How to improve air quality in your home

We spend a lot of time indoors – about 90 per cent of our time, in fact.¹ And given that concentrations of certain pollutants are often two to five times higher indoors than outdoors, it’s clear that it’s vital to have good air quality in our homes. Let us give you some ideas to improve indoor air quality so that your home is as happy and healthy as possible.

The importance of improving air quality

Low air quality can have serious health consequences. In the UK, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology considers environmental tobacco smoke, heating, and cooking appliances to be the most important sources of indoor air pollution at home, with the main health effects relating to the lungs and heart.² So, it’s clear that good air quality in our homes is essential and learning how to improve air quality should be high on any home’s ‘to-do’ list.

What causes low air quality indoors?

Before we get into how to improve indoor air quality, we need to consider what affects it in the first place. Poor air quality can be caused by things like:

• Particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide, from: fireplaces, wood or coal heating, and cooking appliances
• Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
• Chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, from: paints, varnishes, air fresheners, cleaning supplies, furniture, furnishings
• Building materials, like asbestos
• Allergens, like dust mites and pet dander
• Mould

Air pollutants from outdoors can also come inside, through open windows and doors, cracks, ventilation systems, and what we bring in on our shoes and clothes. These include:

• Radon gases from the ground
• Traffic emissions from busy roads
• Smoke from industrial processes
• Volatile chemicals from contaminated ground water or soils
• Pollutants from dust and soil
• Allergens from outdoors, including pollen