3 Most Effective Ways to Clean Your Indoor Air

 

In this article, we’ll show you how you can clean the air you breathe at home. Ensure that the time you spend indoors is safe for your health and that of your loved ones.

Let’s dive in.

Why You Clean Air Indoors

If the quality of the outdoor air is the subject of increased attention, that of our interiors is also important! For good reason, we spend nearly 80% of our time in enclosed spaces where the renewal of air is not always properly ensured.

Between pollution linked to fine particles, chemical pollutants from our furniture, or those of bacteriological origin, the air in our homes is easily polluted. It would even be 8 times more so than the exterior one! Pollution that is not without impact on your health, but also on the integrity of your home! Indeed, if it is easy to imagine that stale air can have harmful consequences on breathing, it can also cause:

• Headaches
• Skin and throat irritation
• Fatigue and nausea.

More serious, some symptoms can become chronic and lead to illnesses such as asthma or allergies. In addition, some pollutants are carcinogenic or neurotoxic.

Beyond pollution, air laden with humidity or too dry can damage your home by damaging the interior of walls, ceilings, joinery, etc.’

Sources of Indoor Air Pollutant

Since the beginning of the 2000s, studies on indoor air pollution have multiplied and have made it possible to identify the various factors that make the air stale. Whether they are external particles or even elements resulting from human activity, these pollutants are divided into different categories.

Chemical pollutants

Volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), carbon monoxide… These various pollutants of chemical origin are all present in your home. VOCs are, for the most part, carcinogenic in the event of prolonged exposure and represent the most important part of pollutants present in indoor air.

Biological pollutants and allergens

Infectious or causing allergies, these different polluting agents can stagnate in your home and degrade indoor air quality, if you do not ventilate your home.

Human activities

Unconsciously, each of us also contributes, to varying degrees, to indoor air pollution during our daily activities. Do-it-yourself, laundry, cooking, household maintenance… These various actions have indirect effects on the quality of the air, by developing humidity which can cause a capillary rise or infiltration in the walls.

How to improve indoor air quality?

However, poor air quality is not inevitable, and it can be improved! If opening your windows or using an air purifier are effective solutions against pollution and humidity, they are however only temporary. For a lasting improvement in the indoor air of your home, it is strongly recommended to carry out some renovations.

Change the ventilation of your home

In order to ensure good air circulation, it is necessary to have controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV). The latter prevents humidity from stagnating in your bathroom or kitchen. In addition, it evacuates polluted air outside the home and also helps to fight against dry air.

With a CMV, the air is renewed continuously, as follows:

1. Air is supplied through the dedicated air inlets.
2. This circulates in the heart of the housing and is gradually brought to the air vents.
3. The indoor air is routed to the outside, eliminating the various residues of pollution, humidity, dust… While a new intake is made.

Depending on the configuration of your home, you can opt for either a simple CMV or a double-flow CMV. Note that the latter, in addition to ensuring that the air you breathe is of good quality, also helps to fight against heat loss.

Opt for an air-to-air heat pump

If the primary function of an air/air heat pump, also called reversible air conditioning, is to cool or heat your interior, it can also help improve the quality of your interior air! Indeed, this makes it possible to act on three concrete points:

• In the case of too high humidity, it can ensure the dehumidification of the air.
• Conversely, by ensuring air circulation, it prevents it from being too dry.
• Equipped with filters, it sanitizes and purifies the air of pollutants.

Be careful, however, to regularly clean the filters of your air/air heat pump and change them twice a year, to guarantee healthy air in your home!

Replace your doors and windows

If you have windows with single glazing or slightly old joinery, these can also be waterproof. They, therefore, promote infiltration but also the appearance of mold due to excessive humidity.

In addition, if your windows or entrance doors do not close properly, it is easier for the polluted outside air to make its way inside your home. This is why it may be necessary to change your joinery to improve the air in your home!

In addition, poor glazing can facilitate the appearance of condensation and increase the humidity in your rooms. Depending on the exposure of your homes and the geographical area where you live, it may then be advisable to opt for double or triple glazing!

If the poor quality of your indoor air seems to be due to a humidity problem, note that it may be useful to carry out general renovation work, including insulation. Indeed, it can promote high humidity and damage your home if it is in poor condition. By improving these various points in your home, you will thus improve the quality of your air in the long term, which is then better for your health and your home!

Hire a Professional to Help With Your Indoor Air Quality

With the amount of time everyone spends in their home, indoor air quality is a huge factor in the health and comfort of your family. But the problem is this: many times, air quality issues are not obvious. It is not unusual for people to have health conditions (such as allergies, asthma, etc.) that are aggravated or caused by poor indoor air quality without knowing that your indoor air quality might be the culprit. Precision Air Solutions has solutions. For example, we can install an Air Scrubber for you. An Air Scrubber will reduce approximately 90% of airborne contaminants and 99.9% of all surface contaminants. It reduces odors, including pet odors.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to help with your indoor air purification.