Did You Know Indoor Air Quality Gets Worse at Night?
Poor air quality is directly correlated to a number of serious heart and lung health concerns – and recent evidence suggests that indoor air can be even more polluted than the air on a bustling city street corner pre-emission regulations. Various pollutants such as car exhaust, tobacco smoke, and the combustion sources (oil, gas, etc.) required to run various household appliances like your oven all contribute to a very scary bottom line: Staying indoors does not necessarily protect you against poor air quality. In fact, a recent study suggested that something as benign-seeming as cooking Thanksgiving dinner in an average kitchen could qualify as an airborne toxic event.
To make matters worse, indoor air quality gets worse at night, the part of the day we are most likely to be in our homes breathing the air! This is because, as the temperature drops during the nighttime hours, the atmosphere traps car emissions, CO2, and other pollutants in the house and down near the ground – and the effect is much worse if spaces inside the home are poorly ventilated.
Indoor Air Quality Improvement Tips from the Air Experts
The Air Experts recommend four main strategies for improving indoor air quality in your home.
1. Identify and control the sources of pollution.
Contaminated air from insecure or unfinished spaces throughout your home, such as your attic, basement, or crawlspace, can get sucked into your duct system. This can introduce dangerous and foreign particles into your home such as dust, mold, insulation particles, and all the myriad outdoor pollutants mentioned above. Further, some of your major appliances, such as your oven or your furnace, may not be performing optimally, further threatening air quality.
Fortunately, The Air Experts are old hat at detecting often-missed sources of pollution. We can help you find the culprits and repair any duct leakage, which will do wonders for your indoor air quality. Reach out to our team to schedule your appointment today!
2. Improve the ventilation in your home.
Promoting ventilation and air movement helps dilute air pollutants and improves overall indoor air quality. Open your doors and windows whenever possible to stimulate air movement. Operate fans in poorly ventilated spaces like the attic periodically and consider sleeping with a fan on at night in your bedroom. Finally, make sure to run the exhaust fans in your kitchen whenever you’re using the stove or oven.
3. Invest in an air purifier.
Air purifiers do exactly what they sound like they do – they clean the air in your home by filtering it and removing common air contaminants, such as dust, pollen, mold, fungi, and pet dander. There are many different kinds of air purifiers, and some reduce the prevalence of indoor air contaminants by as much as 60% according to recent experiments. This means less coughing, sneezing, fatigue, and other common symptoms of poor indoor air quality.
If you’re interested in air purifier services, give us a call at 919-480-2727 or contact us online for more information.
4. Use a dehumidifier.
The summer doesn’t joke around here in Raleigh. It’s frequently hot and humid, which makes it hard to breathe, especially in a stuffy indoor environment. Dehumidifiers increase your indoor air quality by removing the air’s excess moisture, thereby helping to prevent mold and mildew buildup inside your home. Luckily, a specialized team here at Air Experts is on call to help you balance out the humidity levels in your home. They’ll work with you to explore your options – just contact us online or give us a call at 919-480-2727 to discuss dehumidifier installation.
Call the Air Experts at 919 – 480 – 2727 or contact us online today to learn more about how you can improve your indoor air quality.
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Air Experts is always here for your Heating, Cooling, Indoor Air Quality, Plumbing, and Water Treatment needs. Our award-winning customer service team is available 24/7, or you can easily book an appointment online.
