March 5, 2022

Allergy Season in St. Louis, MO

Maintaining Clean Indoor Air

One of the healthiest ways to encourage air circulation in a home is by opening a window. By opening the windows on a daily basis, you’re able to eliminate the collection of stale smells and more. However, if someone in your household has allergies, you can’t necessarily open your windows every day. Even if a person doesn’t have allergies, you still probably don’t want to invite a ton of pollen or ragweed into your home. In order to encourage clean air during allergy season, consider the following tips.

1. Monitor Your Beds and Linens

Statistics show that the average individual spends a third of their life asleep. If the average person is getting at least eight hours of sleep, this is a significant amount of time to be in one space. Knowing this, it’s important to prioritize a clean bed environment. After a long day, it might be tempting to climb in bed. However, it’s best to take a shower and thoroughly clean yourself. This helps you to wash off all of the dirt, debris and allergens you can’t always see. Change your linens on a weekly basis. Cover your mattress, pillows and your box spring with dust-mite covers for further protection. It’s also important to wash your linens in hot water. Hot water sanitizes and kills off germs that hang out in cold water.

2. Monitor the Moisture in Your Home

When you don’t monitor the moisture in your home, this can lead to issues with mold, allergic reactions and other harmful health challenges. A simple practice you and your family members can adopt is to watch how long you all allow the hot water to run in the shower. Bathrooms consistently hold a lot of heat and moisture when you’re running the hot water. Once the water is warm enough, jump in. Once the bathroom is no longer in use, run the fan for a few minutes to help absorb moisture. A dehumidifier is an excellent investment to make in order to monitor your bathroom’s humidity levels. Purchase a high-quality option for your home from a company like Scott-Lee Heating Company.

3. Monitor the Foot Traffic of Pets

When you have a family pet like a dog or a cat, it’s easy for many people to get comfy and snuggle with their furry friends. However, pets (especially outdoor pets) can easily carry in a ton of dirt and allergens. While people can take their shoes off when they enter the home, pets can’t take off their paws. One of the best ways to adjust your pets is by permitting them in certain areas of the home. You might opt to train them to only remain on the first floor of the home. You might decide that pets can’t come in the rooms that have carpet or bedding. This might be a tough task at first. Still, it’s a helpful way to decrease the spread of allergens and dirt throughout your home. In turn, this will directly impact the air quality overall.

4. Keep the Floors Clean

If your family doesn’t have a rule around shoes, develop one now. When you walk inside of the house, wipe your shoes off and leave them at the front door. If you want to decrease the number of shoes by the door, bring them straight to your bedroom. By walking all over the home with your shoes on, you’re only spreading more germs and allergens. Always keep a basket filled with socks and slippers for your guests when they come. When you have babies who crawl on the floor and put their hands in their mouths, it’s best to decrease the number of germs that collect on the floors. Hardwood, tile and vinyl flooring are generally more sanitary than carpet. If you have carpet, work toward replacing it, as it can be a trap for allergens. In the meantime, keep the carpet clean by vacuuming on a weekly basis. Shampoo the carpets routinely as well.

5. Change the Air Filters

The air filters trap a lot of dirt, debris and allergens. When you don’t change the filters every 90 days, a few things happen. First, you’ll inhibit the HVAC system’s ability to function at peak performance. It’ll have to work harder in order to push the air through. Another reason why changing the filters is so important is because you’ll decrease the chances of pushing dirt through the air in your home. The filter’s job is to catch lingering dirt in the system before it’s pushed out throughout the home. When you’re using a clean air filter, it’s much easier to maintain clean air.

6. Clean Toys

If you have young children, keep an eye on all of their toys. If you have a play area, consider using it to keep all of the toys contained. That way, it’s easier to wipe down all of the toys at the end of the day. Antibacterial wipes are great for this, but make sure they’re child-safe! Stuffed animals need to routinely be put in the washing machine for deep-cleaning sessions, as they can collect allergens too. Make sure to check the toymakers’ instructions for cleaning to keep your kid’s playthings in their best shape.

7. Cultivate a Window Routine

Once you’ve opened the windows of your home, your window treatments are the first line of defense against any allergens. Whether you have blinds, curtains or both, develop a routine around keeping those surfaces clean. Dust your blinds, and wipe them down with a damp cloth. Dismantle and bring down your curtains to get them cleaned. Use an eco-friendly cleaning solution to clean the windows and windowsills. A lot of dirt can collect over a period of time. Just by doing routine cleaning of those surfaces, it’ll be easier to keep allergens at bay.

8. Open Windows With Caution

While it’s not good to open the windows on a daily basis during the allergy season, you can still open the windows on specific occasions. During the allergy season, the best time to open a window is when there’s no wind. Simply open up the weather app on your smartphone to see what the wind is like for the day. If it’s below 5 miles per hour, you should be in good shape. In addition to knowing what the wind factor is like, make sure the pollen count is low. If it’s low and the wind is low as well, this is the perfect time to open the windows and encourage clean air circulation.

When you’re trying to navigate the details involved in keeping your home air clean, it can be challenging because the air is invisible. Plus, it’s your home and you’re used to the smells. So if you can’t see the impact or smell the impact, it’s understandably challenging to know whether you’re doing a great job or not. This is why it’s a wise choice to bring in professionals who specialize in air quality control. Our professionals at Scott-Lee Heating Company provide numerous services and tools that can help you ensure the highest home air quality. Whether you need a consultation or a dehumidifier in St. Louis and the surrounding cities, contact us today. We also provide a variety of heating and cooling services, so you know you can count on us to keep your home comfortable!