Nobody wants that ‘funky, old house smell’ in their own homes, but over time we can become accustomed to living in a home with less-than-ideal air quality. Improved air quality can make a home more comfortable, healthy, and welcoming for guests, so it only makes sense that you should endeavour to do so. Fortunately, there are a few easy steps that any homeowner can take to improve air quality within their home:

  • Install Air Quality Monitors

One particular threat to the respiratory system of everyone in your home is the presence of carbon monoxide. Install a carbon monoxide detector within your home to monitor and alert the owner if carbon monoxide levels are too high. These relatively inexpensive devices can be a life-saver.

Another test that you may wish to perform is radon testing. Active and passive testing are available, with the former being the more practical. Passive radon detection can be impractical for homeowners, but active testing can help identify problems that may exist due to radon.

What is radon? It’s a radioactive gas that seeps into the home, naturally, from the decay of soils underneath the home. It’s colourless and odourless as well as a source of lung cancer, which is all the more reason to have a radon test performed if you’re ever in doubt.

  • Maintain Appropriate Humidity Levels

Too much humidity is unbearable, but it’s also an ideal breeding ground for dust mites and mould. Simply keeping windows open won’t necessarily help, either. Excessive humidity can be controlled with a dehumidifier on particularly humid days, and providing better airflow with open windows can help during less humid days.

Aim for humidity levels between 30-50 per cent. Dust mites and allergens won’t tolerate such humidity, so you’ll be keeping your home safer and cleaner by lowering humidity to these levels. Any more introduces the opportunity for dust mites and allergens to settle and to create problems later on such as mould and respiratory problems.

  • Keep Carpets Squeaky Clean

One of the most practical steps to improving air quality within the home is to keep carpets clean at all times. It’s true that carpets provide excellent comfort and warmth in a home, but they’re also especially prone to accumulating dust, dirt, and bacteria deep inside the piling.

Regular vacuum cleaning with a HEPA filter and occasional steam cleaning can keep a carpet in good condition as well as improving air quality within the home. By keeping bacterial growth under control with regular cleaning, your air quality will significantly improve.

This problem is exacerbated if your carpet has sustained water damage. Water, humidity, and time are all that are necessary for all sorts of bacterial growth that you’d rather not have to deal with. Unfortunately, depending on the scale of the damage and the duration of exposure, carpets may either need to be replaced in sections or entirely.

If this should occur, it’s crucial that you contact a water damage carpet repair expert as soon as possible. Not only are water-damaged carpets unsightly, but they’re also a potential health hazard that will greatly affect the air quality within the home.

Electrovac

If ever your carpet sustains water damage, don’t delay. Contact the carpet restoration experts at Electrovac to have your carpet professionally cleaned and refreshed.