Good health isn’t all about the food we eat and the lifestyle we adhere to. It’s also about the quality of the air we breathe in. This can be a challenge for those living in metropolitan cities, particularly for residents living in apartments with limited ventilation and shared spaces.
Whether you’re sharing your apartment with others or living solo, you should ensure optimal air quality within your living space. With good air quality, you can lower levels of air pollution and lessen the risk of acquiring diseases like lung cancer, stroke and chronic respiratory diseases like asthma.
To help you improve the air quality in your apartment without spending a fortune, here’s a guide we have prepared for you.
1. Clean Your Air Ducts
A clean air duct allows the AC system to circulate clean air throughout your apartment. Moreover, it can reduce potential pollutants, dust, and allergens circulating indoors, thus improving the overall air quality inside your apartment.
Air pollutants like mold and mildew can spread throughout your apartment and cause health problems like mold-induced asthma, allergic fungal sinusitis, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, among many others.
Furthermore, note that accumulation of dust and debris in the air ducts can be a potential source of fire in rental properties. When it’s clogged with accumulated debris, it could lead to restricted airflow and overheating of the HVAC system, thus potentially escalating to fire.
Regularly cleaning your air ducts can avoid the accumulation of flammable materials. Also, having renters insurance roommate coverage can protect you and your housemates in case of such an unfortunate event.
2. Keep Rooms Well-Ventilated
Keeping your airflow fresh is one way to improve air quality in your apartment. Just make sure that the outside air is low in pollen and clean. While it may sound impractical to open the window during winter, occasionally doing this can help you avoid dust mites that thrive in humidity and other nasty particles while allowing fresh outdoor air to fill the room.
Moreover, you can get rid of that stuffy smell and improve the scent of your home without using an air freshener. During summer, it’s also good to open windows, so you will barely need to use the AC, thus saving you money on energy costs.
3. Use Cooking Vents
Proper kitchen ventilation can improve the overall air quality of the apartment. Installing cooking vents lets you clear the carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide from your gas stoves. These chemicals could be toxic to humans and your pets at home. Besides opening the window, you should also turn on your cooking vents to ensure all these chemicals don’t linger in the indoor air.
Moreover, a cooking vent can suck foul odor into the kitchen, allowing you to enjoy your meals without the unpleasant smell.
4. Change Your AC Filters Regularly
Changing your air conditioner’s filter could help you improve the air quality inside your apartment. The air filters trap the unwanted elements in your apartment’s air, like pollen, dirt, dust, spores, mold, and bacteria, among many others.
If these nasty things sit in your HVAC system, they can recirculate inside your apartment and cause asthma, headaches, and allergies. By changing your air filters regularly, you can guarantee energy efficiency, lower the repair frequency of your AC units, and ensure good air quality inside your apartment.
5. Buy Secondhand Furniture
The production of new furniture contributes to climate change since manufacturing companies will need a lot of energy from fossil fuels to produce one. In addition, new pieces of furniture may emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that react with the chemical in the atmosphere, causing irritation and damage to your lungs.
6. Use an Air Purifier
An air purifier with activated carbon can eliminate toxic chemicals like chlorine, ammonia, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide. An air purifier can detoxify your indoor air, recycling fresh air back to your apartment. Pathogens in indoor air can cause airborne diseases like the common cold and flu.
Still, with an air purifier with HEPA filters, you can capture these bacteria and viruses, ensuring healthy indoor air for the entire household.
7. Use Indoor Plants
Plants are naturally therapeutic. They are proven to lower stress levels, help you sleep better, serve as home decor, boost humidity levels, and improve air quality inside your apartment.
Building materials like paint, carpets, stains, and furniture release VOCs, triggering many health issues, from headaches, and liver toxicity, to some types of cancers. House plants efficiently remove VOCs from your home, allowing you to breathe clean air.
8. Dry Out Damp
Moisture in your home can breed unsightly staining and mold growth. This is why you should dry out damp areas in your apartment. You can do this by fixing leaks and seepage, using exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms, and paying attention to carpets on concrete floors. This way, you can avoid respiratory infections, allergies, or asthma, among other respiratory problems.
Conclusion
Air pollution isn’t just an environmental threat you can encounter outside your home. You can suffer from heart and respiratory illnesses because of indoor air pollution. By following the eight tips we have shared here with you, we hope you can start improving the air quality in your apartment without spending a lot of money!
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