Tips to Minimize Seasonal Allergies This Spring

Most of us are happy when the evenings start to get lighter and the temperature rises but with springtime also comes a variety of challenges for those of us with allergies. If you find the Spring season to be more of an ordeal than a much-anticipated pleasure, you are sure to appreciate the suggestions in this guide. In it, our HVAC cleaning technicians have gathered together their top tips for everyone who suffers from allergies when springtime comes around each year.

Our Air Duct Cleaning Arvada Team’s Top Tips for Allergy Sufferers

During the course of our work, we see the direct effects that different domestic environments, personal habits, and cleaning practices have on air quality around the home. Using the knowledge that we have accumulated over the years, we have put together this brief guide for allergy sufferers. Below, we share our top tips on how to minimize allergy symptoms when spring rolls around every year. The primary goal, of course, is to reduce the volume of allergens in the air that circulates around your home, a goal that can best be achieved by:

• Regular Vacuuming – This is important in any home but especially in homes with pets that molt, such as dogs and cats. If you have dogs or cats in your home, we recommend vacuuming carpets and upholstery several times a week, if not daily, to keep the amount of pet dander and hair in the air to a minimum. A modern vacuum cleaner with a functional HEPA filter can help you to significantly reduce the amount of allergens in the air around your home. For those with more severe allergies, it is a good idea to keep pets in outdoor enclosures rather than allowing them to roam free in your home. If you don’t have pets, a weekly or biweekly vacuuming routine should suffice in all but the dustiest of areas.
• Steam Cleaning – In addition to regular vacuuming, you should steam clean carpeting and upholstery once every couple of years, more frequently in homes with pets or particularly busy households. In homes where we perform regular air vent cleaning, we generally notice an improvement in the overall air quality after the carpeting has been professionally steam cleaned. While you can rent steam cleaning machines, they are not normally of sufficient quality to do the job properly. Therefore, if you want to ensure that your carpeting is hygienically clean, we recommend finding a local carpet cleaning company with their own truck-mounted steam cleaning machines.
• Eliminating Mold and Mildew – Mold and mildew both spread in a similar fashion, through airborne spores that travel around your home, riding the currents produced by your domestic HVAC system. These spores are bad news for your health whether or not you suffer from allergies, but may produce more physical symptoms if you do. By eliminating all mold and mildew in your home, you can significantly improve the quality of the air that is circulating in each room. Mold and mildew thrive in damp conditions so the best way to ensure that neither can grow on the walls or other surfaces in your home is to introduce adequate ventilation and to use dehumidifiers at certain times of the year if necessary.
• Changing Air Filters Regularly – We recommend changing all replaceable air filters in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines, to ensure they continue to work as intended. This recommendation applies to central HVAC filters, split air con filters, air purifier filters, and vacuum filters. In short, if it has a replaceable element, make sure you replace it when necessary. There is a variety of different types of HEPA filters for sale today, with individual filters graded according to their efficiency. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, we recommend following the manufacturer’s guidelines with regard to the grade of filters you use in your HVAC system, standalone air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, etc.
• Occasional Air Duct Cleaning- This may not come as a surprise, considering the source of these recommendations, but it is nonetheless a sound suggestion. If you want to minimize the allergy symptoms you suffer this springtime, we recommend having your ducts cleaned by a professional. An experienced duct and vent cleaner will be able to sanitize your ductwork, leaving your system operating at maximum efficiency. The average domestic ducted HVAC system should be cleaned once every 3-5 years according to industry experts. However, we recommend cleaning them only when necessary. An annual duct inspection, performed by a suitably qualified professional, will be enough to determine when your system needs to be cleaned.
• Occasional Furnace Cleaning – Many homeowners make the mistake of having their ducts cleaned but not their furnaces. In such cases, the furnace starts to circulate more pollutants around the ducting as soon as it is turned on again. With this in mind, we recommend that you have your furnace inspected and cleaned whenever necessary. If you want to avoid problems with dampness during the colder months of the year, we also recommend paying professional furnace cleaners to service your system before the mercury starts to drop again.