The Summer Months Are Upon Us — Here's A Checklist To Maintain Indoor Air Quality

The hot, humid summer months are nearly upon us. The oppressive weather across much of the country and rising temperatures worldwide means we'll spend quite a bit of the season indoors to avoid the heat—between any vacations, of course.

Is your indoor environment ready to support your wellness, though, or will it cause unwanted harm?

Poor indoor air quality can taint your summer fun by triggering a host of possible chronic symptoms. No one wants to feel unwell when it's already a battle to stay cool or be forced to miss out on warm-weather adventures.

As the outdoor conditions heat up, prioritize preparing your home as a cool and healthy oasis for the upcoming months.

This proactive approach will protect your health and let you focus on what's important— enjoying those summer experiences and making memories with loved ones.

Mold can grow in as little as 24-48 hours if the surface has a source of moisture and food. Once established, it will fill your indoor air with spores, fragments, and potentially mycotoxins. Where there's mold, there's also a chance for bacterial growth. 

Work to avoid moisture as much as possible to eliminate this opportunity and avoid unwanted exposure. 

Indoor humidity is crucial for home health, especially when moisture-rich air is present outdoors. Too high humidity can cause microbial growth, poor indoor air quality, and structural issues in the building.

Some mold can grow at a relative humidity level of 60%. Therefore, your goal should be to maintain indoor humidity between 35% and 50%.

Bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms will be at the top of the list of areas to focus on. While showering, turn on the exhaust fan and crack a door or window.

This will help replace the moisture-rich air with dryer air from outside the room. Leave this on for 30 minutes after you've finished. For kitchens, use the exhaust fan while cooking, or crack a window. In laundry rooms, turn the vent on and leave the door open while washing laundry.

If the levels don't lower, place a dehumidifier in these rooms. Just make sure to keep those dehumidifiers clean and actively remove the water they collect!

When summertime is in full swing, many more particles, like pollen and mold spores, are in the outdoor air. These blow inside or get brought in on shoes, clothing, and pet fur.

This can lower indoor air quality when combined with closed windows and doors. Modern building practices, pushing for net zero energy efficiency, mean that there's very little airflow between indoor and outdoor environments. Once those particles enter, the majority will stay unless we actively remove them.

Air purifiers can help reduce the amount of particles in your indoor air so that they don't get into your body.

Not all air purifiers are created equal, so ensure that yours is up to snuff when eliminating airborne contaminants.

Dirty air filters can not only make the system run improperly, leading to HVAC issues and higher energy bills, but they also do not filter out particles as efficiently. This can cause various problems like burning out the fan motor, higher energy bills, and reduced airflow.

To protect your HVAC and eliminate as many particles as possible so that they don't build up in the indoor environment, change those filters on time. Check the manufacturer's instructions on when to replace them, and then set a reminder so you don't forget. Keep in mind that the more often they're changed, the better.

When warm outdoor air meets chilly indoor air, condensation can form inside the home. If condensation persists for 24-48 hours, microbial growth can develop. To avoid this, never keep windows or doors open while the AC is running. 

As previously mentioned, we can't exactly put a bubble around our homes, so particles like mold spores, mycotoxins, bacteria, and allergens will inevitably blow inside.

It's up to us to actively work to keep particle levels low in our homes. Cleaning regularly helps keep these levels low and promotes healthier indoor air quality during summer when those windows and doors stay closed.

We tend to sweat more when it's hot, even in our sleep. This can turn your mattress into a Petri dish of microbial growth, leading to breathing in all sorts of particles every time you sleep. You definitely want to avoid this. 

Cleaning the mattress and bedding frequently will help keep the material dry and reduce the number of particles present, including dust mites.

Your routine should entail HEPA vacuuming the mattress while washing the bedding. While vacuuming, look for any discoloration or odor, which can indicate microbial growth.

Clogged and faulty gutters are among the top problems that lead to moisture intrusion into a home and, as a result, microbial growth and poor indoor air quality. Ensuring they're installed properly and directing water away from the home's foundation help prevent moisture from intruding and causing mayhem.

Consider a downspout extension if the summer weather in your local area is often accompanied by heavy rainfall. 

Microscopic particles settle where dust settles. That layer of visible grime contains indoor contaminants like mold spores, mycotoxins, bacteria, pollen, pet dander, and other allergens that will become airborne when the dust is disturbed. This leads to poor indoor air quality and unwanted exposure.

Dusting helps reduce the number of microscopic contaminants so they don't continue to build up. HEPA vacuum cleaners and damp microfiber towels are the best tools for eliminating these particles from your home. The fewer particles in the home, the cleaner the air and indoor space will be.

Make sure to prioritize AC return vents! When it's hot out, that air conditioner works overtime to keep your indoor space cool. The more the air circulates, though, the more dust is involved. As the AC return vents continue circulating air, they'll collect more dust, allowing microbial growth.

With humidity high, people coming and going, trying to keep things like dishes clean, and keeping up with washing outdoor activity clothing, home appliances are typically in high demand during summer months.

The last thing you want is to drink a cup full of bacteria-filled water or wear clothes covered in moldy particles.

Creating a cleaning list for appliances is a great way to ensure they're supporting your health this summer and not bogged down with contaminants. Check the manufacturer's instructions for cleaning methods, products, and frequency suggestions. 

Sometimes, random events pop up that negatively impact our indoor air quality. Perfection is impossible! That's where air quality tools can help by alerting you to any issues so that you can quickly jump in to remedy the situation. These are a few great options. 

Indoor air-quality monitors

Indoor air-quality monitors work by measuring the amount of pollution in the air. Some of the common things they measure include particulate matter (PM), radon, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. Just make sure to choose a monitor that can detect small particles. 

Dust testing

Again, our dust contains the contaminants in a home, particularly allergens, mold, and bacteria. Testing this dust can indicate if a current source releases high particles into the surrounding environment and air.

For many, having fun in the summer sun is the best part of the year. Don't let an unhealthy indoor environment rain on your warm-weather parade.