Cleaner Air, Healthier Home: 4 Top Tips To Improve Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality is a topic that’s not talked about enough. We spend a lot of our time indoors breathing air, but how clean and healthy is the air we breathe?

Outdoor air quality can fluctuate – and we’re aware of this. Most of us know that pollution can make some air dirtier than others. However, have you ever stopped to consider the air in your home? It’s probably not harmful, per se, but it can trigger or cause underlying health problems.

In this guide, you’ll see some easy tips to improve indoor air quality in your home. As a result, you can breathe easily knowing that the air is clean and not a detriment to your health. 

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Clean your home regularly

Regular cleaning improves the air quality by removing dust particles and other airborne allergens that linger when uncleaned. If people in your house sneeze frequently or wake up with stuffy noses, there are probably too many allergens in the air.

Make an effort to clean your home at least once a week. It doesn’t need to be a deep clean, but ensure you vacuum all surfaces and wipe away dust to prevent it from accumulating. Try to get a deep clean at least three or four times a year. Deep cleaning is where you get deep into the crevices and tackle areas that maybe get less attention during regular cleaning.

Do this yourself, or consider professional cleaning services if you don’t have enough time or lack the tools for deep cleaning. Either way, cleaning your home will clean and purify the air. 

Utilize an HVAC system

An HVAC system is one of the best things you can buy for your home. Many houses are built with them, especially in hot or cold parts of the country. They heat your home during the winter and cool it in the summer.

However, HVAC systems can also cycle and ventilate your home. It essentially uses the air conditioning part to take air from inside your home, blow it outside, and then transport fresh air back in. Air passes through a filtration system that blocks out pollutants, allergens, and anything else potentially dangerous. 

As a result, your home is left with fresh air cycling through! You don’t need to keep your HVAC unit on all day, but it is good to use it for an hour or so just as an air purification tactic. Be sure to change the filters regularly as well – look at them once a month/every two months, and swap them out if they look excessively dirty.

Ventilate your home every day for better Indoor Air Quality

Nothing beats the classic idea of opening some windows for fresh air. Throw your windows wide open every single day to allow fresh air in and stale air out. A poorly ventilated home will have awful air quality – and you can immediately tell the difference. 

When you open the windows and let the air circulate for a few hours, your house smells and feels much better. The air almost feels thinner and easier for you to breathe in. Any particles or bad things floating and lingering have now left. Many homeowners stop doing this during winter because it’s cold, so air quality reduces drastically. When the temperature drops, stay in the habit of opening windows for a bit.

Furthermore, proper ventilation keeps the air humidity levels low. You don’t want an overly humid home because it leads to dampness and mold growth. Consequently, mold spores can trigger allergy symptoms and be possibly dangerous for anyone with asthma. Again, keep your windows open – particularly in rooms that get humid. For example, always keep a window ajar in the bathroom when someone’s showering. Likewise, use extractor fans here and in the kitchen to further remove moisture and decrease humidity. 

Get some houseplants

House plants aren’t just great at making your home look pretty. Some added greenery goes a long way to improving air quality. When you think about it, this makes so much sense! Plants need carbon dioxide to thrive and produce oxygen for us to breathe. House plants will increase oxygen levels, making the air much healthier and more breathable.

The magic doesn’t stop there! Researchers have looked into this theory, and studies show it’s more than a wild idea. Some recent research from a university in the United Kingdom shows that house plants can reduce air pollution in the home. The study looked at a few species – the Peace Lily and Corn Plant – discovering that they reduced nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 20%. Nitrogen dioxide is a common pollutant linked to damaging your respiratory system and causing breathing problems. 

You don’t need to turn your house into a forest, but a few plants in some rooms will work wonders for the overall air quality. It’s worth looking into – as a bonus, plants make your rooms look much nicer. 

Recap: Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality is super important as you spend lots of time indoors breathing the air around you. Bad air quality can be unhealthy and lead to various health concerns. Improving indoor air quality is beneficial, and there are many ways to do it. Ventilating your home is a big one, along with using HVAC systems for air filtration. Keep your home nice and clean to prevent dust build-up, while adding in a few house plants can remove pollutants and leave you with cleaner, fresher air!