Indoor air quality is defined in terms of the air occupied within a building at least for one hour. This air affects the overall health of individuals. Most people complaint often regarding poor indoor air quality in both old and new homes.
Poor indoor air quality is due to accumulation of indoor air pollutants – smoke from combustion, paints, carbon monoxide, mold and dust. If there is no enough ventilation, pollutants cannot move outside. This makes people uncomfortable in and in the long run, it can cause respiratory and skin diseases. This article discusses how to improve your indoor air quality with home improvement projects.
Choosing right flooring material
First, start from bottom. Many of us as part of home improvement, look for a variety of flooring material without realizing their threat to indoor air quality. Flooring materials like vinyl flooring releases toxic chemicals in the building on long use. This impacts the indoor quality and health. All you need to do is to consider flooring materials that offer allergens-free certification like hardwood and cork flooring, which are durable and resist the growth of contaminants.
Manage mold growth
Mold growth in the interior of house is one of the aspects that affect the quality of indoor air. Usually excess moisture and water leaks from plumbing encourage growth of molds and other biological contaminants. If you ignore mold growth, it can create serious health issues such as respiratory problems as the indoor air gets polluted. Therefore, as part of home improvement, fix water leaks in roofs, ceilings, pipes and provide enough ventilation throughout the home.
Indoor air pollutants
Since indoor air quality is affected by pollutants such as mold, dust mites, animal fur, smoke from combustion, formaldehyde from appliances, radon and asbestos from wall materials one need to control these pollutants. Provide regular maintenance to mattresses, carpets and clear blockage of air vents of furnace to ensure combustion fumes are leading outdoor.
Periodic maintenance of HVAC
People spend maximum time in their homes. The probability of health issues is more if HVAC system is maintained poorly. The air duct of HVAC system is a major component and gets contaminated by dust, mold and other biological contaminants. Thus, air ducts becomes major problem in degradation of indoor air quality when they are not maintained properly.
According a study by NCDCA, around 40 pounds of dirt accumulates over a year in houses with six room on an average. Therefore you need to ensure periodic maintenance of HVAC to ensure better indoor air quality.
Design garage system
Indoor air gets contaminated if the design of garage system allows automobiles’ fumes to enter the home. Since, automobiles are sources of harmful gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, when they enter in the house, they create suffocation. Therefore, renovate the garage system so that combustion fumes do not go into indoors.
Taking care of these aspects helps you get better indoor air quality.