Residents of Knoxville, TN, should be on the lookout for any airborne pollutants that might aggravate allergic reactions. Even if you’re lucky enough not to be allergic to anything, prolonged exposure to high concentrations of allergens may eventually change that. Here are five common allergens that may be floating around in your home:
Dust and Dust Mites
Dust is by far the most common of all household allergens. Since dust is practically everywhere, there’s no realistic hope of entirely eliminating it from your home. Nevertheless, there are several steps you can take to minimize its concentration in the air that you breathe.
Investing in devices like air purifiers, which improve indoor air quality (IAQ), can go a long way to clearing the air of dust. Thoroughly cleaning your home regularly, and especially wiping down all hard surfaces and vacuuming all carpets and furniture upholstery, is also important.
Also, you should make sure that your HVAC system has strong air filters and keep them clean. Filters with minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) ratings below 8 will be too weak, and those with ratings above 13 may restrict airflow, so strive to buy filters that fall within that range. Check your filters monthly. Clean or replace them at least every three months and schedule HVAC maintenance every year.
Though dust mites aren’t the same as dust, they’re often abundantly present in dusty places, which is why it makes sense to discuss them under the same heading. Dust mites are tiny, tick-like mites that attach themselves to particles of dust. If they get into your mouth, throat or sinuses, they can cause all kinds of irritation. The same things that will remove dust from your home will also get rid of dust mites.
Pollen
Outdoor plants and airborne insects are the two primary sources of pollen. Therefore, to keep this allergen out of your home, don’t allow unfiltered air to flow in from outside.
Unless you absolutely must open them for a while, keep your doors and windows closed. An effective HVAC system with adequate air filters should be able to remove pollen from the outdoor air that it pulls into your home.
Pet Hair and Dander
Tiny bits of dead skin cells, called dander, that fall from your pets can inflame intense allergic reactions. Pet hair can be equally irritating. To keep these things out of the surrounding air, you must routinely wash and brush your pets, particularly after they come in from playing outside.
Insect Droppings
Flying and crawling insects are always annoying, but their propensity to leave their droppings around your home only makes them even more awful. Perhaps the worst such situation may occur when insects get inside your HVAC ductwork and deposit their waste there. As air passes through your ducts, it’ll scoop up little bits of that waste and spread it through your home.
The mere thought of breathing in something like that is disgusting. This alone should induce you to spend some money on IAQ solutions. The fact that this waste can also cause allergic reactions provides yet more motivation to do so.
Miscellaneous Biological Organisms
Finally, many sorts of unseemly biological materials may float around your home, especially if you’re unable to control humidity levels there. Even if there is no excessive humidity in your home as a whole, the situation may be different in certain parts of your HVAC system. Biological contaminants grow rapidly in such moist environments, and even a tiny stray breeze can pick them up, push them into your home and generate a serious allergic reaction.
The first step to enjoying a comfortable and allergy-free domestic life in Knoxville, TN, is to know what allergens might be lurking where you live. The next step is to formulate a plan to remove them. For help with all aspects of the process, call Melton Heating and Air Conditioning to ask for our IAQ services.
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