Hay fever, ragweed, grasses, and pollen…Seasonal changes trigger your allergies with a stuffy nose, cough, sinus pain and even migraines. While your doctor can help with a plan that includes over-the-counter medication and even, in some cases, weekly shots, you have some control, too. Make your home as allergen-proof as you can with these four steps.
Scrap the Carpet for Hardwoods and Solid Floors
While carpet can be cozy and warming on chilly winter nights, it also retains the dust, pollen and dander that exacerbate allergies. Opting for hardwood, tile or linoleum with small, easy-to-clean throw rugs will decrease the effects of dust bunnies. If replacing your carpet isn’t an option, splurge on a vacuum with HEPA filtration and make sure to run it wall-to-wall at least weekly. (This will also improve the life of your carpet, so win-win?)
Pro-tip: limit stuffed animals in bed with your little ones, unless they’re getting washed with your bedding
Say Sayonara to Creepy Crawlies
Insects are a leading reason your nose is stuffy and your eyes are watering. Cockroaches and dust mites, in particular, leave a trail of allergy-triggering refuse wherever they go. By keeping your sheets and bedding clean, and limiting clutter in your bedroom, you’ll notice significant improvement in the way you feel. You spend one-third of your life in your bed; sleeping with dust mite dander plays havoc with your asthma and allergies, particularly during seasonal shifts. Wiping counters and keeping indoor trash to a minimum limits cockroach infestations. Calling a professional to keep your home free of creepy crawlies makes a big difference in how allergy-sufferers experience their symptoms.
Outdoor Clothes and Shoes Stay…Outdoors
If you’re accustomed to coming in the house, dropping your coat on the couch and leaving your shoes in the hall, reconsider. During seasonal changes, in particular, your outwear is coated with everything outside that triggers your allergies. By laying your coat on the couch, you’ve now spread them to your sofa. By taking off outerwear outside, in a mudroom, or in your immediate entryway, you limit contamination throughout your home. This is an easy way to minimize allergy sniffles.
Don’t have a mudroom or a coat closet? Space permitting, consider a hall tree or even a coat tree as a main drop-off locale. By decreasing spread of pollen and nature-borne allergens throughout your home, you will diminish impact on your body.
Seal Your Home from the Inside Out
Logically, insulation limits allergens from entering your home. By choosing spray foam insulation, you effectively create a seal between airborne allergens and your family, even in the tiniest nooks and crannies. By sealing your property from the studs out, you minimize air pollutants (and allergies) from hindering your overall health.
Now is the time to contact your favorite team at Scorpion Spray Foam Insulation to make this your best autumn yet, and the warmest winter your house has ever had!