Happy Spring!
When temperatures climb in Indianapolis, often so does the pollen count. If you’re among those of us who struggle with springtime allergy symptoms, we have several ways to help make your home a more allergy-free place.
Clean and Dust Regularly
Dust and vacuum your home at least once a week to get rid of any dust and pollen that may have accumulated. Using a vacuum with a HEPA filter helps trap more of those allergens and get them out of the house.
Wash your bedding and curtains regularly to help eliminate pollen, dust, and mold spores. You can use a lint roller on your fabric curtains once a week to remove dust and other accumulated allergens and do a deep clean every three to six months. Depending on the care instructions, you may be able to wash your curtains on the gentle cycle and air dry, or dry them on low heat; you might also choose to take them to a professional dry cleaner.
Using hypoallergenic bedding and pillow covers can help prevent dust mites from accumulating in your bed. This type of bedding usually has a coating or weave that prevents dust mites from burrowing in.
Control Your Indoor Humidity Level
You don’t want your home to be a greenhouse to mold and other spores that flourish in high humidity—keeping the humidity level in your home between 30% and 50% can reduce symptoms of allergies, and even asthma and eczema, too.
Maintaining an ideal humidity level can also improve your comfort level and prevent problems that are often associated with excess humidity (like peeling paint or warped floorboards). Another benefit of whole-home humidity control is a reduction in those little wintertime electric shocks caused by excessive dryness. HomePro’s technicians can evaluate your indoor humidity and help you choose the right product for your home.
Purify Your Air
If you wake up in the morning with a stuffy nose or itchy eyes, the cause could be allergens like dust, pollen, and pet dander that are lingering in the air. While your HVAC filter catches some of those irritants, a whole-home air purification system can significantly reduce the presence of indoor allergens. For homes larger than 2,000 square feet, a whole-home air purification system is more effective than a portable air purifier. The filters catch airborne particles and can reduce odors as well. A whole-home air purifier can be programmed for optimal energy efficiency to be activated only when your heat or air conditioning is running.
Choosing Proper Filters
If you don’t opt for whole-home humidity control or air purification, you can still reduce some allergy symptoms by sourcing higher-quality air and furnace filters.
Indoor air quality depends largely on how the air is filtered and the quality of the filter. A low-quality filter will only remove some dust from the air, but it doesn’t trap allergens or fine particles effectively and will need to be replaced often. Depending on the model of filters you choose, they can collect dust mite debris, lint, pollen, mold spores, pet dander, and even bacteria and viruses more effectively than the low-cost fiberglass filters you’ll find in home improvement stores.
Schedule Your Spring HVAC tuneup
Schedule a spring tuneup with HomePro now, and one of our qualified technicians can go over indoor air quality and options for filters, air purification, and humidity control. Call us today at (317) 271-2665.