It is exciting to watch the world start to open back up again – at last! Finally, there seems to be some hope on the horizon that we’ll be able to put the pandemic behind us.
But we are not there yet. And before we can get there, we have to run the gauntlet of the spring allergy season here in Ontario, Canada.
While we still know far too little about how to prevent COVID-19, we actually know quite a lot about how to prevent, or at least minimize, spring allergy symptoms.
In this post, learn the three steps to allergy proof your indoor space – keeping your immune system strong and your spring season healthy!
If you’re not sure how to get started with your indoor air quality, give us a call at CleanAir Solutions in Hamilton, Ontario, today! We’ll ensure that your indoor air is clean and ready for summer!
3 Steps to Allergy Proof Your Indoor Space This Spring
Recent reports indicate that one in five Canadians suffer from seasonal allergies. It used to be one in six!
But with global warming spurring pollen-producing foliage on to ever greater production levels, the number of sufferers just continues to increase. And reports of seasonal allergy symptoms indicate these are worsening as well.
This was worrisome enough on its own….before COVID-19!
Now there is a new urgency to protect our respiratory and overall health.
These three allergy proofing steps have the potential to minimize, or even prevent, seasonal allergy symptoms from weakening your immune response and ruining your spring.
Step 1: Identify the Major Allergy Triggers in Your Space
Step one to allergy proof your home this spring is to identify the source of your allergy symptoms.
Common culprits include dust mites, pollen, pet dander, insects (primarily waste), mould and mildew.
These are usually the triggers you need to remove from your space in order to minimize or prevent seasonal allergy symptoms. But how can you do that?
Step 2: Identify the Correct Category for Each Airborne Toxin
Indoor air quality is not just a fancy-sounding term. It is a science. And our CleanAir Solutions technicians understand it well!
This has never been more true than it is now, when the global pandemic has called on every air quality researcher, engineer and scientist to step up their game.
What we have collectively learned is that we already have very effective technology to combat airborne toxins of every type – liquid, gas and solid.
What we do not yet have is effective implementation. In other words, all the technology in the world does us no good if we are not using it!
So, now is the time to categorize each airborne toxin so that we know what type of indoor air quality antidote is needed to combat it.
Solid Allergens
Solid airborne toxins are tiny bits of organic matter. Some are so tiny you would need a very strong microscope to see them.
Solid toxins include matter like dust, dust mites, ash from cooking and smoking, pollen, pet dander, mould spores, mildew spores and dirt.
The majority of seasonal allergy producing toxins fall into this category.
Liquid Allergens
The most prevalent example of a liquid airborne toxin right now is the dreaded SARS-CoV-2 liquid droplet.
Thanks to the impact of evaporation, we now know that the initially large and heavy droplets can quickly evaporate to become lighter and more buoyant, at which point they can land on an airborne micro particle solid and travel much farther distances.
There are many other liquid toxins to worry about as well.
Many common household cleaning products contain liquid toxins like bleach, hydrogen peroxide or ammonia.
E-cigarette liquid, flea and tick sprays, liquid pesticides and repellents, drain and toilet cleaners, windshield washer fluid, antifreeze and refrigerant are other common examples of liquid allergens.
Gaseous Allergens
Gaseous toxins are the hardest to spot because they are typically invisible to the naked eye. Luckily, many carry characteristic odours that make them easier to detect, such as the rotten egg sulfur smell of a gas leak.
Carbon monoxide is the most famous and is called the colourless, odourless killer.
Ozone, volatile organic compounds, chlorine and other gases are also known toxins that can produce a range of serious or deadly health symptoms.
Step 3: Identify the Right Air Quality Antidote for Each Category of Toxins
Once you have completed step one – identifying the toxins inside your indoor air – and step two – properly categorizing each toxin by type – it is time to apply the correct antidote to stop your symptoms from occurring.
There are two major types of indoor air quality technologies: air filtration and air purification.
Solid airborne toxins are best addressed through indoor air filtration, while purification will most effectively neutralize liquid and gaseous airborne toxins.
So let’s take a look at each now.
Air Filtration
The type of air filtration most people recognize is a furnace filter. What most people don’t know is the average furnace filter’s only real job is to keep the blower motor from becoming clogged.
It is not designed to handle tiny solid microparticles like the type that can carry a COVID-19 droplet or a microscopic particle of pollen.
For these tiny toxic solids, what you need is a HEPA Filter.
HEPA filter systems can filter 99.97 percent of airborne solid toxins as small as 1/100th the width of a single human hair.
Air Purification
Air purification uses concentrated short-wave ultraviolet light to neutralize both liquid and gaseous airborne toxins.
By changing the organic structure of these toxins, ultraviolet air purification systems render them harmless to you and your family.
Both central and portable HEPA filter systems and ultraviolet air purification systems exist.
Contact CleanAir Solutions in Hamilton, Ontario, for Expert Indoor Air Quality Solutions
CleanAir Solutions is proud to be one of the most trusted indoor air quality providers in Hamilton, Ontario, and surrounding areas.
Our friendly, prompt, experienced and highly trained indoor air quality experts can improve the air inside your home and workplace before your allergy symptoms hit! We also offer a variety of solutions to fit every budget.
Give us a call at 1-905-549-2470 or visit us online. And be sure to check out our spring cleaning deals!
