The 7 First Steps Towards an Allergy-Free Home

 

• 1.   Take your shoes off when you enter your home.  Pesticides, pollen and more      can get on your shoes and then be transferred to carpets.

• 2.      Idle your car in the driveway or street if you must.  Never idle in an attached garage!  Fumes can seep into the home.  Install a carbon monoxide detector in the closest room to the garage.
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• 3.     Smokers can smoke outside.  Smoke travels through a home, so smoking in one particular room is not a healthy alternative.  Chemicals from cigarette smoke can remain in an environment for up to 10 years.
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• 4.      Use non-toxic cleaning products instead of chemical brands.  Toxic ingredients to avoid are chlorine, ammonia, methylene, chloride, phenol, formaldehyde, cresol, and xylene.
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• 5.     Never mix household cleaning products.  The combination of chlorine bleach with an ammonia cleanser.  It will give off a toxic gas that is a severe respiratory irritant.
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• 6.     Do not let pets in the bedrooms.  All pets have dander…and it can be an allergen.  We usually spend 6-8 breathing in the bedroom.  Keep the bedroom as allergy-free as possible!
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• 7.     Cover pillows and mattresses with 100% cotton pillow and bedcovers.  They are more breathable and product less allergens than plastic and polyester.

 

If you’d like more Healthy Home Tips, then contact Debbie Mumm at www.healthy-environments.com  Her booklet, 6 Dozen Healthy Home Tips is now available.  It makes a terrific New Parent, or New Home gift!

Debbie Mumm lives in Grayslake, IL and has been an Indoor Air Specialist since 1996.