Why Your Home’s Air Quality is Important

You may constantly be bombarded with new subjects that should bother you and your loved ones. Don’t buy anything that isn’t BPA-free. Stay away from the microwave. Only save your food in glass jars, not plastic.

Now your neighbors are talking to you about indoor air quality (or IAQ) in Elkhart. Don’t use strong chemicals to wipe down your counters. You should install an air purification system. You need to use essential oils instead of air fresheners.

The chatter never ends.

So you start to turn a deaf ear to all the noise and just try and live your life. We feel you - why agonize about one issue if you will have to constantly worry about everything else?

But, of anything, indoor air quality is definitely a point you should focus on, and here’s why.

It affects your health

We’ve told you how to fight sickness and stay healthy with indoor air quality; and, we’ve shown you how to Stop the Sneezes and help alleviate symptoms of asthma and allergies with recommendations to improve indoor air quality; we’ve even given you a full review of the APCO Whole-House Air Purifier to help keep your indoor air quality at its best. So now, we’ll be frank: bad indoor air quality is bad for your health . We spend an estimated 90% of our life in home and buildings and with indoor air pollutants, including pet dander, dust, fibers, and virus-causing germs, floating around our homes, it’s crucial to have an air purification system that can filter our air and help fight the germs that cause illness.

It affects your home

Bad air quality can affect your lungs, but it can also affect the performance of your home. Indoor air with high levels of contaminants floating around is more exhausting on your home’s heating and AC system. Contaminants clog the components of the blower system and the home’s air filters faster, causing your heating and AC system to work a lot more to keep your family comfortable. Your duct system can also become dirty more rapidly, resulting in inefficient airflow.

It affects your workplace

Several studies have proven that poor indoor air quality can have a very real effect on workplace efficiency. Not only can it aggravate the symptoms of allergies and asthma, but the contaminants released by copying machines, cleaning supplies, poorly maintained HVAC systems, and electrical equipment can cause headaches (even migraines), dripping eyes, and irritated throats. While these symptoms may be fleeting, long-term exposure to poor indoor air quality (40 hours a week in the office definitely counts) can result in skin rashes, respiratory illness, and other chronic sicknesses. On the more severe side, radon or asbestos seeping in through fractured foundations or ceilings can actually cause cancer and other deadly diseases and a strong concentration of carbon monoxide can lead to sudden death.

So next time your friend starts telling you about indoor air quality, listen up because it could be vital for your health and for your home. If you are unsure if your home’s indoor air quality is healthy or struggling, call BW/Cook Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning for a no-charge in-home analysis and we’ll verify your indoor air quality levels and review whole-home air cleaning choices with you.