The spring season can bring allergies for some due to outdoor pollutants such as pollen. With allergy season in full swing, it is all the more important to maintain clean air inside your home. Indoor air can often be more polluted than outdoor air due to lack of ventilation, which causes allergens to build up around your home. It is useful to some homeowners to know what pollutants are floating through their air, because it helps identify how to improve air quality. In this article, we discuss common indoor air pollutants and ways to improve indoor air quality in Staunton, VA.
What Am I Breathing Inside My Home?
We spend a large amount of time in our homes, whether it is sleeping, working, eating, or relaxing. After spending many hours at a time inside, it is important to know what you are breathing in your home and how it can affect your health. Common indoor air pollutants in Staunton, VA and surrounding areas include:
- Dust
- Mold
- Mildew
- Pet Dander
- Viruses
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Many homeowners wonder how air pollutants enter the air in the first place. One common VOC found in homes is formaldehyde, which can be found within building materials and fuel burning appliances. Additionally outdoor pollutants, such as pollen and radon, can be present in your home through open windows, doors, and cracks.
How Indoor Pollutants Can Affect Health
The spring and summer season brings many activities, such as the reopening of Staunton’s Farmer’s Market and SummerStage concerts at the Blackburn Inn. With the fun packed spring and summer season, it is important you and other residents in your home are feeling their best! Indoor air pollutants can cause a variety of mild and serious health symptoms that affect your comfort. Below are symptoms you can experience due to poor indoor air quality according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Immediate Health Effects
- Irritated eyes
- Runny nose
- Sore/dry throat
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
Long-Term Health Effects
- Respiratory diseases such as asthma
- Heart disease
- Cancer
While immediate health symptoms are only uncomfortable for a short period of time, it is important to take action the moment you notice a decline in your health. Exposure to harmful pollutants can risk development of long-term health effects. We strongly encourage homeowners to not brush off allergies each season, because the symptoms could develop into a much more serious problem down the road!
How To Improve Spring Allergies
There are a variety of simple ways to improve indoor air quality and minimize allergy symptoms at home. The All-Temp Heating and Cooling team specializes in indoor air quality services in Staunton, VA and surrounding areas to keep our community healthy and breathing clean air each season! Below are six ways to improve indoor air quality and allergies this spring in Virginia.
- Control Humidity
- Invest In An Air Cleaner
- Maintain Clean Air Filters
- Install UV Lights
- Schedule AC Maintenance
- Groom Pets Outdoors
- Duct Sealing
Related Article: Indoor Air Quality 101
Control Humidity
As most locals know, summers in Staunton can be hot and humid. While many associate humidity as an unpleasant feeling, it is actually necessary for your home comfort. Your home’s humidity levels should remain between 30-50% year-round. In the summer, high humidity can cause mold and mildew growth and heighten allergy symptoms. In the winter months, low humidity can result in dry skin and other uncomfortable symptoms. Controlling humidity is essential for your health and comfort and can easily be done with the help of humidifying and dehumidifying systems. Give us a call to learn more about installing humidifiers and dehumidifiers in Staunton, VA!
Invest In An Air Cleaner
If you are looking to reduce harmful pollutants and improve indoor air quality at once, consider an air cleaner! While other air quality devices help IAQ, air cleaners target all contaminants in your home. The device pulls unwanted pollutants out of the air, filters them, and releases clean air back into your home. The All-Temp team can help you install an air cleaner in Staunton this spring and summer season!
Maintain Clean Air Filters
The easiest way to improve indoor air quality is to maintain clean air filters throughout your home. An air filter’s main purpose is to catch harmful pollutants and keep them from entering your home. If your filters are dirty and clogged with allergens, the filter pores struggle to catch each pollutant and allow more to slip by. Maintaining clean air filters every 3 months can minimize indoor air pollutants and keep you breathing easy.
Install UV Lights
When humidity is high in Staunton, it can lead to mold and mildew growth inside your home. Mold and mildew can cause a variety of negative health symptoms and grow in many different spots, such as furniture, walls, and air ducts. UV lights work to kill mold and other bacteria by releasing ultraviolet rays to destroy the allergen’s DNA makeup. Our trained technicians can install UV lights in Staunton today to help improve indoor air quality!
Schedule AC Maintenance
Air conditioning maintenance can provide many benefits for your home, including improving indoor air quality. One of All-Temp’s trained technicians will thoroughly clean the inside and outside of your air conditioner during the maintenance service. Allergens such as dust can build up within the system and distribute throughout your home if not cleaned before the system is turned on. Additionally, our technicians will ensure each air filter is clean so you don’t have to remember to do so this spring!
Groom Pets Outdoors
One of the main indoor air pollutants in many homes is pet dander. The allergen is made up mostly of flecks on skin and resides on animal fur. When your indoor pet sheds hair, pet dander can decrease air quality and cause allergy symptoms. We recommend regularly grooming your indoor animals, whether personally outdoors or with a pet grooming company in Staunton.
Duct Sealing
All-Temp Heating and Cooling proudly offers duct sealing services in Staunton, VA and surrounding areas to benefit our customers. Duct sealing has many benefits, such as improving indoor air quality. According to EnergyStar, sealing ducts reduces the risk of pollutants entering ductwork from sources such as dusty attics or musty crawl spaces. If allergens enter cracks in your ductwork, they can easily be distributed throughout your home.
Your home should be a comfortable escape from allergy symptoms caused by harmful pollutants. Let All-Temp Heating and Cooling help improve indoor air quality this spring and summer with our indoor air quality services in Waynesboro, VA and surrounding areas!
