What Is IAQ?
Indoor air quality often referred to as IAQ, refers to the quality of air within or surrounding a building, especially as it relates to the health, wellness, and comfort of the building’s occupants. It’s important to understand just how crucial indoor air quality is whether you’re at home or in your work’s office building; poor indoor air can have a number of negative effects.
Throughout this blog post, we’ll discuss all of the most important facets of indoor air quality, including how it affects your health, how you can improve it, and how our team can help you throughout this process. Keep reading for a thorough breakdown.
What Is Sick Building Syndrome?
Have you ever heard of sick building syndrome? It’s an illness that is typically found in people working in large commercial buildings with poor air ventilation and circulation. You’ll know your building has this problem when healthy people enter the space, and while there, they begin to experience similar symptoms, including fatigue, eye, nose and throat irritation, and dry skin, among other issues. The interesting part is that these symptoms tend to fade once the people have left the building.
Sick building syndrome is one specific way that your health is impacted by the poor air quality in commercial buildings, but there are plenty of other health effects as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the following are the most common health effects.
Poor Air Quality Symptoms
- Eye, nose, and throat irritation
- Headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea
- And most drastically, respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality
There are many ways to improve your home’s indoor air quality; some are super simple changes you can make to your daily routines, while some will require the installation of a new system. Check out your options so you can figure out which is best for you.
Improve Your Cleaning Routine
Making some minor improvements to your current cleaning routine could have a drastic impact on your indoor air quality! Contaminants such as dust mites, dirt, dust, pollen, dander, and more have a major impact on the air you breathe; luckily, their volume can be minimized with regular dusting and vacuuming!
Change Your Air Filters Regularly
According to air quality experts, your air filters should get swapped out every 30 to 90 days. If you live alone, with no pets, and live a healthy lifestyle, you can go 90 days between air filter replacements. However, if you have a multi-member household, have pets, young children, or smokers in the house, you shouldn’t wait more than 30 days between filter changes.
Install An Air Purifier
If you really want to take your indoor air to the next level, install an air purifier in your home. While your air filters will prevent contaminants from the HVAC unit from circulating through your home, a purifier will help to remove existing contaminants.
There are many types of purifiers to choose from if this is the route you decide to take, so we recommend contacting an expert to help make the choice that’s best for your home and family’s needs.
Add Some Greenery to Your Home
Another simple way to improve your air is by adding houseplants! I’m sure you remember from your biology classes that plants use carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air, helping to purify the air around them! It’s a small amount of oxygen, but it makes a difference nonetheless.
If you’re ready to take your home’s air to the next level, don’t wait another minute. Give our team at O'Leary Plumbing, Heating & Electrical a call at (262) 314-4566, and we’ll help you get on your way to a healthy home environment!