Last Updated on March 17, 2025

Home is supposed to be a place of comfort and relaxation. However, if you are living with poor indoor air quality, it can make you feel sick and uncomfortable. Indoor air quality is important because it affects your health and well being.

How to improve indoor air quality at home:

Generally speaking, the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to eliminate or reduce individual pollution sources.

There are many ways to improve indoor air quality at home. Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Open windows and doors regularly.
2. Use a high-quality air purifier or humidifier in the bedroom.
3. Use an air cleaner in the kitchen, bath and other areas where cooking occurs or pets spend time.
4. Don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight; instead, wash them right away or put them in the dishwasher as soon as they’re done.
5. Limit use of cleaning products on hard surfaces (like floors) by using natural cleaners instead of harsh chemicals, such as vinegar and lemon juice on tile grout, for example; avoid chlorine bleach for cleaning carpets; and limit microwave use to no more than four minutes a day for food prep and reheating purposes only (and keep it off for at least 20 minutes after each use).
6. Make sure your furnace is running properly so that it’s not emitting carbon monoxide into your home — this can lead to fatigue, headaches, dizziness and confusion among other symptoms if not replaced immediately!

LET’S TALK IN MORE DETAILS BELOW,

Learn about MORE ways to improve indoor air quality, such as cleaning air filters, natural cleaning products and adding certain plant species, to protect your family’s health.

Natural ventilation

IT can also improve indoor air quality by reducing indoor pollutants.

In many cases, source control is also a more cost-effective approach to protecting indoor air quality than increasing ventilation, since increasing ventilation can increase energy costs.

Ventilation can be easily achieved by opening windows and doors or, if you are cooling your home, by turning on the air conditioner with the ventilation control open.

Installing a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) is one way to improve the air quality in your home.

Ventilation helps improve air quality because it helps remove or dilute indoor pollutants by circulating fresh outside air through the home.

Efficient ventilation is also important because it increases the amount of clean outdoor air, removes contaminants through filtration, and helps reduce excessive moisture buildup. Improving Ventilation Maintaining airflow in your home is an easy (and potentially free) way to improve air quality.

It may seem obvious, but keeping the air fresh is the cheapest and easiest way to improve the air quality in your home. To keep the air in your home as clean as possible, filter it with a high quality air purifier and air purification equipment.

In addition to filtering the air in your home, there are some simple techniques you can use to help reduce the levels of pollutants that build up in the first place.

Clean your furnace filters

Your furnace filters should be replaced every season to remove dust, pollen and other allergens from coming into your home. You can also clean them yourself by vacuuming out dirt that has built up inside them. Cleaning a filter should not be attempted if it looks damaged in any way — replace it immediately! If you have pets or children in your home, keep their coats well-groomed so that hair does not collect on filters and cause them to become clogged up with dust or debris over time.

You’ll want to replace your oven and air conditioner filters every three months because it’s an easy and affordable way to keep the air circulation in your home clean.

During the cooling season (summer months), the Department of Energy recommends changing air filters every two months.

Regularly cleaning and replacing furnaces, air conditioners, and other ventilation systems with suitable replacement air filters and whole-house filters is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to keep the air in your home clean.

By regularly dusting, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, etc., you can reduce allergens and irritants and reduce air pollution in general. Taking steps to improve indoor air quality can help you reduce your risk of disease and even improve your quality of life.

Reduce odors

Make sure that all the windows are closed during pollen season (spring and early summer) to prevent pollen from getting in through the window screens. You can also use a fan or an air purifier to make sure that there is no dust or other particles floating around your room.

Using a humidifier

Humidifiers add moisture to the air in your home, which can help prevent dryness and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. It’s important that you use a humidifier only when needed. If you use an unvented room heater or gas dryer, make sure you clean out the vent regularly so that no mold spores are left behind. If you use an evaporative cooler, clean it regularly because mold spores can grow on the coolant.

Using a dehumidifier will help you control air quality that can cause health problems in your home.

• Use an electric humidifier if you have allergies or asthma. 

You can use one that uses water or add essential oils to the water before turning on your humidifier or adding them directly into the tank of your humidifier. This will help keep your home smelling fresh and clean without using chemicals that may irritate your nose or lungs. Air fresheners can also be used for this purpose but make sure that they do not contain any volatile compounds like benzene, phthalates [1], chloroform [2], xylene [3] etc

Use a portable air filter or box fan filter

THESE CAN BE USED on fire smoke days when there is little outside air, and during or after indoor activities that can affect air quality.

Buying a few houseplants can do wonders for improving your home’s air quality and enhancing your home decor. Houseplants can improve indoor air quality by filtering carbon dioxide; however, if watered too much, they can encourage mold growth.

Checklist to keep your indoor air clean and fresh

1. Change your filter every month
2. Keep the windows closed when you’re not home
3. Get rid of dust, pollen and pet dander
4. Balance your humidity and temperature levels
5. Use air purifiers
6. Make sure your furnace filters are clean
7. Use an air freshener (but not too often)
8. Keep your windows clean. Make sure to clean your windows every 4 months
9. Keep your gutters and drains clean

Cited Sources

• https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/improving-indoor-air-quality
• https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-improve-air-quality-at-home
• https://greenopedia.com/improve-indoor-air-quality/
• https://www.petro.com/resource-center/improve-indoor-air-quality

At NORTHERN TOUCH PROPERTY CARE, we offer a variety of professional commercial and residential cleaning services designed to keep your office and home healthy such as Toronto window cleaning, gutter cleaning, eavestrough cleaning, power washing and drain cleaning.  We also offer peace-of-mind through the use of eco-friendly products.

We can help you with both interior and exterior cleaning, like making your home look shiny new. They can also handle more specialized tasks, like heavy duty disinfecting.

Northern Touch Window Cleaning Toronto

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