How Can You Make Your Home a Healthier Environment?

The agricultural production and manufacturing around Broken Arrow can make maintaining a healthy home environment difficult at times, but there's still plenty you can do to keep your home clean.

Keep the Contaminants Out

Because chemicals such as paint, pesticides and harsh cleaners give off harmful fumes, these products should be stored outside your home. Choosing paint, carpeting and other household materials labeled low-VOC can also reduce chemical fumes in your home.High humidity encourages the spread of dust mites, mold and bacteria. Aim to keep your indoor humidity level between 40 and 50 percent. Run your exhaust fans after showering or cooking, and repair leaks in your plumbing, roof or basement. Regularly disinfecting your sponges, mops and other cleaning supplies also cuts down on the bacteria and mold spores floating around your home.Using an HVAC air filter with a MERV rating between 5 and 10 and replacing it on schedule will reduce the level of dust, pollen, mold spores and pet dander in your air.

Good ventilation helps remove contaminants from your air and controls your humidity, doing double duty to support a healthy home environment. If you live in a modern airtight home or an older one that's been air sealed for energy efficiency, you'll benefit from a whole-house ventilation system.

Stay on Top of Health Risks

Any fuel-burning appliance, such as a gas stove or fireplace, can release carbon monoxide. Even trace amounts can cause headaches and fatigue. To protect your health, install CO detectors on every floor and within 15 feet of every sleeping area.Around one in 16 homes has a dangerously high level of radon, a natural yet cancer-causing gas that enters through the foundation or water lines. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality's Radon Program offers test kits for this gas.Investing in professional air quality testing is another way to find out what harmful contaminants are in your home's air so you can take steps toward getting rid of them.

For more information on maintaining a healthy home environment, contact Air Assurance. We've been serving Broken Arrow since 1985.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “design36/Shutterstock”

What's Triggering Allergic Reactions in Your Tulsa Home?

Allergic reactions can be caused by a large number of triggers not only outside your home, but also inside your home. This can be especially frustrating for you, since you should feel better protected from allergies when you are indoors. A few of the things that can trigger your allergies indoors include:

• Mold

• Pets

• Pollen

Getting Rid of MoldMold can trigger some very severe allergies in some people, which makes it very important that if you do come across any mold, you take care of it immediately. Paint additives are available for bathrooms and kitchens which inhibit mold growth, but for mold already growing, a solution of warm water and bleach can eliminate it. You still must find out why exactly the mold is growing though and take out the root of the problem.Pet DanderA pet that sheds often is going to leave a lot of hair and dander throughout your house and ventilation system, but especially around the areas your pet frequents. Giving your pet baths frequently can significantly reduce the amount of dander they shed, which should cut down on allergic reactions. Getting a breed of cat or dog that is known to shed less can also help you avoid allergies caused by pet dander.Pollen Making Its Way IndoorsWhile it may be next to impossible to keep all pollen out of your home, you should be taking some basic steps to reduce the amount of pollen getting in if you generally have allergic reactions to it. Pollen is one of the biggest allergens, and one of the only ones that you will never eliminate completely from around you. Vacuuming and shampooing carpets often, along with changing your air filter frequently, can help out immensely with pollen allergies.To get more valuable information about how your allergies are triggered indoors, or for any other home comfort concerns, get in touch with us at Air Assurance. We have been working in the residential heating and cooling business for almost 30 years.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock”