877.885.3403 or online.

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