Indoor air quality is important year-round. But it takes center stage in the winter since many Hutto, Texas, homeowners tend to spend more time indoors when the weather grows colder. To improve your indoor air quality this winter, maintain proper humidity levels, ventilate your home and install an air purifier.
Maintain Proper Humidity Levels
Humidity plays a significant role in indoor air quality, making it important to maintain proper humidity levels in your home. For optimal indoor air quality, try to keep relative humidity levels between 30% and 50%. Many smart thermostats track humidity levels, but if you don’t have one, you can measure them with a hygrometer. If your relative humidity is too low, consider supplementing with a humidifier.
Maintaining proper humidity levels is especially important in the winter because cold air only holds about half as much humidity as warm air, which is why many people tend to have trouble with chapped lips and dry skin in the winter. Furthermore, low humidity levels dry out your mucous membranes, leaving you more susceptible to cold and flu viruses.
Get the Right Balance Between Sealing and Ventilation
A tightly built, well-sealed home reduces energy consumption and utility bills, but tight sealing can exasperate air quality issues. To reap the benefits of a well-sealed home while maintaining good indoor air quality, consider installing an energy recovery ventilator. An ERV is a ventilation system that exhausts stale air from your home and exchanges it with filtered fresh air.
Clean Your Home’s Air
A sure way to improve IAQ is to cleanse the air in your home with an air purifier. A traditional air purifier will remove indoor allergens, but if you’d like to go a step further, consider a germicidal air purifier. These specialized purification systems not only remove indoor allergens. They can also trap and kill the germs that cause illnesses like colds, flu and strep throat.
If you want to improve your indoor air quality this winter, call Texas Comfort Air. We look forward to helping you breathe easier and sleep better at home.
Image provided by iStock
