Tag: Cleaning

4 Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality

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ways to improve indoor air quality

Being indoors doesn’t necessarily mean you’re safe from allergens or that you’re surrounded by good air quality. You still might have to deal with a myriad of other indoor allergies caused by dust mites, animal dander and, of course, mold. If you’re allergic to any of these, your reactions might include sneezing, stuffiness, a runny nose or an itchy throat. These allergens can also cause a reaction in people with asthma. However, you can counter these allergies by bettering your indoor air quality. Here are some helpful ways to improve indoor air quality from the experts at RestoPros!

1. Clean Up

The most effective way you can improve the indoor air quality of your home is by cleaning up frequently. Here are some things to remember when trying to keep your home clean:

  • Vacuum Often

Chemicals, allergens and pollutants are bound to enter your home and accumulate in the dust. Take some time every weekend to vacuum everything up to get rid of dust, pet dander or other toxins and allergens that could cause problems.

  • Mop Up Too

Mopping up helps clear up any dander that the vacuum did not pick up. Instead of using chemical solutions or cleaners, use plain water.

  • Take off Your Shoes

Your shoes and boots bring in pollutants, pesticides and dirt. Don’t bring your shoes inside – or wear them on your carpet. Use a shoe rack to keep your shoes neatly stacked away to prevent dirt from sneaking its way into your home.

  • Change the Sheets

Sheets that have not been changed for long have dead skin, dust mites and allergens all over them. Remember to change and clean your sheets every two weeks.

2. Maintain Humidity

Keeping your home’s humidity at a reasonable level prevents mold from infesting your home. Mold is a fungus that needs moisture and damp environments to survive. One of the best ways to prevent mold (and other indoor allergens) is to control the moisture and humidity in your home. You can do this by investing in a dehumidifier, which removes excess humidity from your home. Keep your home’s humidity between 30-50 percent.

3. Improve Air Flow

Don’t block any return vents in your home and let fresh air in. Opening windows will ensure that any toxic chemicals and pollutants don’t accumulate in your home. However, if opening windows adds to the problem by bringing pollen in, keep your AC system well-filtered and well-functioning. Your AC filter should be changed every three months. If you have furry occupants in your home, you might have to change it more often.

4. Groom Your Pets Regularly

As much as we love our pets, they can sometimes create a mess in our home. They’re adorable but a little clumsy and bad at keeping themselves clean. If they spend a lot of time outside, they might often bring in mites, insects, mold spores and dirt into your home, in addition to bringing in excess fur. Pet dander is one of the most common causes of allergies so it’s best to groom them regularly to prevent allergies and bad indoor air quality. How often you clean your pet depends on several factors such as their breed, coat type and how dirty they are.

Keep Your Home Allergen and Mold-Free with RestoPros

If you want more tips to improve your indoor air quality and prevent allergens such as mold, get in touch with the experts at RestoPros. Our team serves the great DFW Metroplex as a leading mold and water remediation company – dedicated to making sure our customers are treated with professionalism and respect. Call us today at 855-587-3786 or schedule an appointment online!

How can I help my Friends who have Mold?

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How can I help my Friends who have Mold?We’re experts when it comes to mold remediation.  No matter the scale of infestation or damage to your home, RestoPros is ready to deliver when it comes to cleaning, repairing, and restoring your home from flooding, mold, mildew, and even trauma.  That said, we’ve done our best to equip you with the knowledge you need to recognize and resolve damage to your home in the event of a crisis.  But there’s only so much you can do by yourself.  Calling in a professional team, even with the fastest response, can take time.  So what advice can we give to those in North Texas who want to help out friends but don’t have the experience to remediate the damage themselves?

Show Hospitality

For many people, cleanup of a home after flooding or disaster isn’t an afternoon event.  In some cases, mold cleanup is a single room and family can live around the cleanup.  Restoration can take place while the homeowner is at work and their kids are at school.  During the summer, the kids need a place to stay and for large-scale problems, many folks need a place to stay for a day or two to speed up the process.  Hotels may be inexpensive but it’s a great opportunity to reach out and offer your guest room or couch to a friend so they have a place to crash.  Even just offering to watch their kids in the meantime will help.

Mold is often found in bathrooms and kitchens, which means that when a home is being cleaned and mold removed, the kitchen isn’t accessible.  Want to help out a friend that’s recently found mold throughout their home?  Offer to take them to lunch.  It can help relieve stress and will provide a meal that they don’t have to find a way to prepare without a kitchen.  Plus, it gets them out of the house so they aren’t trying to move around drying equipment while it’s in use.

Hold a House Warming

This is something that’s not commonly thought of.  We hold apartment and house-warming parties when people move, often bringing them items that they already have in abundance.  But when a disaster strikes, a family can lose many items in an instant.  Once the cleanup is done and the flood waters have receded, a gift of towels, linens, toiletries, and in some cases clothes are helpful to get friends back on their feet.  It doesn’t have to be much, but asking how you can help or offering to hold a ‘back to normal’ party after the home has been restored can be great way to brighten a friend’s spirits after catastrophe.

Just Be There

It’s advice that we all know, but just being there for your friends is probably the best help you can give.  Staying at hand in an emergency, helping to pick up or drop off their kids or cleanup may or may not be helpful depending on the situation.  The best advice we have for you is to just be nearby when your friends need you and ask them what would be most beneficial.  Whether it’s borrowing your shower so they can go to work refreshed or simply just being able to hang out somewhere that’s not their home, they’ll let you know what they need.

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5 Mold Prevention Tips for your Bathroom

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5 Mold Prevention Tips for your BathroomOut of all the places in your home, the bathroom is exposed to more water than anywhere else – the kitchen is a very close second though.  Because most bathrooms are secluded, lack windows, and are typically more humid than the rest of the home they have a greater risk of mold infestation than anywhere else.  So what should you do to make sure that your bathroom is not a haven for mold and mildew?

1. Improve Ventilation

Cycling air is great for more than just keeping odors out.  Improved ventilation prevents high humidity by cycling out excess moisture and adding in fresh air.  Dry air that’s cycled into the room will help evaporate moisture off of surfaces, lowering the risk of mold.  You should also run your exhaust fan for 30-45 minutes after a shower to cycle out all of the humid air that remains.

2. Fix Leaks

We’ve covered leak repairs before.  With the amount of plumbing that exists in your bathroom, there’s a higher chance of leaks from fixtures and pipes here than anywhere else in the home.  The moment that you see water damage, pooling water, or a leaking fixture you should get it repaired immediately.  A leak is always going to lead to an added cost, even if it’s just an increased water bill.  Get leaks seen to immediately, every time.

3. Use Tile

Use smooth tile in your bathroom rather than a textured tile.  Textured tile adds surface area and leaves nooks, crannies, and seams within the tile that need to be cleaned regularly.  Tile, which is already fairly easy to clean, is more hygienic when it’s smooth because it’s less likely to collect moisture.  Smooth tile it also easy to clean since it is non-porous often requires on a quick pass from a cleaning sponge (with soap or detergent) to clean off the surface.  You should also try using larger tiles if at all possible.  Large tiles mean less grout which means fewer places for moisture to accumulate and mold to grow.

4. Seal All Grout

Enhanced tile grout is excellent because it’s already designed to be mold resistant.  But in the bathroom, that’s not enough to prevent mold from growing inside tile grout.  You need to take steps to seal out moisture so that it doesn’t feed mold spores locked inside the mildly porous surface of grout.  Sealants will also help to prevent discoloration by preventing dirt and grime from getting locked into the grout, making cleanup easier later.

Be sure to use a penetrating sealer for shower tiles and a membrane sealer for floor tiles.

5. Clean Regularly

The final step in any quality bathroom-mold defense plan is to clean your bathroom regularly.  Remove excess water from the shower using a squeegee or towel and leave the shower curtains open to allow air to circulate through easily.  Take the time to give your bathroom a deep clean once a week and use a mold cleaner to make sure you prevent anything from starting to grow in the first place. Once you get in the habit of cleaning your bathroom regularly, it will be much easier and you’ll be more likely to catch any problems before they become too big to handle.

Don’t forget to follow RestoPros on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ for new Updates, News, and Discounts!