Planning A Home Remodel? Don’t Forget These Air Quality Tips to Help You Survive
Home remodeling is a good idea for a number of reasons. Maybe you’ve found the perfect century-old Victorian, but while the house is great, the décor and layout is decades out of date, and you want to modernize.
Or maybe you’ve just been careful with your money for years, and now you’d like to finally make your current home, more truly fit your needs and preferences. Regardless of your reasons, a good remodel can improve your home life.
But keep in mind, before the work begins, you should think about one very important factor; keeping your air safe. Here’s how you can do it.
Think Long Term With a Purifier
If you’re going to be doing a major remodel anyway, you might want to think about some other fundamental home improvements such as a new furnace, or air conditioner.
However, one great, long-term addition to any home is the installation of a dedicated air purifier.
These units can either come in portable models that can be moved from room to room, or they can be larger, permanent units installed with on your HVAC system.
An air purifier can be especially useful for homes with certain lifestyle choices, such as smoking indoors.
Families that have sensitive members with chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma also greatly benefit from the presence of air purifiers, since this keeps the amount of contaminant particles in the air down to very safe, healthy levels.
Carefully Inspect Neglected Spaces
If part of the remodeling involves reclaiming unused spaces, such as finishing a basement or attic, this is another area where you should conduct a thorough, but cautious first exploration. Take particular care if these areas have had some exposure or vulnerability to the elements.
If a space has consistently admitted moisture, then there’s a chance that mold may have developed. Mold spores can cause illness in healthy people but can be especially damaging for people with pre-existing respiratory conditions. If a space has played host to rodents, ensure you have both breathing and skin protection.
Rodent remains like droppings, fur, skin or urine can all remain virulent for long periods of time. Breathing in or making physical contact with rodent remains can cause those infections to transmit to you.
Get Yourself a New Filter
When all the big things are done, there’s still one last bit of housekeeping to do before the whole job is considered complete.
If you don’t already have one in storage somewhere, go out and buy yourself a new filter for your HVAC system. It may not have been three months since your first put in the old one, but this is a special case.
The current filter in your furnace has tolerated an extraordinary amount of particle contamination from the remodeling.
It’s conceivably much dirtier right now than it would be after six months or even a year of neglect. That will bring down your HVAC efficiency, and that means your system needs to work longer and harder, which can result in higher energy bills.
However, once all that work is done for your Manchester, NH home, you can rest easy. Not only do you now have home that’s better suited to you and your family’s needs, but you also increased your property value, and you did it while keeping the air quality safe!
