As I’ve written about many times, I have allergies and asthma…and, of course, a house full of animals! For the past 10 years, we’ve been using Filtrete™ filters in our central air system to filter out allergens, dust, pet hair, and other irritants.
Recently, Filtrete issued some winter tips from home improvement expert Jodi Marks, former co-host of HGTV’s Fix It Up! and co-author of Fix It In a Flash, a how-to book on the basics of home repair. She is currently a cast member of the show Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford and is an expert on the Filtrete Healthy Home Authority panel.
Here at our home, we’ve been going through the list of tips to help improve our own air quality and help us keep a healthy, clean home. Here are her tips and our actions in our pet-filled home:
- When sealing up the home to help keep the warm air in, keep in mind that indoor air can be two to five times worse than outdoor air, according to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA). To help improve your home’s indoor air quality and keep your heating system running efficiently, use a high performance filter, like the Filtrete Elite Allergen Reduction filter from 3M. It captures 94 percent of large airborne particles, such as pet dander, mold spores and dust mite debris, from the air passing through the filter. The EPA suggests changing your filter every three months, so a good rule of thumb is to change your filter at the start of every season.
In our house: As I mentioned, we use Filtrete filters and we change ours out even more often than recommended. John writes the date on each filter when he changes them out so we can see at a glance the date it was installed. The last filter was installed in mid-September:
But the amount of dust, hair, pollen, and dander on the filter in just two months is amazing (and actually gross):
My dusting duties…not to mention my breathing…are improved by the filter catching so much dust, dander, hair, and more!
- Properly installing weatherproofing around your doors and windows and ensuring the insulation in your attic hasn’t gotten compacted can reduce air leakage in the home and help you save on your energy bill, according to Energy Star. Be sure to check around the dryer vent, the kitchen exhaust hood vent and even the water bib for your garden hose. These are prime areas where warm air can escape through your walls to the outside.
In our house: We don’t have an attic in our house but we definitely check the weatherproofing around the doors and windows both in the winter and in the summer. (I especially worry about around the dryer vent because I worry about snakes coming in from outdoors–one of the joys of country living–so we really keep a close eye on that one!)
- No one enjoys coming home to a frigid house at the end of a long day, but no one wants the expense of running the heat at full blast all the time, either. An easy solution is to use a programmable thermostat that can also help to reduce energy costs and keep your home warm and toasty.
In our house: This is one area we’ve been talking about changing in our house! We don’t have a programmable thermostat and we really could use one. Just last night, I woke up with 75-pound Irie on one side of me and 65-pound Tiki on the other side and I was tossing off covers to stay cool! We could put that energy to better use by turning down the thermostat before we all go to bed…time to harness some of that dog energy and reduce our heating bill!
- The leaves are falling from the trees as winter quickly approaches. Heavily weighted down gutters from water and leaves can begin to pull them away from the fascia boards and lead to structural problems down the road. Be sure to keep your gutters clean and ensure they drain water properly by filling in low areas with soil and slope the ground away from your home’s foundation.
In our house: Just this weekend, John got on the roof and cleaned out our gutters. The severe Texas drought has really meant a deluge of leaves in the gutters.
- A large and costly roof problem can be avoided by identifying small leaks, which can occur from the effects of strong winds that push rainwater under the shingles of your roof. Just because shingles are still in place doesn’t mean that there aren’t tears in them that could result in leaking, so be sure to have your roof inspected by a licensed professional.
In our house: We have a metal roof on our home but we still have the same concerns; the ridge at the top of the roof can leak (leaves can get blown beneath it, too). We’re expecting (hoping!) for rain tonight. It has been so long since we had a good rain that we’ll be watchful for leaks.
I’m really, really looking forward to cold weather (after this summer’s record heat) and I’m looking forward to staying warm and comfortable in our house. I love that there’s an easy to way to help keep our home cleaner–and help manage my allergies–in one quick step!
For More Information:
- visit http://www.filtrete.com
Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Filtrete and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
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