Our residential clients in Norfolk, VA, sure do love their pets. But animals can often put a damper on your home’s indoor air quality (IAQ). With a bit of proactive maintenance, though, you can keep your pets from causing allergies and spreading common irritants throughout your indoor air. Check out the list of tips below to pet-proof your home’s IAQ today.
Bathe Your Dog Regularly
Dogs love to wander around outside. As a result, they’ll often track allergens, mites and pollen back into your home. Although regular baths won’t keep every allergen away, they will reduce the amount of airborne irritants that your dog sheds throughout the year. If you can bathe your dog outside this summer, that’s all the better.
Give Your Pets Their Own Sleeping Space
Everybody loves to cuddle with an adorable cat or dog, but pet dander can easily make its way onto your sheets if you make a habit of letting your pets climb up on your bed. Once dander gets on your bedding, it can quickly spread onto your clothes, into your vents and into the circulating air. Fortunately, giving each of your pets a dedicated sleeping area next to an air purifier can help keep dander and other allergens at bay.
Vacuum Your Home Every Week
As a rule of thumb, assume that your pets will go anywhere and everywhere they can possibly fit inside of your home. Paws can easily kick up dust that’s accumulated in various corners, and even the breeze from a pet running from room to room can swirl allergens up into the air. As a proactive step to protect your home’s IAQ, consider vacuuming all carpeted areas at least once per week.
Changing your HVAC system’s filter every month will also help to maintain good indoor air quality. If you’re worried about how your pets might be affecting your IAQ, it never hurts to speak with a qualified HVAC professional. For more information on the indoor air quality services that we offer, contact Weather Makers, Inc. today.
Image provided by iStock