Arizona can be a tough place for people with asthma.
The dry air, dust storms and pollen can make the desert a tough place to live, but not impossible. Below are 5 tips that will help you make your home and carpets allergen-free, thus making your home a better place to live.
1- Have a Professional Steam Clean Carpets and Flooring on a Regular Basis.
According to Dr. James T C Li (M.D., Ph.D.) of the Mayo Clinic research institute, “steam cleaning carpet on a regular basis can help reduce the presence of dust mites and other allergens in your home.” Having your carpets, upholstery and tile/grout professionally steamed cleaned by Momentum Carpet Care ensures the annihilation and removal of of Bacteria, Germs and Dust Mites found in fabrics throughout your home or office. It is both time a cost effective. Typically, carpet manufacturers recommend professional cleaning every 6 to 12 months, but proper allergy prevention may require cleaning carpets more frequently (every 4 months).
2- Maintain Pet Cleanliness.
Odors and debris left by urine, dandruff, oils and hair shed by your lovable companions can be an asthma sufferer’s worst nightmare. Regularly grooming and brushing your pet to remove extra hair can help eliminate some of these problems.
If you don’t have a pet and are considering getting a pet it would be best to choose an animal that requires minimal upkeep. A fish or the like would probably be the best option for people with asthma, but if the homeowner simply can’t resist investing in a feline or canine try looking for one the is already house-trained and that sheds little to none. A good place to start looking could be a rescue animal center or the pound. A female pet is recommended above a male because male cats and dogs tend to have a habit of marking their territory within the home which can cause odors and stains in sofas and carpet to become worse.
3- Wash Sheets and Fabrics Often.
All kinds of fabric tend to trap odors and smells from a variety of sources that can trigger asthma symptoms. Dust, feathers, lint and even dead skin cells tend to build up in bed sheets and couch covers, but can easily be removed when they are washed in the laundry or steam cleaned by a professional.
4- Keep Windows and Doors Shut During the Spring Season.
Although it is difficult for weather broadcasting networks to accurately predict pollen forecasts, it is a known fact that wind does indeed make seasonal allergy symptoms worse. Wind can carry pollen thousands of miles, as was discovered by one of Levetin’s colleagues in 1998 when Cedar pollen collected 1,050 miles northeast in Ontario, Canada matched up to to Cedar sample taken from an Oklahoma source sometime during the middle of January of that same year. It had taken about a day and a half to travel from the pollen’s source to the final destination where the sample was finally collected in Canada.
If pollen can travel thousands of miles it can most definitely infiltrate a house. Pollen makes its way into a home several ways: clothes, pets, and air circulation. It is impossible to keep your house 100% pollen free, especially during the seasons when pollen levels peak. However, a large percentage of pollen can be stopped from entering the home by simple keeping all windows and entryways of the home shut as much as possible.
Read more about pollen and it’s effects on allergies by reading this article.
5- Clean AC Unit Filters Regularly.
By de-clogging HVAC filters every few weeks, less debris and other allergens will be allowed to circulate throughout the house and get stuck in carpets.