How To Make Sure Your Indoor Air Is Healthy
The average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors. That means that you spend most of your time breathing indoor air. According to a study by the Environment Protection Agency (US EPA), indoor air quality for the average home is much worse than outdoor air quality. The EP reports that the levels of pollutants in homes are 2 to 5 times higher than that in outdoor air. Some pollutants recorded high levels of 100 times more indoors than outdoors.
While spending more time outdoors is a great idea for our overall health, it doesn’t solve the problem of high levels of pollutants in our homes. The good news is that you can improve your indoor air quality with the following easy steps.
1. Keep your home ventilated
One of the easiest ways to reduce the levels of pollutants in the air within your home is to open your windows and doors. This will allow air to circulate into and out of your home. Good exchange of air will promote healthy air indoors.
2. Smoke outdoors
If you or a member of your household likes to indulge in cigarette smoking every once in a while, restrict the activity to the outdoors. Cigarette smoking is not only bad for your health as a smoker but also for the other members of your household. Secondhand smoke has been attributed as the cause of up to 3000 deaths a year as a result of developing lung cancer.
3. Maintain healthy humidity levels
Dust mites and mold love moisture. Mold spores and dust mites are known to cause allergies or increase allergy episodes. Keeping humidity levels low will help to reduce the levels of mold and dust mites in your home. Consider investing in a dehumidifier for those parts of your home that are especially humid, such as the basement or crawlspace.
4. Bring in plants
Plants offer an easy and inexpensive way to purify your air. These natural air purifiers take in stale indoor air that is full of chemicals and release fresh, oxygen-rich air into your home. Placing a large number of plants in your home will help to ensure your indoor air is cleaner. Be sure to look for plants that are known for air purification, such as spider plants, Aloe Vera, and mother-in-law’s tongue.
Are you looking for ways to improve indoor air quality? Try the tips above to get started right away.
Contact the Professionals at EZ Breathe Today! 866-822-7328
We are a 2nd generation family owned and operated business that has been working in homes with basements and crawl spaces for over 35 years. We have been waterproofing and sealing about 500 foundations a month during that time as the largest Waterproofing contractor in the Midwest with 15 locations servicing 8 states.
20 years ago we would seal a foundation and recommend a standard dehumidifier to address the additional water vapor (humidity in the air) inherently found in below grade environments, such as basements and crawlspaces. Back then, dehumidifiers were the industry standard to help with this problem. However, many of our customers were looking to us as the “foundation expert”, asking…
“What else do you have? I really am not getting results with this messy, expensive dehumidifier. My foundation is dry, walls are dry, floor is dry, so why does it still smell and feel like a basement?”
We needed to find something better. Our company’s core values include offering world class customer service to every customer, every time. So, we challenged our Research and Development department to find a real solution for our customers to combat not only the moisture, but also the odors, pollutants and unhealthy environment our customers were concerned about. We found, tested and installed a ventilation product for a period of three years. We private labeled that product as the EZ Breathe Ventilation System. The feedback in those first three years from our customers, as well as our installation crews, did not live up to the standard of quality to be included in our waterproofing process that offered a life time warranty. Once again, we needed something better.
We valued not only the results, but what we were learning from our customers. So, we went back to the drawing board, took matters into our own hands and made quality improvements to that first generation ventilation unit.
Our own EZ Breathe Ventilation System was born…reengineered, redesigned and much improved! We quickly learned that our crews were thrilled with the quality improvements, ease of operation and installation, but more importantly, our waterproofing customers loved the new, improved EZ Breathe unit as well.
Their feedback told us the air in their basements and crawlspaces felt better, but their entire home was benefiting from their EZ Breathe as well. We received countless letters thanking us because their whole house felt different, less odors, fresher air upstairs too, family members were feeling better, needing less allergy medicine, husbands were no longer snoring, children were no longer coughing as much, the home and it’s family were living healthier lives!
It was time for us to move beyond simply offering this innovative technology to just our waterproofing customers. Our passion and commitment to helping people improve their indoor air environments is what drove us to incorporate EZ Breathe Ventilation Systems as an independent company in 2003. We strongly believe that homeowners everywhere deserve a healthy indoor air quality.
We have spent the last 15 years dedicated to learning about the relationship between our home and our health; indoor air quality, the home as a system, building science and how it relates to indoor air quality as well as the challenges our modern day practices pose to the quality of air we breathe in our homes.