Simple changes can help fight indoor air pollution
Q: I’ve been having trouble sleeping and my doctor suggested that indoor air pollution could be a factor. Do you have any tips for how to improve my home’s air quality without breaking the bank? — Jennifer A., Putney, Vermont
A: Many of the finishes and furniture in a typical home give off pollutants that compromise air quality. While opening a window might help, it also could introduce auto exhaust and other noxious emissions. So, what’s a clean-air lover to do?
For starters, it can’t hurt to change the filters on your furnace and air conditioner on a regular basis. Manufacturers recommend doing so every three months, but mileage may vary. Also, you can get your HVAC air ducts cleaned once every few years — or more frequently if you have pets.
Another way to help filter your indoor air is the all-natural way: with house plants. They scrub particulates from the air while taking in carbon dioxide and processing it into oxygen, thereby creating more clean air for us to breathe. Garden mums, spider plants, dracaenas, ficus, peace lilies, Boston ferns, snake plants and bamboo palms are great choices.
A relatively easy fix would be to purchase a plug-in air purifier that uses carbon filtration or other methods for filtering contaminants out. The Coway Mighty and Winix 5500-2 share top rankings from consumer-review service Wirecutter. The Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link gets kudos for great air cleaning with style.
If you really want to go all out, think about repainting interior walls with paint formulations that use little or no volatile organic chemicals, which have been linked to respiratory and other health problems. AFM Safecoat is the industry leader in low- and no-VOC paints and finishes, but bigger players like Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore also have options.
An easy, albeit more costly way to green up your environment is to get rid of old couches and mattresses that were required to have flame-retardant chemicals, before we knew how harmful outgassing could be. More manufacturers (including Ikea and Pottery Barn) are phasing them out so it’s a great time to shop.