How to Keep Your Home Free from Indoor Allergies

Is it hay fever season already?

You wake up in the morning and your head feels heavy, your thoughts muddled, as your eyes, ears, and nose are taken hostage by intense, cold-like symptoms: chronic sneezing, coughing, itchy, watery eyes.  Your throat feels excessively dry and prickly, your nose won’t stop running – and you haven’t even left the house yet!

Sound familiar?

Indoor Allergies Are All Year Round…

Seasonal allergies, usually at their most intense during the summer months, are widely common, so don’t feel like you’re alone. In fact, the AAFA (Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America) reports that nasal allergies affect as much as fifty million Americans.

Unlike hay fever, however, indoor allergies can plague you all year round, draining your physical energy and making it hard to enjoy your living space. Keeping windows and doors closed can help reduce some of the impact, but home owners who suffer from seasonal allergies can find being indoors even worse.

In most cases, allergy medications can provide temporary relief from your symptoms, but removing or reducing your exposure to allergy triggers is the best way to avoid the discomfort allergies can cause. Some common indoor triggers for allergies include:

Ø  Mold

Ø  Spores

Ø  Dust mites

Ø  Cigarette smoke

Ø  Pet hairs/dandruff

A Healthy Home is A Happier You…

 It’s no fun when the comforts of your beloved home offer no refuge from your hay fever symptoms. Maintaining your home’s health has a direct impact on the severity of your symptoms. Long neglected repairs to your HVAC system, roofing and windows can turn your living space into a breeding ground for airborne irritants that repeatedly trigger your allergies.

Ventilation and air ducts can store allergy irritants such as mold spores, as well as dust mites and pet hairs, which in turn get circulated through the entire home in various ways. Linens, cotton, and other natural fabrics also absorb and trap dust mites. Dusting and cleaning with a vacuum often redistributes allergy triggers, instead of removing them, from the home.

Should I Use An Air Purifier or Humidifier?

Air purifiers and humidifiers function as filters. They’re designed to trap air-borne contaminants and can provide temporary relief from allergies, but shouldn’t be relied on solely as a solution.

Air filters and humidifiers need to be maintained regularly in order to remain effective. An air filter won’t help against pet hair and dandruff, which cling to fabrics. A humidifier can help reduce the spread of mildew and mold, but can’t remove them. Dust mites trapped in your linen, bedding (mattress, pillow cases, etc) can’t be removed by an air purifier.

Sweeping, Dusting, & Vacuuming

Floors and other hard surfaces don’t absorb as easily as carpets or fabrics, but constant foot traffic adds to an increasing layer of dirt which is then redistributed as it attaches to clothing, socks, and hands. Vacuuming carpets, sweeping floors, and dusting, can actually loosen dirt, which is then absorbed and trapped within your air ducts.

Get Professional Help…

Professional air duct and upholstery cleaning is one of the most effective ways to avoid redistributing dust particles and mold through your home. Typically, items such as carpets, curtains, and furniture, are removed from the home and cleaned in a separate area, which prevents the dust from re-entering and redistributing.

Special air compression tools, as well as HEPA filtration, are used to extract mold and microscopic dirt from deep, inaccessible places within your ventilation system. By keeping the registers sealed during the cleaning process, dirt and dust is confined to the ventilation system and a more thorough cleaning is possible.

Renovation projects can really stir up a lot of dirt, as well as powerful odors that can trigger allergies as well. Neutralizing severe cigarette and pet urine odors can only be done thoroughly by a professional. Padding and sub flooring need to be removed and thoroughly treated with an industrial-grade, enzyme-based solution.

Want to make your home allergy free? Give the friendly cleaning professionals at Royal Carpet Cleaning a call at 505-280-5216 today!