Have you ever stopped to consider how healthy your home is? Many homeowners here in St. Louis go to great lengths to make their homes safe, by eliminating weather hazards such as ice and snow, or by resolving injury risks like sharp edges or missing handrails. Now, a global pandemic has many homeowners considering how healthy the air in their home is and wondering how they can improve their indoor air quality.
As the heating, cooling and home performance contractor St. Louis homeowners trust with their home comfort, we look to these four ways to improve indoor air quality:
Improving the quality of the air in your home begins with removing as many contaminants as possible. These contaminants can include:
…as well as just about any other airborne particle you can think of. To decrease the number of particles in your home, we begin by reducing the infiltration of outside air and properly ventilating the air in your home back outside.
At SmartHouse, we accomplish this by identifying and sealing hidden holes or gaps throughout your home in a process called air sealing. From there, we ensure any ventilation equipment, like oven range hoods or bathroom fans, is venting your indoor air outside, not just into the attic!
For homes that may require a little extra ventilation, we install ERVs (energy recovery ventilators), which replace stale indoor air with fresher, outside air that is pre-conditioned to keep your home comfortable and healthy!
Another way to improve the health of your indoor air is by checking and changing the indoor air filters attached to your central heating and cooling system. Because your heating and cooling system handles all the air circulating in your home, it is the central place to filter out the contaminants in your air. You should be replacing your filters every three months—or even more frequently depending on manufacturer specifications.
Do you suspect you may need a better air filter in your home? Air filters are measured by their minimum efficiency reporting value, or MERV for short. The higher the MERV rating, the higher percentage of contaminants will be removed. SmartHouse will help you determine the right MERV filter rating, so you can experience less dust in the home, less dust in your ductwork, and fewer indoor air contaminants in your breathing air.
We’ve learned how to stop future contaminants from coming in and how to catch the ones that are currently in the air. But what about the tiny percentage of indoor air contaminants that make it through the air filter? Air purifiers are designed to kill any remaining bacteria and viruses that circulate in your air. SmartHouse safely installs UV germicidal lamps that disrupt and destroy the genetic makeup of the harmful bacteria or viruses that enter your breathing air.
Another consideration when it comes to improving your indoor air quality is regulating your home’s humidity with a whole-home humidity control system.
You know the feeling—when the summer gets muggy and there is no escape from that sticky, sweaty feeling. Or during the winter months, when the cold air is so dry, it has your sinuses feeling like a cracked desert floor. Keeping your humidity between 30% and 50% will provide many benefits, including:
Looking for a customized solution to increasing the health of your home this year? You can trust SmartHouse to keep your home comfortable and healthy this year! Schedule an appointment today to discuss your goals for breathing cleaner air and living healthier in your own home.
