Journalist Wilfred Peterson once said,  “A home should be a stockade, a refuge from the flaming arrows of anxiety, tension, and worry.” Today the home is not only a refuge from stress but a place to shelter from a virus that is killing people. Everyone is a homebody nowadays and the more time you spend at the house the messier your home is likely to be.

Maintaining good air quality in your home is important. There are quite a few toxins in the average home. Debris from the outside can get into the vents and walls of your home and mold can grow in places that are damp and dark.

How COVID 19 is Affecting Home Air Quality

The CDC has recommended that people stay at home as much as possible until there is a cure or vaccine for the virus. When you are at home all the time, you are likely to kick up more dust by doing activities around the house than you normally would. However, 60 percent of the dust in your home comes from outside.

Activities and Items that Create Poor Air Quality in Your Home

Chances are you have tried to stave off boredom by engaging in activities such as gardening, home improvement projects, and cooking while you have been inside. You may have put a lot of effort into that flower garden you have growing in the backyard, but when the pollen from your flowers gets into your home, it can cause problems for anyone with allergies.

Home improvement projects can generate a lot of dust. Food particles and oils can get into a homes ventilation system and you may be able to smell that baking experiment you tried for a few weeks.

Most people have heard that the majority of dust in a home is dead skin; this is actually not true. However, dead skin does act as a magnet for other debris. If you have pets, chances are they are staying home more because of the virus.

What You Can Do to Improve the Air Quality in Your Home

There are a few things you can do to make the air in your home more breathable. Be sure to vacuum and do laundry on a regular basis. Do dishes every day and make sure to dust and disinfect everything.

One of the best things you can do to improve the air quality in your home is to change the air filters. Your HVACs filters should be changed out every few months. When you don’t change the filter, your air conditioner may become stopped up. This not only makes the air conditioner work harder to keep you cool, it also makes the filter useless because it can only catch so much debris.

Filters are rated by quality. The EPA uses a rating system called MERV. Filters are rated on a scale from 1 to 20 with 20 having the best quality. HVAC professionals encourage their customers to purchase filters that rate between 8 and 13 for home use.

A good quality filter can capture debris of smaller sizes. An ordinary filter with a rating of 6 might miss such a particle. It can even trap particles with viruses on them. Click here to find out how to order a  21x23x1 Air Filters for AC and other filters.