Your Summer Home Maintenance Air Quality Checklist

It’s finally summer, and it seems like your home wants to enjoy the fresh, warm air as much as you do. But before you fling open those windows and doors for the season, review this quick checklist to help ensure your home’s indoor air quality remains in tip-top shape.

Floors

Keep them clean! Your family’s summer activity is fantastic, but all that running in and out of the house can bring in higher-than-typical levels of contaminants, such as dirt, pollen and allergens. Here are some helpful cleaning strategies for your floors:
 

• Vacuum carpets regularly—as often as daily if you have any allergy-sufferers in your family.
• Damp-mop hard flooring surfaces at least once a week.
• Encourage your family and guests to leave their flip-flops at the door, since shoes are the biggest culprit when it comes to tracking in dust and particles that are better left outside.

Windows and doors

• Check your local pollen counts. If pollen counts are in the medium to high range, it’s best to leave windows and doors shut.

Heating and cooling system

Don’t just switch your thermostat to “cool” when things start to heat up outside. Take these HVAC maintenance steps:
 

• Check to see if your HVAC system as ductwork featuring a damper that should be switched from “winter” to “summer.”
• Stay on top of swap-outs of the air filter, which will be working hard to keep dust and other contaminants at bay when your home’s air conditioning system kicks in.
• Take a look at your home’s outdoor AC condenser unit. Make sure any shrubs surrounding the unit are trimmed back to allow it to operate efficiently.
• If your home’s HVAC system hasn’t had a professional tune-up in more than a year, schedule one before temps really start to rise.

Indoor plants

• When you make your annual trip to the garden center for your outdoor flower beds, don’t forget to buy some plants for indoors, too. Plants act as natural air filters—and look great to boot. Great examples of plants with air-cleaning abilities include aloe vera and weeping fig.