A 3-Pronged Home-Maintenance Strategy To Clean Up Your Indoor Air

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Everyone’s familiar with air pollution, but it may come as a surprise that the air in your home could be far more contaminated than the air outside. Household chemicals, dust, dander and mold are just a few of the contaminants that can undermine the quality of your indoor air and make breathing harder for anyone with respiratory issues. This is why it’s a good idea to have a home-maintenance strategy aimed at cleaning up your indoor air.

Keeping after your housekeeping 

  • Regularly vacuum your carpet and your upholstered furniture to remove dust, dander, pollen and other particulates. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter. Dust all furniture, as well. Damp mop bare floors, using just water unless the floors are very dirty.
  • Follow sanitary food-storage practices to discourage pests such as insects and rodents. Keep all food in tightly sealed containers, and regularly remove the garbage. Make sure your garbage containers outside have tight lids to keep small animals away from your home.
  • Avoid using household cleaning products that give off chemical emissions. Instead, try green cleaning products. You can find them in most supermarkets. Alternatively, mix up some cleaners yourself, using products from your pantry such as vinegar and baking soda.
  • Have your carpets steam-cleaned regularly.

Keeping your home dry

Excess moisture can damage your home and invite mold, which can jeopardize your health. Regularly inspect your home for any signs of moisture, and promptly attend to any problem.

  • If your basement tends to get wet, consult your plumbing contractor to get to the root of the problem. Some issues are easily corrected. Others might require a sump pump and/or waterproofing.
  • Mop up or dry out the moisture as soon as you find it. Remove and replace seriously water-damaged carpet.
  • Upgrade the exhaust fans in your bathrooms and kitchen if they aren’t doing a sufficient job of removing water vapor.
  • Regularly check the hoses and the drain pan of your air conditioner during the cooling season. Make sure there aren’t any leaks, and dump out water from the drain pan.
  • Regularly clean any cool-mist humidifiers that you use.

Keeping up your heating system 

Fuel-burning heating systems release contaminants when they’re not maintained. Simple, regular measures can minimize this risk.

  • Whether you’re using your furnace or your air conditioner, check the filter regularly, and change it as needed. The filter traps particulates and helps to remove them from your air stream. You might also want to consider a whole-house air cleaner.
  • Have your heating system tuned up in the fall and the cooling system tuned up in the spring. Making sure your systems are properly maintained can significantly reduce the likelihood of carbon monoxide emissions.
  • Make sure you have carbon monoxide detectors on every level of your home.

For additional advice, contact Apollo Home Heating, Cooling and Plumbing. We serve homeowners in greater Cincinnati, and we’re happy to answer all of your questions.

Image via Shutterstock.com

"Ernie & Mike did a superb job on my new furnace and A/C installation. Despite having more than a day’s work to do, they came in and stayed until the job was done. They were organized, efficient, and protected the rest of the house well. Got both furnace and A/C installed the same day. Ernie was courteous, informative, and clearly knew his job better than anyone I’ve encountered before. The units look so good guests now get The Tour of our new system. Apollo is clearly not a fly-by-night company. I would recommend them to anyone in need of a new furnace and/or A/C."
- Jerry A.
"I called Apollo because of a water leak I thought I had in our upstairs shower going into the kitchen. Robbie came and assured me everything was fine & looked at all the other plumbing. He ended up changing a few pipes for our washer & clearing a drain. He was very nice & knowledgeable with all my questions. I ended up signing up for the care plan & was very happy with my service."
- Cassandra B.
"The team at Apollo exceeded my expectations. As a business owner, my attention to the details and commitment to providing excellent service is high. From the sales rep. to the installation team, everyone’s performance was outstanding. For example, the installation team went to great lengths to protect our floors, placing floor runners and across the wood floors and up the stairs. They even were spot washing walls upon their departure. I highly recommend this company."
- Randy B.
"We scheduled an estimate AND a tune-up. We knew something was wrong with our furnace, but hoped we could make it through the rest of the season. Upon telling Bill what our furnace was doing, he warned us immediately what the possible outcome was going to be; a cracked heat exchanger. He watched the flames roll backward, tested carbon monoxide levels, which were so high they meter’s last reading was 5,600 before saying “high”. He immediately shut it down, tagged it, and explained that with levels that high and children in our home he wanted off right away. He continued his inspection and showed us via a camera that not only was it cracked in multiple places, but had holes all over it. He gave us a few options for repairing it; his knowledge as well as genuine concern was beneficial and refreshing. Luckily we also scheduled an estimator, Micah, to come too and we were able to get costs between repairing and replacing (with several options). We decided to replace with a much higher efficiency furnace and one sized properly to our home. Hands down, not only did they both provide us great service and knowledge, but without sounding dramatic, they may have saved our lives. This was our first time calling Apollo, but it won’t be our last."
- Sarah B.
"Apollo is an excellent company. I always receive great service. Alex A. was professional and friendly. He kept me informed during the process of checking my furnace and heat pump to make sure they were working properly. The company makes sure you are notified who is coming and when they are on the way. All my interactions with the company have been wonderful."
- Beverly S.
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