Maintaining healthy indoor air quality is important regardless of how much time you spend in your Kenner, Louisiana, home. When you work from home, however, you’re more frequently exposed to allergens, dust, and other airborne particles that can make you feel sick, which is why boosting your indoor air quality should be a priority.
Here are a few strategies to help you keep your IAQ in check.
Invest in a Whole-Home Air Purifier
Portable air purifiers simply aren’t powerful enough to clean the air throughout your entire home. While a tabletop or portable model can work in your office, it’s not going to offer the same benefits of a whole-home unit.
Also called air cleaners, air purifiers remove pollutants from the air, filtering them through the HVAC system and recirculating healthy air back into the home. There are numerous types of air purifiers available, allowing you to invest in one on any budget. If you’re serious about maintaining healthy air quality in your home office, however, a whole-home version is the way to go.
Add a Few Plants
When working from home, you may not consider adding a tabletop plant to your desk, but you’d be missing out on the benefits. Indoor plants increase oxygen levels and can remove harmful compounds from the air, making it easier to breathe. Not only that, but more oxygen in a room improves alertness, boosting your overall productivity.
Plus, indoor plants look nice and add to your office’s ambiance, which can lift your spirits. That’s nothing to sneeze at!
Address Moisture Problems Immediately
How many times have you spilled coffee at your desk or let a condensation ring form at the bottom of your glass? It’s easy to forget that moisture impacts air quality in a big way, with the most extreme instances leading to mildew and mold growth.
As such, you should take care of any moisture issues right away, even if you need to add a dehumidifier to your home. If the problem persists, consider installing a whole-home dehumidifier that works in conjunction with your HVAC system. Along with a smart thermostat, this technology allows you to adjust your home’s humidity levels with the touch of a button, nipping potential mildew issues in the bud.
Ideally, you should keep your home’s moisture levels between 30 and 50 percent humidity.
Buy a Carbon Monoxide Detector
You should already have a carbon monoxide detector in your home, but if not, now is the time to buy one. Carbon monoxide detectors help ensure your safety while working from home, alerting you to any traces of deadly carbon monoxide from fuel-burning appliances and pipes.
Combustion fumes can also backdraft into the home through leaky ducts, which can spread carbon monoxide throughout the home and put your family at risk. If you’ve experienced a carbon monoxide issue in the past or you simply want to avoid one in the future, consider having your ductwork inspected and cleaned by an HVAC professional.
Open the Windows
Nothing beats fresh air on a mild day. Working from home can leave you feeling cooped up, especially when you’re breathing the same air that’s been recirculating throughout your home for a week. When you don’t have time to step outside, crack a few windows and let the fresh air in.
Strategically opening windows can also create a comfortable breeze throughout the home that can give your air conditioner a break. While we don’t recommend turning off your HVAC system, you can lower the air output to save energy while taking advantage of Mother Nature.
Clean Regularly
Dust can become a big problem when you work from home if you don’t stay on top of it. Vacuum regularly using a HEPA filter-equipped vacuum cleaner and damp dust or mop wherever you can. This is also the time to inspect your home’s air filters. Depending on the filter type, you will need to clean or replace them every one to three months to maintain a healthy indoor air quality.
Don’t use working from home as an excuse to let your indoor air quality slide. Call Bryans United at 504-208-2071 to learn more about our IAQ services.
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