How Good is Your Home Air Quality?

April 28, 2021

Categories: Indoor Air Quality

Clean home air quality is essential for any homeowner or business because it reduces the risk of indoor health problems. The air inside your home can be polluted by; dust, pesticides, lead, carbon monoxide (CO), radon, fire-retardants, and volatile chemicals derived from fragrances used in conventional cleaners.

Poor ventilation is a common culprit, and when not taken care of, can increase your risk of health problems. Improving indoor air quality can reduce the risk of both short-term and long-term health effects caused by other pollutants such as mold, dirt, pollen, and other allergens.

While there a wide range of indoor air pollutants that can enter your home or business, you can take action by educating yourself, your family, and employees on what can cause poor indoor air quality and learn different ways you can improve indoor air quality. Take action and read more below:

What Causes Poor Indoor Air Quality?

There are a variety of pollutant sources that cause indoor air quality problems. Below are the various types of pollutants that can compromise your home’s indoor air quality.

Poor Ventilation

• When sufficient outdoor air is unable to enter indoors through proper ventilation, pollutants can accumulate and increase your risk of health problems. In some cases, ventilation systems can fail to circulate outdoor and indoor air properly. It is important to check air intakes and exhausts to make sure they are free of dust and other obstructions.

Mold and Mildew

• Ensuring humidity levels in your home or business are not too high is critical to avoid the development of mold and mildew. Mold can begin to grow indoors when mold spores land on surfaces that are wet providing the perfect condition for them to grow. This is a problem because mold can cause health problems, such as asthma attacks and other kinds of allergic reactions when inhaled or touched by sensitive individuals, this is where air conditioning with built-in dehumidifiers can monitor and correct the humidity level in your home or business.

Household Cleaning Supplies

• Chemicals in cleaning supplies can circulate in the air you breathe causing shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. For example, mixing cleaners like ammonia and bleach can produce toxic fumes that, when inhaled, can cause coughing, difficulty breathing, irritation of your throat and eyes, and in high enough concentrations, death.

Carpet Fumes

• New carpet installation sometimes contains vinyl backing with adhesive. In some cases, vinyl backing can contain chemicals that can release into the air, also known as off-gassing. These chemicals can cause headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Typically, off-gassing takes place within the first few months of installation, but they can be released for up to five years after installation. Heavy ventilation for at least three days after carpet installation is highly recommended.

Paint and Volatile Organic Compound (VOCs)

• VOC paint is paint that contains volatile organic compounds. VOCs are harmful chemicals that vaporize at room temperature and enter the atmosphere. These chemicals are released into the air you breathe. Breathing VOCs can make it difficult to breathe, cause nausea, irritate the eyes and damage your nervous system.

Health Problems and Poor Indoor Air Quality

Poor indoor air quality in your home or business can increase your risk of both short-term, and long-term health effects caused by other pollutants. Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or years later.

Common health problems can include:

• Common Cold
• Asthma
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Lung Cancer
• Cardiovascular Disease

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Improving Indoor air quality is easier than you think! There are simple actions you can take to protect yourself, your family, home, or business from indoor air pollution such as:

Easy at Home Steps to Improve Indoor Air Quality

• Keep your floors clean by vacuuming and mopping
• • Clean floors get rid of toxins and allergens such as; dirt, pet dander, dust mites, and pollen.
• Maintain a proper level of humidity
• • Keeping a healthy level of humidity with a dehumidifier and air conditioners during the summer months helps keep allergen under control.
• Installing carbon monoxide detectors
• • Installing carbon monoxide detectors is important to keep you, and your family safe because it is odorless and potentially deadly
• Make your home a non-smoking zone
• • Secondhand cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals and can increase the risk of developing health problems such as respiratory infections, asthma, cancer, and heart attacks.

Improve Indoor Air Quality with HVAC Systems

There are a wide variety of air quality systems that can improve indoor air quality in your home or business, providing a safe environment.

Indoor Air Quality Systems can include:

• Humidifiers
• Add moisture to indoor air and prevent dryness that irritates many body parts like; skin nose, lips, and throat.
• UV Lights
• Provide a healthy indoor environment with a ducted, whole-house solution that can sterilize harmful contaminants
• Air Filtration System
• Improve air quality and eliminate pollutants like; mold, dirt, bacteria with a high-quality filtration system
• Ion Generators
• Charge the particles in your room and purify the air by killing harmful mold, bacteria, and viruses.
• Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV)
• Capture thermal energy and moisture from the exhaust airstream and transfer it to the intake, improving humidity and saving energy

As mentioned previously, it is important to recognize indoor air pollutant threats to your home or business, knowing the health effects that can be associated with poor indoor air quality and how to improve indoor air quality with easy at-home steps and professional HVAC solutions.

Looking at how to improve indoor air quality for your home or business? Contact Martinov Home Solutions today as your indoor air quality solutions provider in Akron, Ohio! We offer a wide selection of air quality systems and provide quality heating and cooling services with furnace installations and repairs to the Akron, Ohio area.