You probably assume that by cleaning your home every week - dusting, hoovering, mopping etc - you can make it a healthy environment. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case!
There are a number of habits and activities that we do (many of them without realising) that will contribute to a build-up of germs and unhealthy airborne particles within your home. This can lead to an array of nasty side effects, including asthma, headaches and other unpleasant skin conditions.
With summer coming up soon, it’s the perfect time to make the air in your home just as clean as that spotless toilet you’ve been bleaching.
Yes, houseplants might look lovely but they can also be lowering the air quality in your home.
Mould thrives in a wet, warm environment - meaning that the soil from your house plant is the perfect place for it to develop and grow.
Lots of people assume that plants make the air in a room better because they produce oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. There is a grain of truth in this, but it happens on such a small scale that it makes next to no difference in your home.
Mould and mildew spread through airborne spores, so if you do have plants, make sure you have good ventilation so these can be whisked away before they settle (or get inhaled).
If you really do love your indoor plants, we’d recommend having a couple of smaller plants, or one larger one, per room as a maximum - and make sure you keep your home ventilated.
Dust mites are gross. They eat the skin cells you’ll shed as dust throughout the day and they’re attracted to dark, humid areas… like your bed.
People may feel constantly ill due to ‘hayfever’ or a recurring cold- when really, it’s just due to a high number of dust mites within your house.
Dust mites require a level of humidity to live so, as well as removing dust from your home by vacuuming and dusting regularly, you should also keep it well-ventilated to keep humidity levels low.
Good ventilation will also reduce the amount of dust in your home overall because it whisks it away before it can settle.
This one is gross.
When you flush the toilet with the lid open, a plume of tiny aerosol droplets which can contain bacteria and viruses are launched up to six feet away.
Pathogens such as E.coli, norovirus and even coronaviruses can be spread in this way, and the tiny droplets can remain airborne for hours.
If you think about what’s within six feet of your toilet, it’s probably enough to make you change your flushing habits.
However, 55% of UK adults don’t bother closing the lid when they flush so it’s a habit that’s hard to break.
This is why it’s important to make sure the air can be efficiently extracted from a bathroom through a window or with an extractor fan so that moisture doesn’t linger and airborne particles are sucked away.
Nobody likes a disgusting ‘bin smell’ so make sure to regularly deep clean your household bin(s) with a strong disinfectant. The best way to do this is usually by placing it in the bath or shower and rinsing it with chemicals - just remember to clean your bath or shower afterwards too - or get the garden hose on it and wash the waste water down the drain.
It’s also essential that your bin has a well-fitting lid because as food waste rots, it produces mould and bacteria which can become airborne and produce bad smells. They also prevent flies from getting to your rubbish.
But some lids are better than others; if your bin has a lid that flips up when you press a pedal, the air current produced by opening can pump germs into the air.
So, as well as good bin hygiene, you should also ensure the air can change regularly with good ventilation.
You may have noticed a recurring theme in the tips we’ve listed above. This is because a house can’t remain totally clean and hygienic without good ventilation.
Explained simply, ventilation is the introduction of outdoor air into an indoor space, controlling air quality by displacing indoor pollutants. By ventilating your home, you’re effectively stopping indoor air pollutants from damaging your health.
Always turn on your bathroom and kitchen fans before use and try to open windows for at least a short period of time (although this definitely isn’t easy to do in the middle of winter!).
That being said, we’d recommend investing in one of our MVHR systems - which will circulate fresh air around your home without also sucking out heat. Fresh air from outside will be filtered and displaced throughout the house, which in turn filters out pollutants such as pollen, bacteria and dust mites.
You can find out more about our full range here, or get in touch today - we’ll be happy to help and offer our advice!
