Home Maintenance Tips for Allergy Symptom Prevention

The maintenance and cleaning of your home plays a very important role in preventing allergy symptoms. Allowing the build-up of dust and other pollutants in the home can aggravate allergy symptoms and make the suffering worse for all involved.

Important Tips to Prevent Allergy Symptoms

Following some simple home maintenance tips for allergy symptom prevention will decrease exposure to allergens and help make your home environment a more comfortable place to live.

1. Vacuum Regularly

Vacuuming carpets and fabric-covered furniture on a weekly basis is a good way to prevent allergy symptoms from occurring. These types of household items are breeding grounds for dust mites and insects and can release dust, dirt, small particles of debris, and other pollutants into the air to be breathed in by the home’s inhabitants. Vacuuming them regularly can reduce the levels of these pollutants in the fibers of the furniture and carpet and allows the contaminants to be disposed of quickly and easily.

2. Wash Bedding and Stuffed Toys

Washing bedding and stuffed toys regularly will reduce the number of dust mites and contaminants present in the items and reduce the allergy symptoms of the people that own and are exposed to them. These items should be washed in hot water and dried thoroughly with hot air in a dryer to ensure that all of the dust mites and other pests are eliminated from them. If there are any bed bugs present on the items, they will be killed by the hot water and hot air used for the cleaning.

3. Keep the Home Clutter Free

Having too much clutter in the home provides a perfect hiding place for pests and can cause an accumulation of dust and dirt that can be difficult to clean. Removing clutter from the floors, shelves, and tables will make cleaning the home much easier and allow you to remove many allergy triggers from the home.

Any items that are stored on shelves and tables for long periods of time should be dusted regularly and should be moved periodically so that the areas around and beneath them can be cleaned thoroughly.

4. Install High Quality Air Filters

Installing high quality air filters into the HVAC system will remove many allergens from the indoor air, reducing the potential for allergy symptoms and making the home a more pleasant environment.

Each air conditioner filter is marked with a MERV value, with higher values indicating an ability to trap smaller particles. Since many allergy triggers are comprised of microscopic particles, allergy sufferers should choose an air filter with a high MERV value to help ensure that these particles are removed from the air.