As fall approaches, it’s important to prepare your home for the cooler months by cleaning any excess junk around your home and more specifically paying attention to your indoor air quality. If you’re not sure what debris you should be addressing, we’re here to provide you with some great ways to do so.

Air Filters Should Be Replaced

Most residences have furnaces and most furnaces have replaceable air filters. And if your home is one of them, then it’s your responsibility to make sure your air filters are replaced frequently.

Unfortunately this easy task is often one that is overlooked by homeowners. Once fall approaches it’s especially important to replace your air filters because air filters reduce allergens that make their way into your home, such as pollen, dander, dust, bacteria, and mold.

If your air filter hasn’t been replaced regularly, it’s not doing the job it was designed to do. But replacing the filter is easy. Check to see which type and model filter your unit uses and then purchase the correct replacement.

Most filters either pop or slide out of the unit and then just put the new one in, and that’s all it takes. Your heating system is now ready to tackle the approaching fall weather.

Clean With Nontoxic Chemicals

Many cleaning agents are made with chemicals, and sometimes those chemicals can create toxins if you’re not careful, affecting your air quality.

But fortunately, there are many non-toxic cleaning chemicals and agents that most homeowners can use, creating a safe environment for you. Bonus! Many of them you probably already have in your pantry!

White vinegar has long been used as a cleaning agent because of its variety of uses. Mixed with water in a 1 to 2 ratio it can be used to mop floors. In a 1 to 4 ratio with water, it can disinfect a microwave oven or dishwasher. Or use it to clean laminate countertops.

Baking soda has deodorizing capabilities. Leave an open box in your fridge or freezer to capture unpleasant scents, and then just dispose of the box after a few weeks. Or sprinkle baking soda on a mattress before vacuuming it up to freshen your bedding.

Finally, tea tree oil is great for disinfecting and killing mold. Mix a few drops into a spray bottle and spray the mixture onto moldy areas, like in a bathroom, and then wipe the mold away. It will also help make your home smell better as well.

Check For Gas Leaks

Most homes use natural gas in one form or another. Whether it’s in appliances like gas fireplaces or kitchen ranges, or to heat their homes, when you have gas in your home there’s always the risk of a gas leak.

And gas leaks can be dangerous or even deadly, so it’s important to check for them regularly. If you ever smell the scent of rotten eggs in your residence, you should leave immediately because it may be a gas leak. Once outside the home contact assistance.

If you’re worried that your range or other appliances may be leaking, then contact our pros at Lascko Services. We have the expertise to assist you with all your gas leaks and concerns. When fall approaches and the weather turns colder, it’s important to clean your summer debris and prepare your home for the changing temperatures.

There are many things you can do to keep your home safe and happy in the fall and winter, but if these tasks are something that you don’t want to tackle on your own or have more questions, then contact our staff for further assistance.

Whatever your reason for loving spring, one thing you probably don’t love about this season is the dust and pollen in the air. If you have allergies, springtime can be a nightmare for you, because of all the dust in the air.

While you can’t do anything about the allergens lurking outside your door, we can give you some pointers on how you can improve your indoor air quality, to make allergens entering your home “bite the dust!”

What is “Air Quality” Anyway?

Your air quality depends on how much dust, pollen, mold, etc. is present in the air inside your home. It’s important to be aware of your air quality because poor air quality can lead to some pretty serious health complications.

If you suffer from allergies, having a higher content of dust and pollen in your air can be a nightmare for you. If you are or someone in your home is an asthmatic, dusty or moldy air could lead to a trip to the emergency room in an ambulance.

So what can you do to improve your air quality this spring? It all begins with your air filter.

How Often Should You Change Your Air Filter?

If you notice that your home is excessively dusty, smells stale or moldy, or that your skin, eyes and throat chargel irritated all of the time, it may because you aren’t replacing your air filter often enough.

When air enters your home from the outside, it often brings things like dust and pollen with it. As it cycles through your HVAC system, it can spread those allergens throughout your house.

That’s why you need an air filter to trap the dust, mold, pollen, and other contaminants that come into the unit before they cycle through your home. It is usually recommended that you replace or clean your air filter every 30-90 days, but during the spring it may be a good idea to change it once a month since there is more dust in the air this time of year.

Why is Clean Air so Important?

Prioritizing air quality is a smart move for anyone to make because it could greatly improve so many areas of your life. Having cleaner air means having a cleaner home, so you’ll spend less money on cleaning products and less time using them.

Clean air also improves conditions like asthma, allergies and skin sensitivity. Cleaner air will even make your house smell nicer since it will have less dust and mold to make it smell musty or stale.

You probably know that old Queen song, “another one bites the dust,” well don’t you think it’s time for the dust, pollen, and other allergens in your air to “bite the dust,” so to speak?

If you’re ready to clean up the air in your home and improve your indoor air quality, give Lascko Services a call today! Our HVAC experts are ready with the knowledge and expertise needed to help keep your allergens outside, where they belong, and away from your home this spring!