Signs of Allergens in Your Home
You might take the air quality in your home for granted. Most of the time, there are not any noticeable impurities floating around unless you burn food on the stove. However, if you look at the air when the sun shines through a window, you will see all sorts of dust particles.
Your body has natural filters that can catch many of the larger impurities—those which you can see—before they get to your lungs. Smaller allergens, such as seasonal pollen grains, mold spores and pet dander, can get beyond your natural defenses. For sensitive people, these irritants can cause an allergic reaction.
For many allergy-sufferers, allergy symptoms are like cold symptoms. You will have a runny nose, a scratchy throat and a cough. Unlike a cold, these symptoms will not disappear after a few days. Whenever there are allergens present in your home will suffer. Home cleaning helps allergies, so cleaning will do a lot toward helping you feel better.
Common Household Irritants
It is difficult to keep your home free of dust and irritants on your own. They naturally build up over time as people go in and out of the house. One of the reasons a professional home cleaning helps allergies is that the right techniques are used that remove some of the most common irritants.
Some of the peskiest allergens include:
- Pet dander – Your dog or cat sheds small particles of skin. When you’re allergic to animals, you’re reacting to the dander.
- Seasonal pollen grains – The spring and fall bring different outdoor allergens such as flower, grass and tree pollen into the atmosphere. These grains come in through open windows or when family members come in from the outside.
- Mold spores – Mold can grow in moist areas like the bathroom or a damp basement. These colonies of mold send out spores to start new colonies.
- Dust mites – These tiny creatures are too small to be seen, but you’ll find them in every home, feeding off the dead skin cells we all shed. You can lower their population by removing as much dust as you can.
Tips to Keep Allergens Out
One way to alleviate allergies is to keep allergens from getting into your home. Some simple habits can make a big difference.
- Take off your shoes – Having guests leave their shoes at the door will prevent them from tracking in extra pollen grains.
- Use ventilation fans – When you take a steamy shower, always use the ventilation fan. Let it run for about 10 minutes after your shower to reduce moisture and prevent mold growth.
- Close your windows – Pollen levels are often part of the weather forecast in the spring and fall. On days with high pollen levels, keep your windows closed.
- Wash your dog – A regular bath will remove dander before it sheds. Your dog may not love it, but it will help you breathe easier.
How professional home cleaning helps allergies
No matter how many precautions you take, allergens will get into your home. When that happens, a professional cleaning crew like Helping Hands Cleaning Services will make a big difference. Our team will get dust and allergens off the floors and other surfaces of your home so they cannot get back into the air. Not only will your home be sparkling clean, it will also be a healthier place to live.
Some of the cleaning tasks we carry out are ones you might not do on your own. Our team of professional cleaners works with the best equipment available and has plenty of time to devote to these chores. We thoroughly vacuum and wash the floors throughout your home, treating every surface properly. This eliminates a great deal of dirt, dander and dust that could get into the air, which keeps down the dust mite population. Our Gold Maintenance Cleaning program specifically targets the dust prone areas, removing it from everything from picture frames to fans and vents.
We also work hard to prevent mold. By cleaning your kitchen countertops and microwave and tackling your bathtub, sink, toilet and other bathroom areas, we stop mold growth before it begins.
If you are concerned about allergens in your Chicago area home, contact Helping Hands Cleaning Services today for a free estimate. Our team is always ready to help.