It’s common for households to develop bad air over time due to several reasons, from outdoor pollutants to household cleaning materials generated during daily activities, from cooking, bathing to simple breathing. More and more homes are becoming sealed up thanks to the widespread use of built-in year-round heating and cooling systems.
Although convenient, a closed home can easily trap and garner these pollutants — affecting your home’s air and your overall health. That’s why ventilation is crucial for any household, as it replaces the ‘bad’ air with the good.
Here’s how you can ensure better ventilation inside your home for better, cleaner, and fresher air.
Take Advantage of Your Fans
If you have fans around your home, whether it’s a ceiling or desk fan, having them on can be a great way to ventilate your home at low costs, especially if your house has high ceilings. So, take advantage of every fan you have, from your standard fans to blanket cooling fans, helping you ensure cleaner air by blowing the warm air naturally collected at the top of the room to ground level, turning down central heating, and improving ventilation.
Open Your Windows
The simplest solution to ventilate your home is opening your windows, as fresh air is always great to have. Keeping your windows closed all day enables chemicals and allergens to build up inside your house. Even if you reside in a cramped and bustling city, opening your windows from time to time is essential to ensure good quality inside your home. If this is your case, have your windows open during less busy hours, such as early morning.
Invest in Extractor Fans
If you don’t have one, installing an extractor fan above your kitchen hob is ideal. Ensure it links up to an exterior vent to make sure it isn’t just recycling the air that it sucks in, spreading the ‘bad’ air throughout your home. However, if you already have one, it’s best to clean the device once every 1 to 3 months as it can get clogged with grease, affecting your air quality even worse. It’s also wise to have extractors in your bathroom as that area is prone to moisture buildup as well.
Open Doors
When you’re not taking a shower or whipping up a tasty meal in the kitchen, make it a habit to keep all the doors inside your house open. Doing this lets the air flow freely inside, stopping any foul smells from lingering in one area. Closing the doors leading to nowhere like your wardrobe or pantry doors can prevent air from flowing through, resulting in bad air quality.
Add Structural Ventilation
Adding structural ventilation to your property can be a fantastic way to instill continuous ventilation inside your home, ensuring clean air year-round. Installing these specialty vents inside the central part of your home, loft, and roof can guarantee clean airflow and stop problems such as dry rot caused by warm air from settling in your home. Additionally, if you have a basement, it’s wise to add structural ventilation in that area, too, as it’s prone to moisture buildup — affecting your home’s overall air quality.
Keeping your windows shut and home enclosed can significantly affect your home’s indoor air quality, especially during the winter, affecting your household — and overall health. The tips mentioned can get air flowing into your home in no time, allowing you to breathe in fresh air no matter what.
