Good ventilation can help reduce indoor allergies and headaches. It is simply the exchange of indoor air and outdoor air within your home.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollutant levels are often 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels, making ventilation important to help remove harmful pollutants from your household.
Keeping the air flowing can also eliminate excessive moisture and unpleasant odors.
Houses need to breathe just like you. Exchanging air through ventilation processes can help keep you, your family, and your home safe and healthy.
Moisture Control
When your home is airtight with all windows and doors shut and no ventilation systems, moisture can easily and quickly build up in your home.
Naturally, moisture and condensation are built up inside your home due to natural air infiltration and daily routines. Activities such as showering, cooking, or the use of appliances with hot water can heighten moisture levels within your home.
Moisture can soak into walls and stick to surfaces, making it uncomfortable indoors. The dampness is an ideal environment for bacteria, mold, and mildew growth. Exposure to such pollutants can be dangerous to your family’s health and your home systems.
Indoor Air Quality
Without ventilation, you are diminishing the air quality inside your home. Exposure and growth to pollutants such as mold, dust, mildew, and bacteria can also impact your home’s indoor air quality.
Poor indoor air quality and ventilation can cause health issues including:
- Irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat
- Headaches
- Fevers
- Immune system issues
- Exacerbated symptoms for those with existing conditions
- Respiratory damage
- And more.
Although some of these impacts will not show up immediately, you should take precautions now to ensure your health.
Clean air is also ventilated air, whether that means installing a system or allowing your home to ventilate naturally.
By installing indoor air quality systems, you can filter out pollutants, ventilate air, and control humidity levels year-round.
Be sure to contact your local professionals to help you find the right system for your household and lifestyle.
How To Ventilate
There are many ways to improve the ventilation inside your home. The most common ways include natural ventilation, spot ventilation, and whole-house ventilation.
Natural ventilation is just as it seems. It is allowing air to move freely throughout your home from open windows, doors, and cracks in your home.
This is the most common method since it is something you can do daily, but depending on weather opening windows and doors may not be an option.
Spot ventilation is another option, which is common in places such as bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms.
If you have a range hood over your stove or exhaust fan in your bathroom,, you are using spot ventilation in your home. Household items like these help control air movement by the use of localized fans to remove moisture and pollutants from the source.
Lastly is whole-house ventilation. This type of ventilation would include your air conditioning. Whole-house ventilation is the use of fans and duct systems to supply fresh air in your home.
Be sure to have all vents in your home open and keep them unblocked by furniture or other objects. This will ensure the efficiency of your ventilation systems.
A balanced ventilation system inside your home is usually made up of two or even all three of these ventilation types. They all work together to bring comfort to your home and to ensure you and your family’s health and safety.
The Elite AirSM team is ready to help! Call us at (609) 205-3813 for all your HVAC needs!
