The Key Factors for a Healthy Home in a COVID-19 World

Ventilation and Sunlight

According to the latest reputable research and studies, COVID-19 is not going to go away any time soon and we will all have to learn to live with it. Wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded places will continue to be a part of our lives. The way we live may change, but that does not always have to be a bad thing. Take, for example, the way people are now spending so much more time at home. Yes, working from home may become tiresome after a while and people may become restless with just a few places to go to, but the benefits of being at home in terms of safety, health, reducing needless expenditure and of course, positive family time together more than outweigh the negatives. While spending more time at home has many benefits, it is important that the home is kept safe from infection. Without this security, relaxing there will be difficult.

Read also: Working from Home Post Pandemic

Keeping the Home Safe

Ventilation is a key factor in a healthy home. This is what the EPA has to say about it: “An important approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants or contaminants including any viruses that may be in the air is to increase ventilation – the amount of outdoor air coming indoors. Ensuring proper ventilation with outside air can help reduce the concentration of airborne contaminants, including viruses, indoors.” This has become especially important in view of the new research that suggests that coronavirus is no longer passed on only through droplets exhaled by an infected person. There is now evidence that the virus spreads through aerosols as well which means it may remain suspended in the air for some time, even after the infected person has left the room.

Opening windows to allow fresh air in is the traditional way of ventilating a home. However, this is usually slow and the replacement of stale indoor air with fresh external air is not always as complete as it should be. Additionally, there may be climatic or environmental factors that do not allow windows to be kept open for extended periods of time. The best way to ventilate a home is to use a whole house fan.

Read also: Protecting Your Lungs and Health at Home

Whole House Fans and Sunlight

A whole house fan will remove the old stale air from a home and replace it with clean fresh outdoor air, thereby making the indoor environment a much healthier place. Sunlight is known to be an effective disinfectant, so if its use is also maximized, the home will be a healthier place for the family. Increasing sunlight availability indoors is best done by the use of daylighting systems that capture natural daylight from the roof and use special high-tech tubes to carry it into the most interior parts of a home. This is not only a great way to keep a home healthy, but it is also a cost-effective combination that will have a positive impact on the family budget. The right way to get the ventilation and sunlight that a home needs is to contact the dealer of a manufacturer who is a brand leader in both whole-house fans and daylighting systems. This integrated approach to ventilation and daylighting issues will make life easier for the homeowner and ensure that the equipment installed is the best available.