subject: Airborne Chemicals----5 Steps To Minimizing Them In Indoor Air [print this page] It is astounding when you become aware of how frequently chemicals are used in everyday products. Minimizing the amount in your indoor air can go a long way towards keeping you and your family healthy. Here are 5 ways to decrease the amounts in your air.
Take It Elsewhere---It's really helpful to know what chemicals your products are likely to off gas. Buying big products such as bedding, carpeting and other furniture can give you the option of storing it elsewhere to give it time to off-gas somewhere other than your home.
A warehouse or storage area is great for allowing the fumes to evaporate away from where you live. The hope is that by the time they come to your home there are little to no fumes left to evaporate into your air.
Plant Clean Air---Many indoor plants are not only beautiful, but work to filter heavy duty chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and trichloroethylene.
The golden pothos, spider plant and philodendron are highly effective at removing formaldehyde vapor. Gerber daisies and chrysanthemums are best at removing benzene from the air.
Select Green Products---Look for alternative products that do not contain VOCs. Make sure that a third party company certifies that the product does off gas fewer chemicals. For example, the carpet industry has a Green Label Program that certifies carpets and adhesives meet higher indoor air quality standards by off gassing fewer fumes.
Filter The Air---One of the most reliable ways to continually minimize the amount of chemicals indoors is to filter the air with a carbon-based filter. Carbon is well known for its ability to remove gaseous pollutants, but even carbon needs help with potent fumes.
A potassium iodide additive has been found to enhance carbon's ability to remove volatile organic chemicals. And having this as a part of the filter will increase the life of the carbon.
This makes a cleaner with this type of filter an excellent choice to be used in nail and beauty salons, home with new carpet or paint, office redo's that involve drywall, adhesives and even new furniture.
A stand-alone cleaner is best because you can take it wherever you go, so you are not dependent on the air filtration in a rented office or apartment for clean air. The other huge advantage is that you can clean the air all the time because you are not subject to filtration limits that may be beyond your control when you don't own your space.
