We’ve all heard of IQ, but how many of us are aware of our IAQ? According to the US Environmental Protection Agency IAQ, or Indoor Air Quality, refers to the “air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants.” Recognizing common pollutants and understanding ways to control these can greatly improve your health and well-being.
With side effects ranging from the short term, such as irritation to the eyes and throat, to the long term, such as respiratory diseases or cancer, controlling indoor air quality is an important aspect of living a healthy life. Luckily, there are things that you can do to help improve the quality of the air in your home. With so many alternatives out there, below are some myths and facts about indoor air quality to help you make you important decisions about keeping your home safe.
Source Control:
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but one of the most effective ways to improve you IAQ is to eliminate or reduce the emissions of sources of pollution in your home. For example, adjusting your gas stove to decrease the amount of emissions is a cost-effective approach.
Ventilation Improvements:
Another step that will surely help is ventilation improvements to your home. Some are costly but other methods are completely free. Most home heating and cooling systems, including forced air heating systems, do not mechanically bring fresh air into the house, although newly designed homes are now featuring mechanical systems that do. If you don’t have a system like this then there are other ways to increase the fresh air in your home. Simply opening a window, using window shadings, or even having indoor house plants can improve air quality. Effective air cleaning systems have also been shown to work.
Air Duct Cleaning:
Studies do not conclusively demonstrate that particle dust levels in homes increase because of dirty air ducts or that they prevent health problems. However, cleaning your air ducts is a simple step that could potentially help. Not only is it logical to clean out your air ducts (they do get dirty over time) but cleaning them out could potentially improve the efficiency of your system.
If you are interested in improving your indoor air quality, there are steps you can take to do so. Before jumping on the bandwagon of any of these methods, ask yourself what is your IAQ score?
