It’s the time of year when family and friends come together to celebrate the holidays and enjoy one another’s company. Your home is probably playing host to a family get together, holiday party with friends or a traditional holiday feast. Preparing your home for guests this holiday season may include chores like cleaning your carpets, dusting and giving your bathrooms a thorough scrubbing. One area of your home that is often over looked is the air quality. Have you and your family been sneezing more often, have a scratchy throat, or watery eyes? These could all be a result of poor air quality within your home.
Symptoms of Bad Air Quality in the Home
Allergies affect more than 20% of people in the United States; these symptoms are usually treated with some type of medication to lessen the severity of their effects. While medications can assist in relieving such symptoms, the best way to eliminate the chance of allergens within your home is to improve the air quality. When you remove irritants from the air that is in your home, you will assist in stopping stuffy noses, headaches, itchy eyes, shortness of breath and scratchy throats.
Causes of Bad Air Quality in the Home
Some of the most common offenders that are floating through the air in your home are dust mites, mold, pollen and pet dander. One chore that should be on every month’s list is to check the air filters in your home. Dirty air filters are harmful to you and your family because they trap harmful allergens and when your air conditioning or heat is on, the air is forced through the dirty filter, which releases these harmful allergens into the air that is inside of your home. Stay on top of replacing your air filter regularly to improve the air quality in your home and keep as many allergens out of your home as possible.
The Cost of Heating Mistakes
While on some days the weather outside permits you to open a few windows, leave some doors open and let the breeze blow through your home, this is not always a great idea. A fresh breeze always feels great, but keep in mind that you have completely opened up your home to a slew of allergens outside that are not freely flowing into your home. Another common mistake that homeowners make while opening their windows is that they keep their HVAC unit running. This will waste a great deal of energy and can cause issues with your HVAC unit as well.