5 Steps to a Healthier Home
August 5, 2020
More and more homeowners throughout the Sacramento area are realizing the importance of healthy air in their homes, and understand why you shouldn’t just assume that the air in your home is safe for you and your family.
Indoor air is more likely to be worse for your health than outdoor air, and if you’ve been recently suffering from symptoms you thought were just a cold (headaches, coughing and sneezing, fatigue, etc.), or your allergies and asthma have been acting up more than usual, it could actually be the result of issues inside your home.
Here are five steps you can take to help ensure your indoor air quality is safer and healthier for your family this year.
1. Regularly Change Your Air Filters
This is one of the simplest ways to help prevent the air circulating in your house from carrying harmful particulates. Changing the air filters on your home HVAC system regularly not only ensures that air pollutants are filtered out of your breathing air, but can help keep your heating and cooling systems running at high efficiency, saving you money and making you more comfortable.
With Brower’s Air Filter membership, you can choose between three different levels of high quality air filters, to be installed by one of our expert service technicians several times throughout the year for healthier, cleaner air.
2. Upgrade to a Whole House Fan System
One of the reasons that indoor tends to be worse for your health than outdoor air is because air pollutants tend to concentrate in the confines of a building instead of dispersing in outdoor air. Cycling fresh outdoor air inside your home with a whole house fan ventilation system lowers moisture and humidity levels (which can lead to harmful mold growth), as well as the concentrations of other indoor air pollutants like VOCs, pet dander, pollen, and more.
3. Add a UV Light Air Purifier to Your HVAC System
You may have seen advertisements recently for portable, single room air purifiers. Brower Mechanical can go a step further and install a whole home air purifier inside your HVAC system. These purifiers use UV light radiation to eliminate pollutants as the air they’re traveling in cycles through your central HVAC system. UV light is powerful enough to “kill” mold, mildew, bacteria, and even viruses*!
*UV light really does work, but that doesn’t mean it can completely replace other safety precautions, including regularly cleaning the surfaces in your home and following recommended CDC guidance.
4. Replace Your Insulation and Air Sealing
Cracks and gaps can develop in a home over time, letting in moisture, which can wreak havoc on many types of insulation, as well as air pollutants. Scheduling a home energy audit to identify the areas of your house where insulation replacement and air sealing are needed can not only save you a significant amount when it comes to monthly heating and cooling costs, but can also protect your home from conditions where poor indoor air quality can develop.
5. Install a Heat Recovery Ventilator
Heat Recovery Ventilators, or HRVs, offer a top of the line home ventilation solution. These HVAC systems not only cycle filtered fresh outdoor air into your home, but they are able to do so with minimal effect on your indoor temperatures. In the summer, an HRV will provide fresh clean air without bringing hot summer heat inside with it; while in the winter, you’ll stay warm and cozy indoors while still benefiting from cleaner outside air.
Improve Your Indoor Air Quality with Brower
Whether it’s installing a central ventilation system or a home energy monitoring system to help keep on top of your indoor air quality as well as your heating and cooling costs, Brower Mechanical is your local whole home and indoor air quality expert. Reach out to our team today and learn how you can help make your indoor air healthier and safer for your family.
