With the first day of fall only days away, those of us with pollen and mold allergies are cringing at the thought of dealing with the fall peak allergy season. One thing we tend to do is stay indoors as much as possible to avoid tree pollen, but it turns out pet dander, dust mites and even cockroaches can cause breathing distress indoors.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has recommendations on ways you can improve your home’s indoor air quality.
- Minimize or control contact with airborne allergens indoors
- Ventilate areas inside your home as much as possible
- Use an active air cleaner to filter indoor air
We discovered some frightening statistics (at least, from an indoor air quality perspective) recently: 80% of people in the USA are exposed to dust mites daily. 60% are exposed to dog or cat dander. Many people who live in urban areas or southern parts of the country are exposes to cockroaches.
By improving the air quality in your home, you can reduce or eliminate allergy and asthma triggers. The same applies to the office and school, but we don’t often have much control over those environments.
What Are Allergens?
Allergens are substances that are ingested into the body, causing an allergic reaction. The body detects foreign objects entering the body, through nasal passages, the skin, or the digestive tract, and assumes they are under attack. The body’s self-defense mechanism kicks into high gear and mounts an attack on these substances to quickly destroy them. In people with allergies, the body often mis-interprets the level of danger and over-reacts to the threat, causing an allergic reaction. That reaction can be coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, itching, a rash, even an upset stomach.
Medicines like antihistamines can help minimize the body’s over-reaction to foreign bodies entering the system, but they have issues of their own – side effects like drowsiness, dry mouth, and so forth.
Our goal in the HVAC industry is to help control airborne allergens, eliminating them as much as possible before your body is ever exposed to them.
Can You Really Control Indoor Allergens
Indoor allergens can be controlled and minimized in your home, using tips we’ll outline below. First, let’s examine the source of those allergens.
- Bedding
- Mattresses
- Pillows
- Soft furniture
- Wall to wall carpet
- Plush toys
- Pets
- Damp areas, like crawl spaces and basements
- Indoor plants
Allergens can be airborne, but often they tend to settle on surfaces and stick around to set off an allergic reaction, especially when those surfaces are disturbed by sitting or lying on the surface, or by dusting or running the vacuum.
How to Eliminate Allergens
Of course, as HVAC contractors we’re going to recommend electrostatic air cleaners, better filtration, and humidifiers/dehumidifiers to help manage the air quality. But there are steps you can take to eliminate allergens before your indoor air quality gets bad enough to require and investment in that technology for your home’s heating and air conditioning system.
Our goal is to improve air quality by getting rid of the source of allergens and irritants from the home, reducing contact with allergens, and allowing outdoor air into the home and reduce humidity as much as possible (as much as possible, before the cold temperatures of the heating season arrive.
Did you know that one of the jobs of your home’s air conditioner is to reduce humidity? So simply running the A/C will reduce humidity, minimizing moisture in the air, even if you keep your thermostat set a little higher as those fall evenings begin to cool. By keeping your home closed up as much as possible, the A/C can somewhat eliminate outdoor allergens like tree pollen or mold from entering through an open window or door.
Upgrade your HVAC Air Filter
If you’re still running those cheap fiberglass filters you buy in the local grocery store or big box store, you should know they don’t do a very good job of filtering smaller particles like pollen, lint and dust mites.
Switch to a Pleated Air Filter
Go for a filter that has a higher MERV rating. The higher the number, the better the filtration. But you have to balance the fact that higher MERV filters can restrict your furnace or AC system’s airflow, causing the system to work harder. At the very least, switch to a pleated filter to improve your air quality.
Electrostatic Air Filters
These devices use a charge to magnetically attract small particles that may otherwise make it through the filter and into your home’s air. They are well worth the investment if you have someone with severe allergies or asthma in your household. Contact Dor-Mar and we’ll send one of our indoor air quality team out to inspect your system and make recommendations.
What Other Steps Can You Take to Control Indoor Allergens
Eliminate Dust Mites These are tiny creatures – microscopic in size – that live in our carpeting, furniture, mattresses, pillows and bedding. Your best bet to minimize dust mites is to keep your home’s surfaces uncluttered and clean, free from the dust they feed on.
Experts recommend bare floors (like tile, wood or laminate material) in the bedroom where you spend one-third of your life. If at all possible, avoid wall to wall carpet. If you absolutely MUST have carpet, try to use low-pile carpet. Even better, use throw rugs you can run through the washer. Avoid heavy draperies or curtains, as the fabric can capture dust and dust mites and keep them around. Replace them with hard-surface blinds or roll-down shades.
On your bedding, use allergen-resistant coverings. I use a zippered cover to keep mites away from my pillows. The cover is removeable for easy washing. We also use an anti-allergen mattress cover that encloses it and reduces the ability for dust and mites to move in and stay. Experts recommend washing bedding, stuffed toys, uncovered pillow at least a couple of times per month in water 130 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, and run them through a hot dryer cycle to kill dust mites.
Vacuum Often Frequent vacuuming your carpet, and dusting, can help reduce allergens to a minimum in your home. Unfortunately, most regular vacuum cleaners put dust INTO the air after just removing it from your carpets. If allergens and dust are a serious problem in your home, invest in a certified asthma and allergy friendly vacuum. They’re been tested and will prevent allergens from going back into the air.
You know those masks we’re all wearing in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19? It helps to wear one while doing housework. For dusting, use a cloth that treated with furniture or dusting polish, or slightly damp to minimize the amount of stirred up dust. You may also consider leaving the house for a couple of hours after cleaning to allow the stirred up dust to re-settle.
Reduce Pet Dander Medical experts suggest that patients with pet allergies simply not have pets with fur or feathers, to eliminate dander in the air. Actually, there is no such thing as a “hypoallergenic” pet. Pet allergies are due to animal dander, or skin cells that are shed into the air. Every animal has dander. Some animal dander may contain fewer allergenic proteins, leading to lesser symptoms.
If you have a severe allergy, just don’t get a pet, or find a good home for your pet. Those of us who LOVE our pets and would never consider getting rid of our loved family member find other ways to cope. You can cover your HVAC registers with dense material like cheesecloth to eliminate some dander. You should also wash your animal’s plush toys and furniture often to reduce airborne dander and excess fur.
Bathing and brushing your pet often may help reduce symptoms, as that dead skin is washed away. If you have severe allergies, avoid grooming your pet personally, either hire a groomer or wear a mask to minimize symptoms.
Another way pets can intensify allergies is to bring in pollen in spring and fall, especially animals with long hair.
If you think you have a pet allergy, it’s a good idea to see your family doctor, or go a step further to visit a board-certified allergist.
Keep Windows and Doors Closed Especially during high-pollen seasons like spring or fall, keep doors and windows closed as much as possible to prevent pollen and mold spores from coming in. Use air conditioning when temperatures are warm or moderate to control dust mites and reduce humidity. And don’t forget to replace air filters monthly, and possibly upgrade to a higher MERV rating (see above).
Reduce Potential for Mold Growth Did you ever notice that areas of your home that have the potential for mold growth usually have some extra ventilation, like a bathroom fan or a kitchen range hood? Be sure to make use of those fans to prevent moisture build-up in those rooms.
- Always run the bath fan when showering or bathing
- Install and run dehumidifiers to reduce mold and dust mites
- Reduce and minimize the number of live house plants
- Be sure you fix and plumbing leaks and other damp areas
- See mold? Clean it immediately while wearing a mask. Use chlorine bleach or peroxide based cleaner to ensure you kill mold spores
Keep Cockroaches Under Control Most of us don’t have to be told to do this, it’s just common sense. Take trash out frequently, removed any stored waste paper or cardboard that roaches feed on, and install simple roach “motel” traps. And if all else fails, call a professional exterminator that specializes in roaches.
Dor-Mar to the Rescue!
Schedule an appointment for HVAC system troubleshooting or maintenance with us today by using our online contact form, or call one of our seven neighborhood offices listed below. We pride ourselves on our customer-focused service, and our reviews show it.
NEWARK 740.345.6639 • COLUMBUS 614.238.6689 • DUBLIN 614.545.8939 • REYNOLDSBURG 614.365.1579 • WESTERVILLE 614.381.1540 • GROVE CITY 614.595.3098 • ZANESVILLE 740.454.2420
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*Please note: neither the Centers for Disease Control(CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), nor the manufacturer of our UV-C Devices have officially announced whether UV-C kills the current strain of Corona Virus (COVID-19). We urge you to err on the side of caution until we have a definitive answer, and take other measures to prevent the acquisition or spread of this virus.
