Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Minimizing Indoor Allergens - 6 Ways To Deep Six Airborne Allergy Triggers


Minimizing the number of airborne allergens in your indoor air can have an incredibly positive effect on attitude, energy level, and respiratory health. Many of these allergens are chronic, and to keep levels low there are 6 things to do to reduce allergy-triggering irritants.

Cover Vents --- This is an excellent way to help filter the air that is blown through the house by the heating and air conditioning system. Placing cheese cloth over vents in the ceiling helps contain particles that would otherwise be carried from one part of your home to another.

Covering floor vents does the same thing, but it also prevents unwanted items from becoming lost in the vents. The cloth would go under the metal grates that cover the holes in the ceiling and floors so they would not be very noticeable unless you knew to look for them.

Stop Outside Air Exchange --- Since you are less likely to have a handle on exactly what is coming in through open windows and doors, it's best to keep them shut and concentrate on eliminating allergens from a known quantity of air.

During pollen season (which depending on where you live can last from January to early December or the first frost) keeping windows and doors closed can minimize your frequency and severity of allergy and asthma flare ups. And it can also create a place where you know you can let down your guard while resting and rejuvenating both physically and emotionally.

Eliminate Clutter --- Lots of objects on mantles, tables, and piles on floors increase the available surface area for particles to accumulate. This means that whenever there is an air current due to normal activities, these particles can be sent airborne and become available for you to breathe and ingest.

Clearing away the stuff will result in fewer places for allergens to hide. It will also give your house a cleaner look and make it easier for you to keep clean.

Clean With Water --- Damp mop floors and surfaces. This method is the best way of truly removing particles rather than sending them airborne by sweeping, or dusting. Once they are collected with water they can easily be washed away and taken out of circulation for good.

Remove Surfaces That Hold Allergens --- Carpet, upholstered furniture, and draperies are allergen-trapping surfaces. They trap particles, hold them, and are often difficult and expensive to clean. And even though you probably can't go out and redo your home immediately, as you replace things go with more allergen-friendly materials.

Floors of wood, laminate, tile, or linoleum are easier to clean and hold fewer of the particles that are typical allergens---dust, dust mites, mold and mildew spores, pet dander, and season pollen. Vertical blinds or shades tend to allow particle to fall to the floor rather than collect on their surfaces.

Continually Filter The Air --- Regardless of how many preventative steps you take, there will still be allergens remaining in the air. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast. In order to consistently keep levels low, continually filtering the air with a high efficiency particle arresting (HEPA) filter is best.

A HEPA filter is designed to remove 99.97% of particles that are.3 microns or larger in size, with a micron being defined as one millionth of a meter. What that really means to you is that for every 10,000 particles in the air, it can remove 99,997 of them if they are larger than.3 microns. Thus typical indoor allergens can easily and continuously be eliminated.

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