Feeling Sick? The Problem Could Be Lurking In Your Home

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Do you feel sick all the time? Do you spend the majority of your time coughing, sneezing, and just feeling downright yucky? If you do, and the doctor has given you a clean bill of health, the problem could be with your house. That's right. Your own home could be the cause of your constant discomfort. You might not realize this, but problems inside your home can cause you to experience symptoms of sickness. To get rid of the symptoms, you need to tackle the problems in your home. Here are just a couple of the household problems that could be making you sick.

Problems with Your HVAC System

When it comes to health problems within your home, your HVAC system is one of the main culprits. That's because between warm weather use of your air conditioner, and cold weather use of your heater, your HVAC system is running almost non-stop throughout the year. That continuous use can really wreak havoc on the air inside your home. Dirt, pet dander, mold, and even bacteria could be blowing through your vents at any given time, especially if you've never had your ducts cleaned, or you don't change your filter often enough. If you're constantly dealing with cold and allergy symptoms, start getting things under control by tackling your HVAC system. First, begin by purchasing a HEPA filter for your furnace. HEPA filters help clean your air by removing more of the particulate matter that could be making you sick. Second, replace your filter at least four times a year. Finally, have your HVAC serviced, including a thorough cleaning of the furnace and the ducts.

Problems with Your Plumbing

Your furnace isn't the only thing that could be making you sick. If you've got leaky pipes in your home, you could actually be living in a breeding ground for mold. Unfortunately, mold can make you extremely sick. In fact, if you breathe in mold spores long enough, the problem can become life-threatening. To prevent mold-related illnesses, you should take care of leaky pipes as soon as possible. If you're not sure whether you have leaky pipes, take a few minutes to check the water pressure in your home. You'll need to go outside and turn the water off to your house for this step. Turn the main water valve off and write down the numbers that are registering on your water meter. That's the water usage for your home up to that point. Wait about 30 minutes and then check the numbers on the water meter. If the numbers have changed since you turned your water off, there are some leaky pipes in your home. To take care of the mold problem, you'll need to have someone come out and locate those leaky pipes, which may be hiding underground, or inside the walls of your home.

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15 August 2017

Cool off Your AC Bill

Every summer, I agonized over energy bills that would shoot into the stratosphere as a result of my efforts to keep cool in the heat. Every time I turned the temperature down, my bills increased. This summer, I decided to take some of the control over my energy bill back. I installed reflective film on my windows that reduced the amount of light and heat coming into the house. I started serving more cold meals or asking my husband to barbecue outside, so that my air conditioner didn't have to compete with the hot stove, and I started doing laundry at night to reduce appliance heat in the house at peak times. I also had ceiling fans installed. So far, the difference in my bill has been tremendous. This blog is a way for me to explore other ways to reduce energy drain during the summer months.