The tricky thing about improving indoor air quality is that the culprits are usually what make our homes, well, home, whether it’s long-time family pets, those scented candles you love, or that amazing multi-course dinner party that turned into a decidedly-not-amazing dish pile.
Usually, when we think about the things that diminish air quality, we still conjure images of ominous mold patches lining foundational beams or an old, opened bottle of weed killer aerating in a shadowy corner of a garage. The truth is, if you’re trying to improve the breathability and comfort of your abode, you’ll have to be on the lookout for every type of home contaminant.
Don’t feel discouraged if you don’t know where to begin. There are many ways to improve your indoor air quality, ranging from cost-effective quick-fixes to more time and effort-intensive inspections and updates. Here are a few suggestions for your to-do list:
Take Some Time to Vent
But first, spare a moment to think of all the comfort that steam brings to a home. A hot shower that rinses away the challenges of a busy day, sautéing vegetables and simmering sauce on pasta night, the strained puff of cloudy exhaust after using that espresso maker you wish you used more. Like anything else, though, too much of a good thing can become harmful, and the same goes for an abundance of unvented steam.
Make sure to regularly run exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom, especially after cooking or a lengthy shower, or simply crack a few windows. If many of your units are inoperable, or it’s simply too cold to leave everything open for an extended period, use a couple of strategically positioned humidifiers or run your AC on its fan setting—just make sure its filter is clean.
Chemicals in a Box to the Left
One thing every household can agree on is that there should be sizable distance between where they inhabit, and where they store the products that clean where they inhabit. Store overly potent, toxic, or caustic chemical products, such as spray cleaners, glues, and pesticides in a storage cabinet in a garage or nearby coach house. If you lack those types of spaces, kitchen or bathroom cabinets will suffice, but ensure that all your products are tightly sealed and centralized in one location.
Inspect the Leak-Prone Areas of Your Home
This is good practice in general, but closely inspect the edges and crevices around your windows, doors, and recessed electrical sockets. If these fixtures are too porous, you risk having moisture permeate them, which will leave your home susceptible to mold and mildew growth. Also, if you overlooked our previous suggestion, airflow from a neighboring garage or attic could carry chemically tainted air into your space.
Speaking of which, it also helps to pay close attention to your attic since it likely remains uninhabited (and unsupervised) for long stretches of the year. Make sure to check your attic’s insulation, floor joists and rafters for signs of stagnating wet areas where moisture has accrued, as well as any resulting mold growth.
Embrace Hardwood Floors
This may be a non-starter for some, especially if you live in an older home or a colder climate, but nothing is better at trapping and accruing harmful particulates than dense carpeting. These can range from pet dander to dust mites and mold spores.
Purchase HEPA Filters or Appliances with Them
High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are individually tested to ensure that they capture, at a minimum, 99.97% of particulates, as are the products that contain them. If you’re unsure whether you’re looking at a HEPA filter or appliance, simply check for the serial number that they assign to every positively tested product.
Many Ways to Breathe Easy
If you don’t normally consider your indoor air quality, it either means you have a clean, particulate-free home, or you've simply become accustomed to your current air quality. If you think you might be in the latter camp, be proactive about removing allergens and airborne irritants from your space. Unfortunately, there isn’t a comprehensive to-do list that will guarantee that you mitigate every contaminated area, but by starting your air purifying process with these five tasks above, you’ll be able to make your home more comfortable for friends and loved ones.
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