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Causes of Poor Indoor Air Quality
Poor air quality and air pollution aren’t issues that are only affecting the air outdoors, but air pollution can also occur inside of your home. It’s hard to escape air pollution when you may be unknowingly hurting the quality of the air you’re breathing at home.
Everyday activities and the cleanliness of your home environment make a huge impact on how healthy the air you’re breathing is for you. Small occurrences like forgetting to dust, sweep, or smoking in your house can cause a buildup of particles in your home.
What is Indoor Air Pollution?
Indoor air pollution is caused by the buildup of contaminants from different sources around your home. Air pollution isn’t always seen, and particles usually can’t be seen floating in the air unless it is smoke, dust, or pollen. These particles and contaminants negatively affect your indoor air quality.
What is Indoor Air Quality?
Indoor air quality is the air inside of and around your home, buildings, and structures, and relates to the quality of air that affects your health and comfort. Indoor air quality can be affected by the temperature inside your home, ventilation, humidity, chemicals like household cleaners, and more.
Now that we’ve explained what poor indoor air quality is and some of its causes, here are some examples of common ways you may be contributing to reducing the quality of your air.
4 Causes of Poor Indoor Air Quality
Identifying the causes of air pollution inside your home is the first step to improving your air quality.
1. Cooking on a Stovetop
Yes, unfortunately, one of the most common causes of indoor air pollution is cooking on a stovetop or using charcoal to cook indoors. Pollution occurs from smoke and fumes that are produced while you’re cooking. This can lead to health problems like respiratory issues if you don’t have proper ventilation in your kitchen above your stove for example.
2. Harsh Cleaning Chemicals
Most household cleaning products contain harsh chemicals called volatile organic compounds in the form of gas that circulates in the air when you spray them. This can include air refreshing sprays, bleach cleaners, glass cleaners, paints, and more. VOCs can have short-term health effects but sometimes lead to long-term health effects like damage to your internal organs including your kidneys, liver, and central nervous system.
3. Smoking Cigarettes
It’s no secret that cigarette smoke isn’t healthy and causes major health issues like respiratory problems that can lead to lung cancer. Cigarettes have substances that circulate around in the air, especially if your home has poor ventilation. Air purifiers can help combat some of these toxic substances and limit the amount of cigarette smoke you breathe at home.
4. Poor Ventilation
Regular maintenance and upkeep of your HVAC unit can make a big difference in how well your home is ventilated. Poor ventilation can prevent air from circulating in your home properly. You should always make sure that your air filters for your air conditioner are checked, changed, or cleaned regularly so that it can catch small particles that circulate through the air.
Proper ventilation can also help with humidity, which can also cause pollutants to stick around in your home.
5. Biological Pollution
You’re reading this correctly, biological pollutants can come from you. Biological pollutants are created by living things and are found in areas where there are lots of food or moisture present, including your kitchen and bathroom. These pollutants are made up of saliva, pet dander, dust and mites, pollen, and viruses.
Moisture buildup in these areas is caused by poor ventilation and can lead to mold and mildew growth that can affect your respiratory system.
Improving Your Indoor Air Quality
If you’re concerned about your indoor air quality and you’re looking to improve your air quality in Modesto, at Comfort Experts Heating & Air Conditioning we have a variety of products that can help. Call us today to schedule an inspection of your ductwork, air filters, and HVAC system to improve your air quality at (209) 222-2779!