Indoor air quality and air duct cleaning: what you don’t know can hurt you, part 3

This post is the third in a multi part series on indoor air quality and how air duct cleaning can help. If you haven’t read parts 1 and 2 yet, I recommend you do before continuing.

Why is IAQ so bad? More importantly, what can we do about it?

The main reason that IAQ is so often so poor is that interior spaces act as concentrators for dust, pollen, mold, and all those scary toxic chemicals we talked about. So, the best way to fight that it to clean them out. Unfortunately, just vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting doesn’t cover the whole picture. A great next step is air duct cleaning. Air ducts tend to accumulate a lot of dust and debris, which is laden with all sorts of undesirable things. Furthermore, the family your air breathes is constantly passed over this bed of poison, slowly but constantly releasing its toxic load into your home.

Okay, I’ve cleaned my air ducts, my carpet, my furniture, and everything else I can think of. What can I do to keep the contamination from building back up?

Interestingly enough, scientists at NASA recently wrestled with this same problem. They realized that when they send astronauts into space for extended periods of time, the poor air quality on their cramped, sealed space ships can lead to extreme health complications. They put their heads together, and even with access to the most cutting-edge science and technology, the solution they came up with was quite simple: plants. Not only to plants photosynthesize carbon dioxide into oxygen, but they also serve as sinks for many of the complex molecules that are harmful to people. Of course, the main problem with plants is that you have to keep them alive.

Check back soon for Indoor air quality and air duct cleaning: what you don’t know can hurt you, part 4. In the meantime, check out our page on air duct cleaning.