Healthy Home Tips

To keep your family and your home clean, safe and pollutant free here are some helpful tips gathered from Asthma and Allergy Associations as well as Indoor Air Quality Assurance Associations that will get you on your way. Do not smoke or allow smoking in your home, and avoid indoor areas where smoking takes place. Keep your air filter and vacuum filters fresh and clean usually by changing them often. Keep moisture out:  o Put lids on pots when cooking  o Dry clothes outside  o Air your house on fine days  o Remove mould using very diluted     household bleach  o Consider double glazing if you are     building or replacing windows Keep heat in:  o Have well-fitting curtains and pull them     at night to keep heat in  o Insulate your ceiling and under the floor     to keep heat in and heating costs down  o Avoid open fires and portable or bayonet     fitting unflued gas, kerosene or LPG     ’canister’ heaters  o block off open fireplaces if they are not in     use  o use draught stoppers to close off the     gaps under doors Limit the use of strong-smelling cleaners, air fresheners and fly sprays. Wash bedding every week in water that is at least 54°C. Wash pet bedding every week and your pet often. Clean up surface dust using an Envirotect as often as possible. Avoid rarely used sleeping bags as dust mites tend to fester in them.  Envirotect your mattress every time you changed your sheets to removed dead skin which dust mites feed on. With conventional vacuums the person with the allergy or asthma should not do the vacuuming or be in the area during or up to an 30 mins after so the dust put back into the air by the porous bag has time to settle. A NASA study claims that philodendrons, spider plants and the golden pothos' are the most effective plants for cleaning the air in your home. There are others which are effective too.

Did You Know... Asthma can be contacted at any age. Documented cases have happened to people as old as 81. www.asthmanz.co.nz   "All our rooms are smokefree, but some people still think they have a right to smoke. On many occasions we have put our Envirotect in the rooms and in no time the smell is gone!" Homestead Lodge Motel, Timaru