How to Keep Your Home’s Air Fresh and Healthy Year-Round

You’re in the living room, cozy on the couch, ready to jump into a movie night with the family. The house is clean, but something doesn’t feel quite right. Let’s do a quick exercise: inhale and exhale a few times deeply. Do you feel refreshed?

If not, the problem may be with your indoor air quality. It may be difficult to believe, but indoor pollution exists and can be impacting the air in your home. In this guide to your home’s air quality, we’ll show you how the indoors can be more polluted than the outdoors, and what you can do about it.

According to the American Lung Association, the air inside our homes can be two to five times more polluted than the outside air. Given that Americans spend around 90% of their time indoors, this can pose serious health issues.

But why does the indoor air become polluted?

First, it’s important to highlight that even the cleanest homes can have air quality problems. If you have pets, some of their dander and fur become airborne. Dust, tobacco smoke, and particles from outdoor pollution (such as those from wildfires) are also problematic.

Then there’s the fuel-burning appliances: gas stoves, furnaces, and space heaters. These emit CO2 and NO2 particles that can accumulate over time. Some building materials emit harmful components over time, and even cleaning products can be triggering for the more sensitive people.

The good news is that you’re not helpless in all of this. You can have good indoor air quality without losing energy efficiency. You just need to know your current situation.

Indoor Air Quality Testing

The first to tell you something isn’t quite right with your indoor air is your body. Respiratory irritation (sneezing, coughing, or a scratchy throat), headaches, dizziness, or unexplained dry, itchy eyes or skin rashes can be great indicators, especially if the symptoms go away when you’re outside or in a different space.

If this is the case, it’s a clear sign your home needs professional indoor air quality testing. Your body is great at detecting poor indoor air quality, but it can’t tell you exactly what causes the problem. A professional will check all the common culprits, such as high moisture levels, airborne particles, gases, and VOCs, and give you a clear answer.

If a professional indoor air quality test identifies a clear source of pollution, the first step is to remove the source. But if the source is a combination of factors, here are a few things you can do to improve air quality in the long-term:

Open the Window

If you live in an area with good air quality (outdoors), then the best thing you can do is to encourage air exchange in your home. Open windows on opposite sides of the house to create cross-ventilation, and enjoy the gentle breeze.

Specialists recommend opening your windows between 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM, and after 9:00 PM. During these hours, the air is typically cooler and denser. As the ground warms during the day, it creates vertical air currents that lift dust, pollen, and vehicle emissions into the air.

Natural Air-Purifying Plants

Indoor plants have a triple role: bring style to a room, improve mood, and purify the air. For maximum results, choose plants known for their air-purifying powers, like Snake Plant, Peace Lily, or Aloe Vera.

Besides fitting perfectly in any type of interior design, they’re also quite easy to maintain. But no amount of indoor plants will replace proper ventilation and cleaning.

Use Natural Cleaning Products

Dusting and vacuuming at least twice a week is the safest way to keep pet dander, fur, hair, and dust away from your home. But proper cleaning requires some additional products that can also be irritating.

The best course of action here is to switch to natural cleaning products, like white vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, and so on.

The air you breathe impacts your health, mood, and energy levels, so it’s worth having a professional check your indoor air quality if something feels off. This, along with a few air-purifying tricks, will put you and your household on the path to cleaner indoor air.