Finances & Money

Commentary – Improving Indoor Air Quality

PFAdvice.com posted a list of 10 Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality today and I have my own commentary about some of the ways:

1. Don’t Smoke Indoors – I come from a family of smokers (mom, dad, sister, cat, dog), and I although I’ve asked, I can’t expect them to not smoke around me or my wife when we’re in their home. However, when they’re at our house or in our cars, they MUST smoke outdoors. I don’t care if I kick my mom out of the house at midnight in 5 degree weather, it’s her addiction and not mine.Another worry that my wife and I have is what do we do when we have children and visit my family. We refuse to let our child around cigarette smoke, given how horrible it was for my own allergies while growing up in a smoky household. We’ll answer that question when the times though
2. Take / Wipe Off Your Shoes – Again, I must have grown up in a disgusting home to outsiders because we never took our shoes off when we came indoors. We also had cats, dogs, iguanas, small children and the same carpet for about 15 years. My wife grew up taking her shoes off in her own home, and I have caught on to the practice for the last 4 years now. I ask visitors to take off their shoes, but sometimes it’s just not practical or appropriate. For example, if the priest we invited to dinner just waltzes in without pausing to take his shoes off, then our opportunity has passed
3. Replace / Clean Furnace and Air Filters – When my father-in-law came down to do some small repairs, he took the cover off our intake vent for the furnace. Supposedly, the previous owners had cleaned the vents before they sold the house, which was over 2 years ago, but when we looked inside, there was a quarter inch of dust all over the vent walls! We used a shopvac to clean them out, but there’s quite a few vents we can’t reach that way. After we do some renovations to our upstairs, we’ll call in a professional to clean the vents
4. Vacuum And Dust – Yeah, we just don’t dust often, but we vacuum every couple weeks. We have a bagless vacuum, but I would LOVE a Dyson vacuum because our vacuum filter gets clogged with dust so thick that I have to bang the thing out for 15 minutes before it’s clean enough to put back into the vacuum. Then, I have a pile of dust all over my lawn or patio, and guess where that ends up eventually: back in the house!

In our home, we also have a couple Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Air Filters. It’s disputed whether these things actually work, and whether the ozone they create is harmful, but I can’t deny the fresh scent and feeling they give to a room.

Also, if your carpeting is getting over 10 years old, you should really replace it. Even if you follow all of the mentioned methods to keep or remove dirt from your home, a carpet naturally degrades and releases chemicals and particals on its own.

Now get to work!