Aaron Marshbanks, a board member of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association has said that "When the house is closed up for winter, pollutants in the air have nowhere to go. Then spring rolls around, and the natural thing to do is open up your windows and bring in new air into your house. However, this is when allergy season is at its highest, and you are welcoming new pollutants into your home and contaminating your air with pollens." These pollutants are now going to blow through our houses faster every day by our HVAC system.
A good recommendation would be to remove the air vent cover and look down the vent with a flashlight and mirror or even better a digital camera. If it contains dust and/or debris, it's time for a good cleaning. It is also recommended to also clean the evaporator coil and all other parts that the air touches. Besides
cleaning the air in our homes; this will also help the unit work more efficiently.
Prevention, ventilation and air purifying are three basic principles in the spring cleaning of indoor air: Prevention - Prevention means putting an end to the dust at its source. Placing large walk-off mats at all the entrances to the house may help remove dust from shoes and paws. Removal of shoes at the entrance is another strategy. Vacuum cleaners that will remove and contain the dust are another way to prevent the dust and to control it. You need to make sure your vacuum system is capable of not only removing but containing the dust. Dusting tools that capture dust rather than the ones that just move dust around are recommended. Microfiber is one type, a damp cloth and the Swiffer-types can be very effective.
Ventilation - Ventilation is an important strategy to help reduce toxic air in your home. There are Energy Recovery Ventilators or Heat Recovery Ventilators available for ventilating your home without losing any heat or cooling energy. Air Purifying - Air Purifying is a line of defense by using air purifying or cleaning devices for your home. Some of these indoor air quality products are available as stand alone units or whole house units. The portable stand alone units are mainly used for placing where they are needed the most such as the bedrooms of asthmatics.
Another good way to improve the air in our homes is the use of plants that purify indoor air quality. The most popular plants that work well are: heartleaf philodendron; elephant ear philodendron; cornstalk dracaena; English ivy; spider plant; dracaena Janet Craig; Warneck dracaena; weeping fig;
golden pothos; peace lily; selloum philodendron; Chinese evergreen; bamboo or reed palm; snake plant and red-edged dracaena.
Here are some other possibilities for improving your
indoor air quality and that is to install hardwood floors, use natural-based cleaners as opposed to chemicals, change furnace filter about every 2 months, use a truck-mounted professional cleaning system, and have your HVAC cleaned thoroughly.
