Why you should care about your indoor air

   If you care about your family’s health, you should care about the quality of the air inside your home. Allergies, illness, and long-term health can all be affected either in a positive or negative fashion depending on the quality of the air inside your home. According to the Environmental Protection Agency the air inside your home can be 2 to 10 times worse than the outside air. It is difficult for our immune system to keep up with the abundance of particles, germs and gases that are locked inside the tight, energy-efficient homes that are built with today's construction methods.

   Think about this: You know how when you see the sun’s rays streaming through a window and you can see all of the dust floating around in the sunbeam? There are millions of microscopic particles that float around in the air all the time. And those in the sunbeam are the ones that are actually big enough to see. Ninety eight percent of all airborne particles measure below 1 micron in size and are invisible.

   So imagine breathing all of those in. Your body’s lungs are like a filter. They will filter out the larger particles, yet these smallest of particles that are potentially the most injurious to your health pass right through. Our products “protects your air space” by clearing the air inside your home of harmful particles, biohazards such as viruses, and gases from chemicals.

   Explore our site to find solutions to each of these dangerous hazards and protect the air space inside your home. With Air Pollution Solutions, you can:

• Control the dirt and dust that accumulates inside your heating and cooling system
  that can reduce its efficiency by as much as 30 – 50%.

• Control the allergens that cause allergic reactions and asthmatic attacks.

• Control and deactivate organisms such as germs, mold, spores, bacteria, and viruses.

• Control the noxious odors created by people, pets, smoke, solvents, carpets, and vinyl coverings.

• Control the toxins created by pressed-wood products and other materials that cause human ailments.

Dangers of Indoor Air

For over 4 decades we have been tightening up our homes to make them more energy efficient. This has caused indoor air pollution to rise to levels that the Environmental Protection Agency states is two to 10 times higher than the outside air. The considerable rise in the occurrence of allergic reactions, asthma attacks and other common ailments caused by this increased level of indoor air means the problem is real and only getting worse.

                                             What causes this "indoor pollution"?

  There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobacco products;

building materials and furnishings, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution.

With all of these sources contributing to the poor quality of the indoor we breathe, it's easy to see how the harmful effects can be difficult to control. Contact us here at A.P.S to conduct an air quality audit of your home to determine what risks you and your family are exposed to and how to best eliminate or minimize those dangers through Air Pollution Solutions.

A dirty furnace or air conditioning system can be costing you a lot of money in utility bills!

A poorly maintained cooling and heating system, including dirty ductwork, can cost hundreds in higher utility bills. This can all be prevented with a proper indoor air quality inspection from our trained professionals!

Did you know?

 According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency): "Accumulated debris can restrict the air flow in your air ducts, making your system work harder to heat and cool your home. A build up of .042 (1/20) inches of dirt on the heating or cooling coil can result in a decrease in efficiency of 21% increasing your monthly utility and fuel bills.”

Is your home making you sick?

   Thousands of years ago when humans began populating the earth we lived outdoors breathing fresh air that was constantly being cleansed by Mother Nature. Thunderstorms, lightning, and ultraviolet energy from the sun continually cleansed the outdoor air. Although our outdoor air is more polluted today than it was thousands of years ago, Mother Nature is still at work keeping the outdoor air as clean as possible.

   These natural cleaning agents outdoors are not naturally present indoors and we humans add a vast array of pollutants indoors from building materials, adhesives, cleaning chemicals, disinfectant sprays, deodorizers, insecticides, paints, stains and the list goes on.

   To conserve energy, we have also tightened up our homes by locking in these pollutants and making the effects even worse. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that our indoor air environment can be two to 10 times worse than the worst outside air. You see, our body's immune systems are designed to handle outside air that has been cleansed by these natural processes, but they can't keep up with the levels of indoor air pollution that we create.

   There are three types of airborne contaminants; particles, biologicals, and gas phase. And most of them are not even visible to the naked eye. The American Lung Association tells us that breathing particles that measure below three microns in size can be detrimental to our health and 98% of all particles we breathe are less than one micron in size. That's some small stuff that disposable filters cannot remove from the air.

   We live and breathe with high levels of these three types of contamination including a large amount of dust mite feces. Over 2 million dust mites live in the average double bed and millions more in carpets and rugs. Dust mites feed on the millions of skin flakes that we shed daily and release hundreds of millions of fecal pellet allergens into the air we breathe each day.

   As a result, asthma and allergies are on the rise along with other ailments caused by polluted indoor air; such as headaches, dizziness, respiratory infections, throat and ear infections, colds and flu.