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House Ventilation: Tips for Better Indoor Air Quality

By: Levi Santiago
House Ventilation Tips for Better Indoor Air Quality

Breathing is a bodily function that is, of course, essential to our survival. As a result, the quality of the air we breathe will directly impact the comfortability of our lifestyles and the condition of our individual health. Since your home is the place where you live, eat, and sleep, the air quality in your house and lot significantly affects your well-being. Thus, if anyone in your house is ever suffering from consistent sneezing, dizziness, tiredness, headaches, coughing, and the like, then those may be signs of what is called Toxic House Syndrome in your home. And if you’re looking for information on how to remedy the poor air quality in your house, then this blog is just for you.

Ventilation-System

Negative Effects of Poor House Ventilation

Toxic House Syndrome essentially means a significant presence of poor air quality in your houses, such as pollutants, allergens, and toxins, to the extent that the health of those inhabiting said house has their health negatively affected. One of the main problems that poor ventilation causes is the buildup of moisture in a house, which not only causes damage to the house itself but to the people living in the house too. Excess moisture in a house causes ceilings and walls to become more prone to damage. Moreover, mold growth becomes an issue that arises because of the excess moisture that fosters mold growth in the walls and floors. As a result, there will be extra maintenance costs for your house and lot.

All of this is accompanied by bad indoor smell and low levels of oxygen, making the air in your home stuffy and hard to breathe in.  Lastly, susceptibility to having COVID particles in your house is also likely because of poor house ventilation. Without proper ventilation, pollutants and toxins are more likely to stay inside your home because there’s no air current to draw them from inside your house to the outdoors. Hence, these reasons should be reason enough for you to realize how important good ventilation is.

Passive vs. Active Ventilation

There are two kinds of ventilation for a house. One relies more on natural air flow while the other uses more active means to keep fresh air flowing inside your house. Let’s tackle the differences between the two.

Windows-and-Airconditioners

Passive Ventilation

Passive ventilation does not intentionally generate ventilation. Instead, it is dependent on natural air currents inside and outside your house and a lot. It is because of this that passive ventilation is significantly influenced by weather conditions outside your house. Moreover, there is a reliance on thermal buoyancy, wherein cold air pushes warm air upward and goes outside of your house. One upside of this kind of ventilation is that the setup costs are significantly less than active ventilation.

Active Ventilation

Active ventilation is purposed to create ventilation via creating its own air currents. This is done through mechanical fans that make the air flow, greatly reducing excess moisture and heat inside your home. Given this, active ventilation is not dependent on natural air flow like how passive ventilation is, therefore this kind of ventilation is not affected by weather conditions. Although the setup costs are higher than passive ventilation, the return of investment on these costs is proven to be worth it.

Tips for Better Ventilation in Your Home

Install Exhaust Fans

Exhaust-Fans

Exhaust fans are useful for drawing out pollutants, smells, and moisture from collecting in an area. This is the reason why it’s usually placed in bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry. Exhaust fans should always be running when you’re using a bathroom so that the moisture doesn’t stay and foster mold growth and excess moisture. Moreover, exhaust fans can remove smells, excess heat, and steam from kitchens. Laundries make use of lots of water as well, so excess moisture is an issue that can be solved by exhaust fans.

Open Windows and Doors

One of the simplest ways of improving ventilation in your house and lot is to open the windows and doors. This lets fresh outdoor air come inside your house, drawing out your house’s stuffy indoor stale air along with pollutants, allergens, excess heat and moisture, and the like. Making a “cross-breeze” through opening windows from two different sides of a house is useful for ensuring fresh air goes in and indoor air goes out.

Have Fans Around

Fan-and-a-dog

Having fans around your house improve ventilation by helping circulate air around your home. By having fans set on the “on” setting instead of just “auto,” you can have your fans running whether your other means of ventilation are on or off. Although, it should be noted that you should ensure that the fans are not directly pointed toward a person so that pollutants do not directly flow into a person’s face. Moreover, it helps if a fan is placed near an open window or door to increase ventilation effectivity. From stand fans to ceiling fans, any are welcome.

Limit Visitors

Given that you can still contract COVID at present, it is ideal to limit the number of visitors and the length of their stay in your house and lot. If ever you do have visitors, it’s better to gather in the larger areas of your house for better social distancing, which can reduce the transmission of allergens and/or contaminants.

Air Conditioning

Air-conditioning-units

Air conditioners are great for bringing cool air inside your home and drawing excess heat out. Furthermore, air conditioners have their own filtration system that keeps out pollutants, microbes, and allergens from getting inside your home. It is important not however to be consistent with your air conditioners’ servicing and maintenance so that it gives your house and lot the intended benefits instead of doing harm.

Air Purifiers and Pleated Filters

Air purifiers are great for eliminating contaminants in the air. Through purifying air, there is a reduced risk of having harmful particles in your house and lot that may be inhaled. Pleated filters, on the other hand, are effective in filtering air contaminants while reaping the benefits of efficient energy usage. Moreover, pleated filters are more effective than regular furnace filters. Although, make sure that pleated filters are installed within your home’s HVAC system by a professional as much as possible; and ensure it gets inspected by a professional every year to make sure of its effectiveness in filtering air.

Have House Plants

House-Plants

House plants are good for reducing carbon dioxide levels and pollutants in your home. Moreover, they can serve as good décor for your house and lot, giving more life and vibrance to your home. There’s a variety of house plants to choose from, so you’re able to choose what kind of house plant fits your style more while still reaping the benefits of increasing good ventilation in your house.

When you’re starting to design your dream home, consider first the ventilation systems that you’ll need. These will really help you in the long run. Make sure to keep in mind the tips that were mentioned earlier. Especially since we live in such hot and humid temperatures, good indoor air quality is a must.

Read more: Cooling your Home this Summer Season

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