Improving Home Air Quality

Have you ever run into the problem of coming home, and all of a sudden you begin to sneeze your head off? Or, perhaps you have noticed a faint, unpleasant odor that simply doesn't seem to go away? These are both signs and symptoms of needing to improve your home air quality. It may seem like a rather difficult thing to do at first, but surprisingly improving home air quality is really easy. All you need to do is keep in mind a few things, and you can have a home that is remarkably free of allergens and other pollutants.

• Ventilation. One of the biggest ways that you can begin improving home air quality is by ensuring that you have proper ventilation in your home. When air begins to get stale and, doesn't circulate properly then the allergens and pollutants in your home can begin to build up. The easiest way to fix this is to simply open a couple of windows and add turn on a couple of fans.
• General cleanliness. By keeping on top of your house cleaning, you can go a very long way to improving home air quality. By letting garbage, dirty clothes, dust, and other things build up you are introducing nasty and potentially harmful elements to your home. Do not let your dishes pile up too long, do not let your laundry go unwashed for too long, and simply dust and vacuum regularly.
• Air filters. Air filters are a great help in improving home air quality. Regularly check and replace the air filters on your air conditioners and HVAC units. In addition, use vacuum cleaners that have air filters as well, since this will help eliminate the dust and other allergens that can be blown around in a room when you vacuum. The best kind of air filters to use (regardless of where you use it) are the high efficiency particulate air filters (or HEPA filters) as they will eliminate the largest percentage of airborne allergens and pollutants.
• Limit pollutants. If you are really serious about improving home air quality, then one of the first things that you will need to do is limit the amount of pollutants that are in your home. This means that you should try to stick to as many natural or organic types of furniture and accessories as you can. If that isn't your style though, you can also use antiques, since you want to avoid using more modern furniture that has sealants, glues, and finishes which can be slowly released into the air of your home. It should also go without saying, but it still needs to be said, do not smoke in the home. Tobacco smoke is an extremely powerful and irritating pollutant that can be a major pain to get rid of.