Home Renovating Is Easy When You Follow These 3 Air Quality Tips

So you’ve decided that it’s time to conduct some major renovations on your home. This isn’t just going to be a new coat of paint in a bedroom; this is going to involve some serious changes, maybe even tearing down walls to taking those old spaces like the attic or basement and finally doing something with them.

This can add a lot of value—and space!—to your home, but if you’re not careful, you can also contaminate the air! We’ve got three important safety tips to consider when you finally start work on your home, in order to keep good indoor air quality.

Be Careful With Older Paint

If you’re renovating an older home that hasn’t been touched in many years, paint can be a health issue if you’re removing it.

If a home’s walls haven’t been repainted since 1978, it’s important to keep in mind that most paint from before this period had lead as one of the ingredients.

Once you start removing that paint, it releases that lead into the air as particles. Lead particles when breathed in, can cause respiratory issues for everyone.

But for children in particular, with still-developing lungs, they are especially susceptible to negative, respiratory effects from breathing in lead dust. Be extremely careful if you’re about to remove that old paint job for a newer, safer one.

If There’s Any Kind Of Dust, Wear a Mask

This is just good, professional safety, and no skilled worker will ever accuse someone of being “wimpy” or “not macho” for taking appropriate cautions. In fact, you might even lose the respect of people doing work if you don’t take the same safety precautions that they are.

For example, if one major renovation you’re undertaking is to finally get some cellulose injected into the walls of your home for better insulation, this is a great move!

However, this involves drilling holes in the wall, then refilling those holes with new drywall that needs to be sanded down. If you try to save a little money, for example, by sanding down the drywall yourself, breathing in the powder from the drywall can have a big, negative impact on your lungs.

If you have any respiratory issues, they could even magnify those and make you very sick. So don’t try to be cool or macho with dust, or other particles, wear a mask!

Replace Your HVAC Filter

Normally, the filter in your HVAC system only needs to be replaced every three months, with the changing of the seasons.

However, once you’ve torn up your house, you should probably take this time to swap the older filter out and put a new one in.

The reason for this is your HVAC system’s filter has likely caught a lot of dust and other particles during this process. If you leave it inside, it will force your HVAC system to work harder and longer, and that means you’ll pay more on your bills than you need to.

A quick change and you can avoid that problem. If you want to renovate your home in San Antonio, TX, this can bring a lot of improvement and investment value into your life. But make sure you take the appropriate precautions with air quality and get this job done right!