5 Common Household Allergens in Venice, FL

Residents know that allergy symptoms tend to spike during the spring and summer in Venice, FL. Therefore, you need to take proactive steps to protect yourself from common household allergens and alleviate the symptoms they cause. The following are five common household allergens that can ruin your indoor air quality (IAQ) and your health:

Dust

Dust is ubiquitous, and it’s impossible to completely remove it. It can be in the air or on your furniture’s upholstery, carpets, floors or any other surface in your home. While thoroughly cleaning, vacuuming, wiping and dusting these areas can certainly help to get rid of some dust, you won’t be able to remove all of it.

On top of this general cleaning strategy, air purifiers can also help remove dust from your home. These devices are particularly useful against dust that wafts through the air and hasn’t settled anywhere.

You should also know that dust is one of the most significant threats to your HVAC system’s efficiency and general functioning. We recommend asking one of our HVAC maintenance service technicians to clean the dust from your system’s ducts, coils and compressor at least once per year.

Pollen

When people think of allergens, their minds usually go to pollen. Pollen is abundant in any area where there’s enough plant life, and it can easily find its way into your home through your doors, windows or HVAC vents. Since it’s so small, this may happen without you even being aware of it.

Pets may also carry pollen into your home after playing outside. To avoid all of the irritation that pollen causes, keep doors and windows closed, clean your pets and schedule maintenance for your HVAC system.

Pet Dander

Pet dander consists of the dead skin cells that many animals continuously shed and is a significant impediment to good indoor air quality. You must bathe, scrub, wash, and brush your pets thoroughly to protect your sinuses and lungs from the effects of pet dander.

Insects

Quite a few different insects also have the power to trigger allergic reactions. By far, the most widespread such insects are dust mites.

Dust mites are minuscule, tick-like creatures that tend to attach themselves to particles of dust and float around your home. They also proliferate in dusty environments and have the same allergenic properties as other insects. Like dust, they can irritate your throat and sinuses, causing coughing and sneezing.

Cockroaches can also disperse quite a bit of allergenic material. They do this when they shed their exoskeletons, leave behind their feces and spread their saliva. A stray breeze may pick up trace amounts of these contaminants and you may end up unknowingly inhaling them shortly thereafter.

To prevent cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes and other pesky insects from ruining your IAQ, you need to fix any cracks in your walls, floors or ceilings. Insects may also infest your plumbing. Since moisture tends to attract pests, don’t forget to fix any leaky pipes you may have.

Biological Growth

Humidity levels can be quite high in Venice, FL. Unfortunately, the resulting moisture can facilitate the growth of all kinds of biological material. If you inhale this material, you’ll not only be at risk of suffering an allergic reaction but may experience an infection as well.

You should also remember that if your HVAC system begins leaking, similar sorts of biological growth may appear in the area immediately surrounding the leak. The same is true in connection with plumbing leaks.

Even if you don’t typically suffer from allergy symptoms, exposure to sufficiently high amounts of the foregoing allergens may cause you to develop them. To the greatest extent possible, you should strive to remove all common household allergens. For help, call Custom Air & Plumbing and request our IAQ services today.

Image provided by iStock

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