You may not have given much thought to the air you breathe inside your home, particularly when the air outside is polluted, but indoor air quality is more important than you might think.
Keeping a clean home can help to improve the quality of air inside your home, and taking advantage of house cleaning services in Fort Myers is a great way of ensuring that your home’s air is always healthy, clean, and pure. But what are some common sources of air pollution inside the home, and how can you go about eliminating these:
What can cause poor indoor air quality?
Fuel-burning appliances (such as gas stoves), tobacco smoke, modern or outdated building materials (including treated wood and lead paint), household cleaning chemicals, and even carpeting and upholstery, can all have a negative impact on the overall quality of the air inside your home.
Often becoming trapped inside your home when ventilation is poor, they may be manufactured pollutants, or naturally occurring ones.
Dust and pet dander can also contribute towards poor air quality, and may exacerbate symptoms for anyone living there who suffers from allergies or respiratory illnesses.
What are VOCs?
Short for Volatile Organic Compounds, VOCs are particularly harmful when found indoors, with their levels being significantly higher inside (up to 10 x) than they are out. Gaseous emissions coming from a whole host of household products produced on a commercial scale (including glues and adhesives, varnish and paints, pesticides, and air fresheners), VOCs can have a frightening impact on both the short, and long-term health, of a home’s occupants.
How can you tell if the air quality in your home is poor?
While some symptoms may immediately occur, like dizziness, headaches, general fatigue, and skin irritation, some may take longer to notice. It’s important to understand that should exposure to such air pollution continue, serious consequences such as cancer, respiratory diseases and heart disease may occur.
If excess levels of dust and pet dander are present in the home, you may experience itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, and/or a runny nose, among other symptoms.
What can you do to improve the air quality inside your home?
The most important step you should take to reduce the chances of your home having poor air quality, is to check for the presence of harmful chemicals. Make sure your kitchen appliances have appropriately sealed exhaust ports, check your furniture for any labels warning about potential hazards, and consider replacing them.
Keep your home well-ventilated when conditions allow, to let stale air escape.
Clean rugs and carpets thoroughly on a regular basis, vacuum often to eliminate deposits of dust and pet dander, and dust frequently with a microfiber cloth.
Be mindful of the cleaning products you use
Containing harmful chemicals such as toluene and formaldehyde, some widely used cleaning products should be avoided if you want to improve indoor air quality, and when mixed, some cleaning agents – including bleach – can create gaseous ammonia when combined with certain other cleaners.
To help create as safe and healthy a living environment inside your home, try using maid services in Fort Myers, who can eliminate dust and dander each time they visit without the use of harsh chemicals, to improve the quality of your indoor air.
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