Simple Ways to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Environment
What if I told you that the items in your home are weaponized against your health? Would the answer to that question change your perspective about the necessity of an industry designed to help make your home environment cleaner and safer than it is under the status quo?
With the exceptions of opening doors and windows of the home; our home climate control systems are relatively closed systems. This means that the majority of the air circulating through our homes is being controlled and constantly recirculated throughout our homes. While there are safeguards in place for those climate control systems, things like the air filter in the cold air return of the air conditioner or air handler can’t remove everything that floats in and out of the climate control system. This means that there is still plenty of tiny particulate matter that negatively impact our health are constantly being moved through our homes as the air circulates back to the air handling system. Let’s be real for a quick second. How many of us out there change out the air filter in the cold air return every 30 days; as recommended by the climate control system retailers and installers? I rest my case.
So, where does the leftover tiny particulate matter go if it is missed by the climate control system? The answer is primarily the soft textiles in our homes. For example, Carpets, Upholstered furniture, drapes, rugs all act as a natural air filter for a home. Think about the last time you got home from work, tired, mentally exhausted, and the couch became your refuge to seek refuge from the day. Chances are, after the free fall into the comfort zone of the couch, you begin to notice tiny bits of dust fluttering through the air as it floats through the light that passes through the window treatments in your home. The vast majority of that debris in the air came directly from the cushions that you are now are laid out on. As we sit down on cushioned furniture, the air inside the cushion becomes expelled out of the fabric it was in and goes right back into the air where it can be breathed in and cause indoor allergy reactions. Chances are that if most of us are forgetful about the filter in the cold air return, we probably haven’t maintained the natural air filters in our home that are soft textiles in nature as well as we could be.
As the owners of the soft textiles that help filter the air in our homes, we should vacuum the soft textiles in our home as often as we regularly vacuum the carpet in our homes to reduce the amount of allergens and air pollutants in our homes and give our homes the healthy indoor air quality that we all want and deserve.
