Transforming your Home into an Allergy Safe Zone

It’s pollen season again. Outside is a pollen filled war zone and it’s seeping into your home as well. Your home is supposed to be a sacred place that you should be able to enjoy without allergens disturbing your peace.

Whether it’s allergy season or not it’s always important to maintain a home free of allergens. Thankfully, there are ways to make your house an allergen-free environment.

HEPA Filters

Installing HEPA Filters can improve the air quality of your home tremendously. What are HEPA filters? HEPA is an acronym that stands for high efficiency particulate air. These filters can collect up to 99% of airborne impurities as long as they’re larger than 0.3 microns in diameter which is pretty much most contaminants. This eliminates particles like pollen, dust, dust mites, bacteria/viruses, mildew and spores.

Wash Sheets, Pillowcases and Blankets Frequently

You spend 6-8 hours a night in your bed so it’s important to show your bed some love. When it comes to eliminating allergens sometimes the little things can make a major difference. Dust mites tend to thrive in bedding so doing something as simple as washing your bedding more frequently can help with removing allergens. It’s suggested that you wash bedding at least 130 degrees and dry them in a hot-dryer to kill the dust mites.

Vacuuming and Dusting

One of the best ways to removing allergies is to dust. Be careful with dusting — sometimes it can make matters worse by spreading allergen particles in the air. Use a damp cloth when dusting so that it captures dust rather than spreading it.

Vacuuming is also crucial to keeping your allergy symptoms under control. Try to vacuum at least once or twice a week especially in places that can accumulate more dust such as carpets and couches. Consider wet-vacuuming—this can help remove allergens since it actually washes the carpet. Steam cleaning is also an effective option to remove allergens.

Humidifiers

What is a Humidifier? In short, a humidifier is a device that increases the moisture in the air. Humidifiers are known for treating allergies. Breathing higher humidity air helps relieve symptoms of allergies.

Though humidifiers are a great device in killing dust mites, the moisture allows mold, another allergen, to thrive. That’s why it’s import to find a humidity level that isn’t too damp nor too high.

Prevent Mold and Mildew Build-up

Audit your home to find the areas where moisture can accumulate — this usually occurs in damp areas, i.e, bathrooms, water-leak areas, and basements prone to flooding. As a preventative measure it’s best to water proof your home to prevent those nasty allergens from building up.

Keep Windows and Doors Closed

This may go without saying but it’s extremely important to keep windows and doors closed. It’s an allergen filled world out there and you don’t want those allergens ruining your allergen-free zone.