You take care of your possessions. You protect your home and family. You do whatever you can to keep it clean and make sure your children and other loved ones are healthy and safe. It’s one of the reasons why you clean regularly.
During the winter, most of us are readily aware that the risk of contracting the flu or other colds increases. This happens because windows and doors are closed most of the time due to the cold weather.
When that happens, indoor air quality declines tremendously. Because of the stagnant air, bacteria, germs, allergens, and other foreign pollutants become fortified with in the house. We don’t have fresh air blowing through from outside, recirculating the air, so the quality diminishes and the risk of illness increases.
Here are three things you can do right now that can improve indoor air quality this upcoming winter season.
1. Open the windows and doors whenever you can.
When the temperature is going to be warm, even if it’s not considered downright comfortable, open the windows and doors in your house for at least 15 or 20 minutes. Turn off the home heating system during that time so it’s not running constantly, losing all of that heat it’s generating immediately.
Circulating the air every so often can have a great benefit at improving the indoor air quality.
2. Get a professional carpet cleaning service.
The next time the sun is pouring into a room in your house or you have wall-to-wall carpeting, walk across the surface of the carpeting. Drag your feet across it. Then step back and see what happens within those rays of sunshine.
You’ll see an incredible amount of dust kicking up into the air. What you don’t see is the bacteria and germs also floating around.
Just because you vacuum weekly doesn’t mean your carpets are clean. It’s best to rely on a professional carpet cleaning service at least once a year.
3. Consider an air purifier.
If anyone in your family has allergies, has a tendency to get sick more easily, or has other health issues, a HEPA air filter is a great asset. Placed strategically in the house, you can help minimize the amount of foreign contaminants floating around.
