Improving Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality

Protect the health of your family with these simple air quality improvement steps

With outdoor air quality becoming an increasing concern in many urban areas, it might come as a surprise to learn that the air inside your home can be up to 100 times more polluted than the air outside. Given that millions suffer from asthma and allergies, it is crucial to consider whether your indoor environment could be impacting your family’s well-being. Fortunately, there are effective ways to reduce indoor air pollutants and enhance your home’s air quality. Our BOWA experts share three steps to help you protect your family’s health.

Control Sources

Source control is considered the most effective way to reduce indoor pollutants and improve indoor air quality. Examples of source control include addressing wet carpet, insulation, and drywall immediately to avoid mold and bacteria growth; avoiding the use of noxious cleaning products, as high pollutant concentrations can remain in the air long after the cleaning task has been completed; and opting to not use candles, air fresheners or other strongly scented products, which can contain VOCs and other harmful chemicals. To control pollutants potentially caused by your furnace and other fuel-burning appliances, combustion testing is recommended. This helps determine how efficiently fuel is used and if any modifications should be made to reduce the leakage of exhaust into your home.

Improve Ventilation

A simple approach to improving indoor air quality is to make sure that your home is properly ventilated. Running exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms can help maximize air circulation. It is particularly important to have proper ventilation when you are doing any activity that will create large amounts of pollutants or moisture, such as cooking, showering, cleaning, or painting. Opening windows or doors can provide an easy additional source of ventilation.

Use Air Cleaners and Filters

There are various types of air cleaning devices available that can enhance your home’s indoor air quality, whether as part of your HVAC system or as a standalone unit. For optimal removal of airborne particles, it is recommended to use filters with a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) of 11 or higher in your HVAC system. Note that a professional may need to install a larger filter rack with more surface area to maintain proper airflow. Freestanding air purifiers are also effective, but it is important to consider factors like noise level, filtration efficiency, and airflow rate—check the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for accurate comparisons—and to avoid devices that use ionizing technology.

In addition to the strategies listed above, regular maintenance of your HVAC system is highly recommended to keep the air inside your home as clean as possible. At least twice per year, you should have your HVAC system inspected and cleaned by a professional. Additionally, a Home Energy Audit, which assesses the safety of your appliances, checks for places where outdoor air is leaking into the house, and verifies the amount of fresh air that circulates, can identify areas of improvement to help improve indoor air quality. While it may be impossible to eliminate all indoor air pollutants, taking these simple steps may help to minimize airborne toxins and help protect your family’s health.