If you often stay indoors, you’ll probably wonder: how much fresh air does a house need? It’s hard to work, study, or do what we need to do if we often cough or sneeze indoors, which leads us to the question: are we cleaning our indoor air properly?
Fresh air is needed by any living being to stay healthy. Anyone will get sick if they inhale too much pollution and unwanted chemicals in the air. That’s why we wrote this article – to let you know the importance of fresh air indoors and how to maintain it in your house.
Fortunately, cleaning the air indoors can be done in more ways than one. Wherever you live, there’s a solution to getting fresh air when you stay inside the house.
How do you get fresh air in your house?
If you are wondering how to get fresh air in your home, here are some easy ways to do it:
1. Use an air purifier
Air purifiers clean the air using their special HEPA air filters, which will clean up to 99.9% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, so long as you clean/change the filter properly and regularly. These units are seen in both hospitals and homes but they have to be positioned in the right way to get the most out of them. Learn more on how to use an air purifier effectively.
2. Open the windows
Another sure-fire way to get fresh air in the home is simple – open your windows from time to time (not when there’s smog or high pollen count!) to ensure proper air circulation inside your home. If you don’t have ventilation areas, skip to the next part on how to air out your home without windows.
3. Vacuum and wipe
When you clean up your home, you’re reducing the particles in the air that makes you sneeze or cough. Vacuuming regularly and wiping surfaces when needed will help to keep the air pure and fresh, especially if you:
- Have pets around the house
- Live in an industrial area
- Have guests
- Live with someone who smokes
How can I get air in my home without opening windows?
Opening windows is troublesome if you’re already in a pollution-filled area. What’s more, if you live in a room without windows, such as condo units and apartments, that is even more challenging. So, how do you add fresh air to your home without windows? Here are some ways:
1. Clean your home regularly
By cleaning your home regularly, you’re lessening the particles in the air and the result is a fresh breathing space. If you have a vacuum cleaner, choose one that has a quality filter and make sure to always clean that filter when needed.
2. Look for a device to clean air in the home
Air purifiers are usually the best candidates for this. We’ve explained what air purifiers can do above, but what should you look for? Here are the filters that an air purifier usually has nowadays:
| Filter type | Uses | Maintenance |
| Pre-filter | For large dust and pet fur | Usually washable |
| HEPA filter | For smaller particles (dust, pollen, smoke) | Usually 6 months replacement |
| Activated carbon filter | For bad odors, VOCs | Depends on the manufacturer instructions |
| UV lamp | For killing bacteria, germs, and viruses | Usually replaced when needed |
3. Manage the humidity
Sometimes, mold will make the air feel stuffy, which is why you’ll also need a dehumidifier if you live in a coastal area or tropical place. A normal humidity will keep mold at bay.
If you believe that your home has a terrible mold infestation, you could also contact professionals to help you get rid of it. Mold will cause you to get dizzy and sick when inhaled too often.
4. Start planting
You can add plants indoors as most of them will absorb VOCs in your home, making the air fresh and smelling good. Not only that – plants add décor to your home. Consider the following plants if you want to lessen the stuffy household chemicals indoors:
- bamboo palm
- rubber tree (rubber plant)
- jade plant
- peace lily
- Caribbean tree cactus
- dracaena
- spider plant
- weeping fig
- bromeliad
How do you air out a house fast?
Are you looking for a quick solution to air out your home? Here are easy ways to do it:
1. Go all out with ventilation
Although this is common sense, opening up windows and using electric fans are still the best ways to air out your home quickly. Make sure to do them both because just having a fan move the air indoors will not ensure that you have well-circulated air.
Whether it’s a ceiling fan or a stand fan, their primary purpose is to help move the air in your home. These fans are essentially replacing the warm air with cooler air in the summer.
If the air is simply too hot, you can also add ice water in a container and place it in front of the fan, which will also save you some cents as you don’t need to turn on the AC unit.
2. Plan your meals early
Sometimes, cooking and baking food items in the middle of the day add up to the heat. You may want to use your appliances early in the morning when the temperatures are still fair and square. In this way, you’ll have less stuffy air by noontime.
3. Open windows sparingly
To air out your room fast, a good 15-minute window time (pun intended) is recommended. Too much air from the outside world isn’t good because it will pollute your indoor air. Opening your windows sparingly will simply add ventilation and proper air circulation.
Conclusion
Can bad air quality make you sick? The short answer is yes, and that’s why we all need fresh air to breathe indoors. Indoor air quality still needs to be checked from time to time so that you know you’re breathing fresh air.
Because the air indoors doesn’t circulate well as compared to outdoor air, it pays to make some adjustments to improve your breathing space. We hope that these tips helped you to freshen your home!
