Simple Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Home Environment

Ideally, your home should be a safe and healthy environment. Unfortunately, there are numerous dangers to your family’s well-being and many of them may be found under your roof. Consider how much time most of us spend indoors at home (50 percent of our lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control). This means that a healthy home environment can therefore provide significant protection from illness and injury.

Here are a few tips for making your home a healthier and safer place to live:

Improve Ventilation

One way to lower the concentration of airborne pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of air that gets inside. Unfortunately, most HVAC systems don’t have a way to bring fresh air indoors. You’ll have open your windows and turn on the attic fan whenever possible to improve ventilation. Ventilation fans in your bathroom or kitchen may also be used to remove pollutants from indoor air, cycling in fresh air from outside.

Reduce Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

VOCs, a major source of indoor air pollution, are commonly found in building materials like paint, as well as in carpets and rugs. They’re known to cause various health problems.

To make your home healthier, select paints and other materials that meet low VOC-emitting standards. Also, make sure to clean your carpets and rugs regularly to alleviate other air-quality issues, such as dust and dander.

Eliminate Mold

Mold can cause various health problems, such as allergies and asthma. While complete elimination of all mold spores within your home is impossible, you can alleviate problems by eliminating any moisture sources. Among other things, you should fix any indoor leaks and improve your ventilation to reduce the humidity that mold needs to thrive.

For more information on what you need to create a healthy home environment, contact Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. We’ve been keeping homes in Northwest Arkansas safe and healthy for over 45 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about creating a healthy home environment and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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