Our home should be our sanctuary, a safe, calm and relaxing place where you can enjoy time with your family. But more importantly, it needs to be a healthy place that isn’t in any way harmful to you or your family members. In most cases, we are not aware of how unhealthy our home really is, and thus we are unable to fix the issues. In this article, we will explore some ways in which you can create a healthier living environment in the comfort of your own home.
Don’t be a hoarder
In other words get rid of everything and anything you don’t need. Start with the spaces you spend the most time in like the living room, kitchen and bedroom. The less clutter you have the less the dust collection will be and the rooms will seem much more spacious. Minimise the number of items on the shelves, and make sure your gadgets are evenly dispersed around the space. Now, don’t simply cram everything you need in the garage, attic or basement. The goal is to free up all the space in your home, so think about donating, recycling or holding a garage sale to get rid of the unnecessary clutter. That way you will end up with a cleaner, less stuffy place that will enable easier maintenance.
Get that quality air flowing
The air quality is essential for a healthy home. By doing the decluttering as mentioned in the previous paragraph you are already enabling better air flow. The next step is to get a quality HEPA air purifier that will help eliminate unwanted elements from your home, such as different types of allergens like dust, bacteria, pollen and even mould spores and pet dander, thus making the entire environment far healthier. However, keep in mind that airing out your home is equally important as you need fresh oxygen supply. Even in winter, keeping the windows open for thirty minutes or so can really make a difference.
Make sure your home is dry
Mould flourishes under humid conditions and can be one of the main causes of breathing difficulties. This is why it is important to have a dry home. The first step is to check insulation both in the basement and attic so that you can detect any possible sources of moisture and deal with them. It is much harder to resolve it gets into the walls, as they can take a lot more time to dry. So any leaks or wall discoloration needs to be fixed and checked so as to ensure that the situation doesn’t escalate and ends up causing major health issues for the entire family.
A radon check is something to consider
In the US approximately one in fifteen homes has a high level of radon, a radioactive gas released when uranium naturally breaks down in the soil, rocks, and water. This poisonous gas is considered to be one of the leading causes of lung cancer with the non-smoker population. So it is definitely something you don’t want to have in your home. The biggest issue is that it is odourless so there is no way to detect without looking for it precisely and getting a radon detection kit for your home. It is inexpensive and available at most home improvement shops. The EPA considers a reading of 4 picocuries per litre of air (pCi/L) or greater to be unsafe. So if your results are higher than that, you will need to hire a specialised contractor to install pipes for radon ventilation in order to remove it from your home and keep your family safe.
Don’t skip over the hard-to-reach places
The biggest source of contamination are those hard-to-reach places that we tend to skip over. Just because they are not visible it doesn’t mean that they should be dirty. Of course, this takes additional effort, but when it comes to creating a healthy home it is definitely worth it. Start by cleaning under the kitchen elements, a lot of grease and debris from food preparation ends up there, and unless it is cleaned immediately it starts rotting providing ideal space for bacteria to breed. The same goes for your bathroom, regular tile scrubbing is a must if you don’t want mould develop and spread considering that that is the room that has the highest humidity levels in the entire home.
So there you have it some of the most efficient ways of making your home healthier for yourself and your entire family. Most of these things are easy to do and inexpensive, all it takes is a bit of organisation and will and you will have your ideal serene oasis every time you get home from work. And once you do a once-over the maintenance becomes even easier.
Zara Lewis is a regular contributor at ripped.me, a traveller and a mother to two. Originally from Chicago, she found her place in the sun in Perth, Australia. Passionate about creating a better world for the generations to come, she enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with others.