We’ve probably all experienced it—whether in our home or someone else’s—that stuffy, stale feeling of the inside air. It can be a bit of a burden on not only our comfort in the home, but also on our overall health and safety. Fortunately, there are ways to increase the indoor air quality. In this blog post series, we’ll examine a few tips and improvements that can be made, from simple to complex, to increase the air quality in your home.
· Maximize overall ventilation and air flow. Unless there is an efficient and effective way for outdoor air to swap with indoor air, the indoor air quality will likely be very poor in your home. Think of outdoor air as a cleanser for inside your home, as it replaces dirty, dusty and uncomfortable indoor air.
· Turn on the fan! If you think this may seem like a bit of a simple fix, then you’re exactly right. Fans in your home, whether ceiling units or portable standup fans, can greatly reduce the humidity inside your home and provide circulation that is crucial to keeping the quality of air inside your home high. Remember to also turn on bathroom fans when showering or stove hood fans when cooking to help move the wet or combustion byproduct-full air out of your home.
· Install advanced HVAC equipment. There are numerous air filtration and ventilation systems available that can be installed to help with your indoor air quality. Vent fans and systems, timed fresh air intakes and Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) / Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) are a few options that can really take your indoor air quality to the next level.
· Clean your ducts. One of the biggest culprits of poor indoor air quality in homes with HVAC units is dirty ductwork. Remember, conditioned air produced by these systems, whether hot or cold, passes through this duct work before it gets out into your home. When this air passes through dirty, dusty and allergen-ridden ducts, it collects these particles and shoots them out into your home for all to breathe. This can lead to not only discomfort but also health hazards.
Stay tuned, as we’ll be following up shortly with some additional tips on improving the indoor air quality of your home.
