Indoor Air Quality, Cleaning & Recommendations
Indoor air quality, what pollutants are, health consequences and how to get rid of them. The problem is of great concern to the international research community that foresee consequences for the health of populations. The air in your home or office could be altered in a way that would cause an environment that is unhealthy for human health.
When we talk about indoor pollution, we are talking about poor air quality inside enclosed environments. For example, residential or commercial housing, office buildings, schools, etc.
Also, did you know that you spend more than 80% of your time indoors in enclosed spaces that are often up to 5x more polluted than outdoors?
Secondly, it should be mentioned here that humans will most of the time come into contact with air pollution inside enclosed spaces. For example, the house or place where you work.
Indoor dust picks up pollution from the outside and thus circulates in the air you breathe.
In short, indoor pollution includes a large number of pollutants that will alter indoor air quality. Biological, physical and chemical pollutants are found.
When you consider that we breathe an average of 12,000 litres of air per day, there are reasons to be concerned about the air we breathe every day, whether it's in our homes or workplaces.
Air duct cleaning, ventilation; They need to be cleaned to keep the indoor air clean.
Your ventilation system and air ducts must be perfectly clean for optimal indoor air quality. In this way, you prevent pollutants from coming into contact with your lungs. Thorough cleaning done by a professional company every 3 to 5 years will be necessary. Check out our duct cleaning ventilation information page
If you have a central ventilation system and want to go a step further, you can have a carbon filter installed on your main air return. A tinsmith can make a special opening for you for this purpose. Then use a carbon filter with little restriction. This will absorb harmful gases and fumes that ordinary filters do not retain. The carbon filter absorbs harmful gases such as VOCs.
In this way, you will keep your ventilation ducts dust-free and clean. In addition, with clean air ducts, you avoid coming into contact with various pollutants that are unsuitable for the human condition.
Finally, you avoid the complications that these different pollutants could cause you to develop several allergies and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is recognized as a problem. So if you can't change the air content in your whole city tomorrow morning, at least do it at home.
What affects indoor air quality?
The air quality in your locality is a first factor. For example, the different sources of pollution at the location where the building was constructed. If, for example, your house is built as a highway or an industrial area. Fine particles, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, etc. could be found. In addition, indoor air is generally 5 times more polluted than outdoor air.
Thus, indoor air is outdoor air with other pollutants that add to it. Consult the air quality index in Montreal or Laval in real time.
So, other sources of pollution are inside a building
For example, burning while preparing a meal, cleaning products in your home could also release other pollutants. In addition, there are indoor pollutants of a biological nature and fumes from materials, mold etc.
Also the various gases from humans, allergens, microorganisms, viruses, parasites, fungi, etc. Thus, its different components will alter the quality of the indoor air!
The list is very long regarding the different pollutants that can be found inside a house. They can also be found inside an office building or a shopping mall, to name a few. Several means are necessary to protect yourself: you need to have an air exchanger that effectively evacuates stale air, you need to vacuum often and you need to do a good cleaning of air ducts every 5 years.
More harmful pollutants in the air inside your home.
If you want to know more about the different pollutants that can be found inside your home. You can check out this webpage provided by Wikipedia.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): The building materials around you can release polluting emissions into your home. For example, if your walls are painted, be aware that they will emit fumes for many years.
Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs): These compounds will be present primarily in dust that will be aerosolized, inhaled or ingested. Some of these pollutants could have effects on your nervous and immune systems. And this could lead to decreased fertility, malformation, different cancers, etc.
Gases from combustion: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, tobacco smoke, etc.
Fine particles: this kind of pollution will come from smoking, from cooking food. And don't forget your oil or wood heating system. As well as different activities that you could do inside your home. The different mineral wools used to insulate your home will also release different fine particles into the atmosphere of the house.
Finally, other pollutants are also present inside your building! Here is a list: (we invite you to consult the Wikipedia site on indoor pollution in confined spaces to learn more.
Biological and chemical contaminants: Dust mites, dust, pet allergens, mold, smelly bacteria, pollens, bed bugs, rodents, insects, asbestos, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide, smoke, mercury, carbon monoxide, ozone, fine particulate matter, pesticides, lead.
How can we improve indoor air quality?
Reducing contaminant infiltration and emission through good habits
Remove shoes when entering the house
Close windows during rush hour with more pollution, during a heat wave or if there is smoke outside
Store household products and paint in the garage to limit fumes
Controls humidity levels to prevent mold and mildew
Vacuum often (a central vacuum in the garage or a vacuum with a HEPA filter are ideal)
Cleaning the ventilation system, carpets, furniture, mattresses and curtains: opt for affordable and effective professional carpet cleaning
Use eco-friendly household products
Avoid scented candles and incense
Spring cleaning, throwing away old produce, shaking carpets outside
Take a radon test
Natural and mechanical ventilation
Natural ventilation is simply opening a window, for example. In summer, ventilate at night when it is cool and after hours of high pollution. In winter, we will prioritize a mild day. For example, you can open in the bathroom when showering for a brief ventilation if you don't want to leave a window open for too long. Finally, to allow fresh air to circulate inside, you can open two windows. You can also leave the stove fan running by having one open a few millimeters, further away in another room.
The air exchanger
The air exchanger is excellent for evacuating stale air, equipped with filters that also limit the infiltration of certain pollutants with the supply of fresh air. The central forced-air system allows for continuous filtration of the indoor air. In addition, in the event of a period of high outdoor pollution such as a forest fire or a heat wave, the system allows the house to be kept closed.
With our homes and buildings becoming more and more airtight, the air exchanger is a must-have. Indeed, the air exchanger, as its name suggests, changes the air, which protects you against an accumulation of indoor contaminants. It will be recommended to do the air exchanger cleaning every 5 years.
Since 2012, the installation of an air exchanger has been mandatory in new constructions, as stipulated in the Quebec Building Code.
Air purification or filtration
Air filtration devices with fans can be really effective in "depolluting" indoor air in an airtight place. For good performance, an air purifier should be equipped with a high-performance HEPA filter and, ideally, a second carbon filter.
So if you have a ventilation system with a HEPA filter in the furnace, an air purifier with a carbon filter adds an extra level of filtration for gases and VOCs.
Thus, an air purifier can be used in a specific room or at specific times. For example, in the room of an asthmatic person at night. They're really effective if you don't have an air exchanger.
Air duct cleaning
If you have a forced-air system, you need to have it cleaned inside the ducts
Cleaning Experts, who has been in business for almost 30 years! We are considered one of the best ventilation system cleaning companies in Quebec. For three years in a row, we have won the Consumer Choice Award. Of course, this certainly means that our customers are extremely satisfied with our services. Check out our page on air duct cleaning.
We have the best teams of technicians with a great deal of experience!
They specialize in ventilation duct or ventilation duct cleaning. They are able to work for the private, commercial, industrial or institutional sector, such as schools or hospitals.
We have the best equipment! It has been specially designed to suck up as many particles as possible from the inside of your home to the outside. All this pollution will be trapped in a specially designed tank. In addition, it should be mentioned that we have a factory truck. It is equipped with an engine capable of sucking in 16,000 cubic feet of air per minute. This is the joint work of 1000 high-quality household vacuum cleaners! Also inquire about our residential carpet cleaning.
Air Quality Monitors
Over-the-counter air quality monitors are affordable and provide you with interesting data. Equipped with electrochemical sensors, they are designed to help you monitor levels of invisible and harmful pollutants.
In conclusion, indoor air quality is a serious concern for our company! Thus, our employees will effectively rid you of all pollutants in the form of particles that can be found in your home or business.
If you want to improve air quality by cleaning ducts, contact us
Call one of our technicians who will be happy to answer all your questions! If you need to, he will give you detailed explanations regarding the importance of air quality inside a building. You can reach us at 866-544-3333 toll-free in Quebec to learn more about ventilation duct cleaning. If you don't like dust, you'll like Cleaning Experts. We are more than 10 teams and we offer carpet cleaning, sofa cleaning, deep cleaning and more.
