If the sniffles seem to be a permanent state for you, you may be suffering from allergens at home. Reducing those allergens can be done. A checklist of possible culprits will have you and your loved ones breathing easy in no time.

Carpets

Carpets feel great under feet but can bring on a plethora of allergy symptoms. As beautiful as they are, carpets carry a whole lot more than warmth and comfort. Dust, dirt, pet hair, dander, mites and skin cells all make a home in your carpets. Cleaning carpets on a regular basis will keep these allergens down and vacuuming will certainly reduce the debris found in carpets. Those who suffer from specific air born allergies know that carpets have no place in a home with people who have these allergies. Reducing the use of carpets throughout the home but especially in the bedroom will certainly improve air quality.

Pets

A dog may be man’s best friend and still be the cause of the misery that allergens can bring. Some people have specific allergies to cats and/or dogs but even without a diagnosis, many can still be sensitive to animal dander. Our beloved pets carry all kinds of air born debris. They in turn sleep in our beds, hang out on our coaches and sit in our laps. If you own a pet, its’ very hard to avoid the allergens they carry.You can, however, ensure your cats remain indoor cats. Indoor cats are healthier cats and make for healthier pet owners. Bathing dogs will cut down on the amount of hair they shed and will, in turn, cut down on the amount of allergens in the air.

Air Duct Cleaning

If you haven’t had your air ducts cleaned in more than five years, now is the time. A whole lot of allergens can be eradicated from your home when you enlist the help of professional air duct cleaners. While it may be a simple task to get allergies out of your home, your air ducts aren’t so easy to get and keep clean of all that pet hair, dander, dust, skin cells and dare we say spiders. The professionals will come in and effectively remove those sneeze causing elements from the airways of your home. The air ducts in your home do a great job of circulating heat and air conditioning throughout but will also circulate everything else that enters your home. A good air duct cleaning will have you breathing easier.

Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum

It’s great for your carpets and good for the air we breathe. Vacuuming on a regular basis will reduce allergens in the air. It will ensure those elements that have you all stuffed up are kept to a minimum. Many allergens at home will eventually settle to the ground, on curtains and upholstery. Vacuuming them up and disposing of them will effectively improve your air quality. Vacuuming often is the key.

Eliminate the culprit

Unfortunately, if all else fails, removing the source of those allergens might be in the cards for those who are suffering from the effects. Plainly put, if you or someone you love is allergic to cats, do not introduce cats to your home. If you have the opportunity to live without carpets, take it. Keep a clean home. The more you vacuum dust and air out the home, the cleaner the air will be. In short, don’t be bad housekeeper with allergies.

Allergens are a given. Keeping control of the kind of allergens and a number of allergens in the home is possible. There is loads that can be done to improve the air quality in your home with a little budget, time and attention, you’ll be saving on tissues in no time. Sometimes, you might need a professional cleaning done to get rid of the allergens in your home. So if you’re in need of professional carpet cleaning, furniture cleaning, and/or duct cleaning, contact us today and our team of experts at Kleen Rite will be ready to help.

You’ve decided to hire the professionals but having someone else come in to clean your carpets, furniture or air ducts isn’t as simple as picking up the phone.

There’s a reason why you procrastinated for so long. Having someone in to do anything home related is a multi-step process. Once you’ve decided on what it is that needs to be cleaned, several estimates must be sought out. References need to be checked and appointments need to be booked. That is not where the work ends. If you know how to prepare your home for those professional cleaners, you can take the guess work out and rest at ease knowing that the job will get done right with a little help from you.

Carpets

Nobody cleans your carpets better than the professionals. They have the tools, experience and elbow grease needed to get the dirt out and often, years of dander, hair, and bacteria.

There are a few things, however, that need to be done in advance of your appointment to refresh those carpets.

Vacuum:

Try to take up as much debris as you can prior to your cleaning. Some cleaning companies will do this for you and others will rely on you to do it. Your answer to this question is just a call away.

Clean areas around your carpets. After your carpets have been refreshed, the last thing you want is the dust and dirt from surrounding areas to re-infest your freshly cleaned carpets. Wipe down baseboards and clean out the floor registers. Think of the treasures you’ll find.

Remove valuables:

Clear away any breakables and clutter. It’s common sense to have a clear free area for the professional to work with. While our cleaning crew is extremely cautious, accidents do happen.

Move furniture:

Depending on the deal you struck with your professional carpet cleaner, you may need to move the furniture. Often just the big stuff will have to be moved by the homeowner. If you are simply paying for a high traffic cleaning, there will be little to move out of the way.

Air Ducts

Having your air ducts cleaned only happens once every few years. It’s important that you make it count and there are a number of things you can do to ensure the process runs smoothly.

Clear the area:

The HVAC professionals that come into your home will be visiting each room of your house. Make sure they are able to get access. Most floor vents are easily accessible but the furnace area of many homes can be like a maze. Good lighting and easy access to the furnace is a must.

Protect children and pets:

Little ears are sensitive and air duct cleaning is noisy. Pets need to be kept safe during what can be a lengthy process. Discuss with your professional’s safeguards for both your children and any pets in the home.

Security and Fire Safety:

Ensure that the technicians know where the fire extinguisher is, in the case of a fire. If you plan to leave during your air duct cleaning, be sure to give lock up instructions to the technicians before you leave.

Furniture

Having your furniture cleaned can breathe new life into your home and have it smelling great as well. A good cleaning will take your old and tired furniture into a state of renewal. There are, however, a few things that you will need to do prior to the cleaners arriving.

A good vacuum is necessary:

Go over each cushion and under them. Vacuum the back of all furniture. This is rarely done but essential to getting a good clean from those professional furniture cleaners.

Clean out the crevices:

You know there is a world of debris hiding in the couch. With all the change you find, you may be able to finance your cleaning.

There is always work to be done, prior to sprucing your house up with a good cleaning. Taking the time now to prepare your carpets, furniture and air ducts will ensure a great clean at the end of the day.

If your home is due for a deep cleaning, contact our team of experts at Kleen Rite today and we’ll be ready to make your home feel brand new again.

After a long day of work, you return home and enter your front door as you are greeted by a mysterious smell that you will now spend the better part of your evening searching for. Chances are, that smell can’t be blamed on just one thing and won’t likely have only one cure. Carpet cleaning, duct cleaning and even furniture cleaning, will go a long way in restoring your nasal sensibilities.

You’ve heard of going nose blind? Well after spending a long time in a smelly environment, you are likely to become “nose blind” to those smells the longer you remain there, meaning you no longer notice them. However, anyone entering your home will. By simply cleaning the house, hunting down likely culprits and using air fresheners, won’t likely take care of the persistent scent that your home has now become accustomed too.

Carpet Cleaning

The fact that carpets can harbour smells among other nasty things is one of the reasons that so many shy away from using carpet in their home. Carpets and their dust mites, dirt and general allergens, contribute to odours in the home. Children and pets reek havoc on our carpets and like anything our children and pets touch, they need to be cleaned. Vacuuming on a regular basis as well as deodorizers can help but a professional deep cleaning is the only thing that will eliminate the odours permanently. If you’ve ever tried cleaning your own carpets, you know that the professionals do it better and in less time. A professional carpet cleaner will also be able to remove a variety of stains from your carpet.

Duct Cleaning

Investing in a good duct cleaning isn’t nearly as exciting as a great vacation or a new barbecue, but the results seen from doing so are very beneficial. Having your air ducts professionally cleaned can remove years of dust,dirt and smells. All that dust and dirt and the inevitable odours that have been circulating throughout your home can be extradited in just a couple of hours. The air that circulates throughout your home should be kept clean for many reasons. Funky smells are just one of them. Clean air ducts can leave you sleeping better, and more healthy. Investing in duct cleaning is not an exciting purchase but one that will have you excited when you enter your home and smell nothing.

Furniture Cleaning

Aside from our beds, our furniture is an area of our home where we spend the majority of our leisure time. The more use that couch gets, the more it will take on smells. Cooking odours, pets and children will all transfer stains and smells into the fabric of our furniture. Getting those smells out isn’t always easy. The professionals have the tools and experience to get the job done. Paired with duct cleaning and carpet cleaning, freeing your furniture of all those nasty odours, will leave your home scent free. Furniture cleaning along with these other odour eliminators will also increase your health and reduce your need to clean as often.

If you’re interested in having your home cleaned, we offer Carpet Cleaning, Air Duct Cleaning, Furniture Cleaning and we will always go the extra mile to eradicate any of those pesky mystery smells around your home. A great smelling home is a welcoming and healthy home. Feel free to Contact Kleen Rite Carpet & Duct Cleaning to ask about our services.

Anyone who has carpets in their homes knows exactly what a challenge it can be to ensure they don’t get stained or soiled. It can be quite a task (sometimes an almost impossible one), to satisfactorily get stains (like that of red wine, etc.), out of the carpeting. However, in 1952, 3M launched a water and stain-repellant product- Scotchgard™, that took the market by storm.

This fantastic product protects your precious carpet and upholstery from soiling and staining. If you believe in magic, Scotchgard™ is something akin to it! Once you spray this 3M product on upholstery and carpets, it creates a thin, invisible film that acts as a protective shield on these surfaces; its highly effective in repelling stains. All you need is some water and a rag to clean up the spills; you can bid goodbye to stains, scrubbing and ruined carpets.

What probably makes it an even more fantastic product is that it doesn’t have any effect on the carpet or upholstery, so both stay looking and feeling the same. You will find similar carpet-protectant products in the market, but none of them can stand up to Scotchgard™ in terms of efficacy. Unlike Scotchgard™, many of the products leave behind a glossy, sticky residue on the carpet; that makes it look tacky.

Scotchgard™ – How it works its magic

So, how does it work? How can a product that’s invisible and unnoticeable, provide this kind of protection?

Once you spray Scotchgard™ on any upholstery or carpet, it forms a coating on every fiber and protects it from liquids and all types of oil-based stains. Like most inventions, the Scotchgard™ formula was also an accidental discovery. Two scientists – Patsy Sherman & Samuel Smith stumbled upon it while they were conducting research for another project. In 1973, they got this formula patented.

The primary ingredient in this wonder product was perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). However, the U.S EPA found it unfit for use due to its high toxicity levels; and over the last decade or so, this ingredient has been slowly phased out of all 3M products. Since 2003, perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) has replaced PFOS in all 3M products; it’s equally effective but has a considerably shorter lifespan.

While Scotchgard™ effectively protects your carpet from dirt and stains, it’s not a fool-proof product. However, using it with regularity provides your upholstery and carpeting a significant amount of protection- keeps them looking cleaner for longer and increases their longevity. The thing to keep in view here is that Scotchgard™ can’t stop liquids or stains from settling into the fibers if you let them stay on the fabric or carpet for long.

It just gives you the time to mop up /clean up that spill or stain and prevents it from becoming permanent. In addition to carpets and upholstered furniture, it can also be used on bath mats, beach chairs, tablecloths, oven mitts, canvas shoes, aprons, and fabric-based holiday ornaments, etc.

For any more information or queries about how Scotchgard™ can be used to protect your carpet, or for any carpet cleaning queries, please call Kleenrite at 1-888-495-8789 or 905-407-8789. You can also use our online form to contact us.

Families would not be the same without their favourite pets to keep them company. Your pet can become a very important member of your family – but make sure that you have the proper tools to take care of your home when you come across any pet problems that might damage your belongings.

Even though a dog is a man’s best friend, they sure can do some damage to your home, especially if you have a puppy that has not been trained. Stains and odours can come from your pet’s accidents, but also from hair, dander and debris tracked inside from the outdoors. Don’t get stuck cleaning up all the time and never fully removing a stain or odour from your home. What’s worse is that once your pet has claimed their territory, in a very impolite manor, they will always be susceptible to returning to that spot if they can smell their personal scent within their “accident” zone.

Cleaning machine washable items is usually not too difficult. It helps to add a one-pound box of baking soda to your regular detergent and add an enzymatic cleaner (available at pet stores) that is specifically designed to break down pet-waste odours.

More serious problems occur when damage is done to items that cannot be thrown into the wash. This is when calling in an expert is usually your best option. Practised cleaning companies can professionally clean carpets, furniture and upholstery, window treatments and duct cleaning depending on what the issue is. If your home is starting to get that permanent “wet dog” smell, try taking doing a full cleaning that includes the ventilation system. Often times hair and dander can slowly collect through your vents and continue to circulate in the air. The only way to get rid of the smell that comes from this is a thorough cleaning. After cleaning up a few accidents every now and then on your own, it is good to have carpets and furniture professionally cleaned to ensure there is no bacteria or other germs breeding in your soft surfaces.

Choose carefully when you decide to seek out a professional cleaning company to do an overhaul on your home. Find someone that has expertise in all areas of your home, who are willing to give you a quote and decide together what types of treatments will best suit your needs.

Whether you’re a do-it-yourself type of person or hire a professional, interior painting is a great project that can freshen up a room in no time. A couple of fresh coats can create a new theme or mood for any room in your house. While some of your rooms may be easier to paint than others, like those with hardwood or tile floors, rooms with carpeting can be especially challenging. Amateur paint jobs leave tell-tale signs of spilled paint, leaving a messy disaster on the carpet, but you can avoid these mishaps if you plan and prepare ahead of time.

You want to set up everything correctly beforehand because paint drippings on carpet or belongings are the most expensive mistakes of all, according to paint related insurance claims. The best way to safeguard everything in the room is by using a layer of plastic, making sure you tape any overlapping seams together. Padded drop sheets work even better because they are thick enough to absorb any small paint drops until it is wiped up. People are amazed at the angle and speed paint can splash, resulting in some of it landing on your furniture or carpet. These mishaps generally occur from tapping your brush against the inside of the paint can, putting too much paint on the brush or roller and often, just plain sloppiness.

Tips for painting carpeted rooms:

Here are a few tips to help you get your carpeted room ready for painting and avoid the misery of having droplets of paint hit the carpet.

• Measure the room accurately: total square footage including length of each wall or section
• Purchase your supplies: paint, painters tape, drop sheets, flathead screwdriver
• Mask off areas to be painted: the doorways, baseboards or floor molding

If you have a room with wall-to-wall carpeting, you could try to peel that carpet back as you brush along the edge of the baseboard or floor molding, but there’s a better way. Although it’s a bit time consuming, the easiest method for painting the baseboard without any paint droppings on the rug is to use the heavy-duty sticky blue masking tape that is going to adhere to the carpet.

When you lay the tape down, leave about a 1/4-inch running past the carpet with the remainder overlapping onto the baseboard. Now take a putty knife and start working at one end and push the tape down so that the tape is tucked between the carpet and trim. You don’t have to push the tape all the way down to the floor, only enough to make the separation. When it’s dry, just pull the tape up and see a clean paint line between the baseboard and carpet with no marks. Watch the video. Here is another method used by professionals that do not use the masking tape but rather style and technique. Watch the video.

• Cut pieces of the drop cloth to fit the length of each wall: leave about six inches as overlap at the corners
• Use masking tape to secure the drop cloth to the carpet edges: create a barrier of tape and cloth to the wall
• Cover the middle of the room: measure and lay out remaining cloth so carpet is completely covered
• Remove all outlets and switch plates for ease of painting around them
• Apply first coat around the edges of the walls with a 2-inch brush: top, bottom, corners and trims
• Apply remainder of first coat in the large areas: use a roller maintaining an even pressure and overlap the edges of the walls: top, bottom, corners, and trims
• Apply a second coat in the same manner as the first
• Remove the drop clothes and tape: let the room dry for approximately 24 hours

Oops!

Even with the best intentions and following the recommended procedure, you might be horrified to see that some paint has seeped through when you lift up the drop cloths. Stay calm, don’t freak out and try these methods to clean the stain.

If the stain is relatively fresh and not hardened, water is the best solution for cleaning paint off carpeting. Wet the paint spot with warm water mixed with a bit of dish soap and let the mixture sit on the paint to soften and reactivate. Use a clean white rag to dab at the spot. Keep some fresh clean water next to you while you work in the event the initial water becomes discoloured from the paint.

There are other methods that some people recommend, such as using rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, and commercial acrylic paint remover products. Always test these products out on a small, hidden spot first to make sure it’s not going to discolour the carpet.

If these stain removing tactics are not doing the job or you simply want to leave it to the professionals to do it right the first time, contact us and our team of experts will be happy to help you. You can also visit our Facebook page for more tips on carpet cleaning, furniture cleaning, and more.

There’s a lot of truth to the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Thrift stores are often full of bargain purchases and one-of-a-kind masterpieces, but boy do they ever take work to unearth! Whether you’re looking for a new dutch oven or a matching set of dining room chairs, thrift stores are a great place to look. When it comes to furniture, there sure have been some bizarre and valuable items that come along with grandma’s chesterfield!

Here are a few stories from around the world to inspire you on your next thrift store adventure!

It’s Time to Buy a New Couch

In Germany, a student bought a seemingly run of the mill pullout couch for $215. While they likely paid too much for the couch, the painting they found inside was later sold for $27,630 at a Hamburg art auction. As it turns out, it was a 10 by 15 inch oil painting, named “Preparation to Escape to Egypt,” which was done by an unknown artist close to the Venetian painter Carlo Saraceni who was active in the early 1600s. Talk about a return on your investment!

In another epic couch treasure hunt, New York roommates Lara Russo, Cally Guasti, and Reese Werkhoven found $41, 800 in US cash bubble wrapped inside a cushion of their $55 couch. Along with the cash were a bank deposit slip and the name of a woman. The next day, Werkhoven called the woman whose name was on the deposit slip. The woman tearfully explained that her family had donated the couch to a thrift shop while she was in the hospital. The trio returned the cash that same day.

Check Behind the Curtains

Cash seems to be one of the most common things accidentally found at thrift shops around the world. Coat pockets of deceased loved ones, to your thousands of dollars tucked between the pages of old books, it seems that we aren’t very thorough when it comes to making thrift shop donations! Earlier this year, a Value Village in Halifax received quite the donation! A pair of drapes were dropped off that contained thousands of dollars. According to the Halifax Regional Police who were called in right away, the money was withdrawn in 2006 from a Guysborough County Bank.

Reading Between the Lines

While it’s not quite furniture, books make up a huge portion of thrift store donations. And they certainly come along with their fair share of treasures. A thrift shop in New Mexico once received an entire estate worth of books. One of the books in a collection received after the passing of an elderly local woman was a microwave cookbook. One lucky shopper bought the book only to discover forty $1000 US bills tucked between the pages. The $1000 bills which haven’t been printed since 1934 are significantly more valuable than the $40,000 face value. Unlike the NYC roommates, this shopper pocketed the money, instead of sharing it with the thrift shop.

Have fun on your next thrift shop outing and keep your eyes peeled for treasure!

If your couch or any other fabric related furniture that you’ve purchased from a thrift store need some deep cleaning before use, contact us and our team of professionals will be ready to help you.

Used furniture is an amazing cost-effective way to furnish your home on a tight budget, especially for first time home owners who are furnishing a home from scratch. With online classified advertisement companies like Kijiji and other similar businesses, coming across the exact used item that you are looking for is easier and cheaper than ever, but at what cost can used furniture really be found for?

Sometimes furniture can be as cheap as free if you are willing to pick it up and get it out of someone’s way, but there are some important things to check and consider when you buy a piece of used furniture. Your risks become exponentially greater when you are purchasing an upholstered item. Cleanliness and wear and tear is much more obvious on a simple wooden table or bed than it is on a couch or upholstered chair. If you have given your piece of furniture a good test drive and thorough inspection, and you decide to purchase your item your next step is cleaning – before you enter your home!

Especially in the case of upholstered furniture, you should have your item professionally cleaned, or you will be running some serious risks to your safety and health. The proper technician can clean all types of upholstery, from everyday durable fabrics to the most delicate weaves or even leather upholstery that is done entirely by hand. Methods of cleaning will sanitize and deodorize your home. You will also have the option to Scotchgard protect your furniture. Remember not to be fooled by a piece of furniture that appears to be clean or has no noticeable odour. Serious hazards may not leave any signs behind, but can do plenty of damage once brought into your home.

The most serious offenders are bed bugs. Bringing used furniture into the home is one of the most common ways to set off a bed bug infestation. Most people do not know how to properly inspect furniture for bed bugs, and this should not be left up to chance. Bed bugs can quickly disperse themselves all over the soft materials in your home, including of course beds, and can become extremely difficult to get rid of once they have spread. Treatment for bed bugs includes intensive vacuuming and washing materials in high temperatures, as well as applying a bed bug spray, which is most safely used by professional exterminators and furniture cleaners.

Other problems to look out for are fleas, lice, carpet beetles, ants, bees or wasps and mites. Some of these pests are so small that they can easily go unnoticed, as can their eggs. This is why it is so important to have a professional clean your used item so that you do not run the risk of inviting any of these unwanted annoyances into your home.

Beyond the living things that you do not want in your home, a professional cleaning can help you eliminate dust, pet dander and other potentially harmful substances. This is important, especially if you are unsure of the environment the furniture had been used in previously. Your used furniture may have been exposed to a variety of allergenic materials, or even worse, fibrous minerals such as asbestos that can pose a serious risk to your health. It is best that when planning to buy any used furniture, include the cost of proper cleaning into your budget to make sure you are getting a deal without putting your health and safety at risk.

Regular cleaning and maintenance of Microfiber furniture dramatically improves the look, feel and longevity of couches, chairs, and microfiber upholstery. Learning how to clean and care for microfiber doesn’t have to be difficult! Due to the fact that microfiber is made up of a much finer fiber (hence the micro!) than most other upholstery, it cleans very easily. However, it does require a different approach than traditional fabrics.

Microfiber is made up of a combination of polyester, nylon, and rayon. It is the preferred material for upholstery because of how well it resists wear and tear, as well as deterioration caused by sunlight, water, insects, and mildew.

Daily Microfiber Cleaning

You can keep your microfiber pieces clean and well cared for by following a few regular practices. For starters, use a brush application on your vacuum to regularly remove loose dirt. By doing this on a regular basis, dirt and grime won’t have a chance to get itself embedded in your couch. Make sure to get under those cushions! You’re bound to find more than just loose change in there. If possible, remove the cushion covers and wash them according to the instructions on the tag. You will see one of four codes telling you how to launder the fabric: W is for a water based cleanser; S is for water free solvent, S/W means you can use either, and X means you should avoid cleansers all together, and just stick to the vacuum.

How to Clean Food Spills on Microfiber Upholstery

Start by removing excess food with a dull blade. Once you’ve isolated the area, determine what cleaning solution is right for your couch. See above to decode the tag instructions. After applying the cleanser, use a dry, clean brush to scrub the area. Depending on the instructions, some options are mild dish soap, carpet cleaner, upholstery shampoo, rubbing alcohol, baby wipes, and gentle soap. Before you use a new cleaning product on microfiber make sure to test it in a small, less visible area! Be sure to give it enough time to dry before you dive in on a highly visible area. Don’t ever douse the entire piece in cleaning product – instead, spot clean small areas as necessary.

Microfiber Cleaning Combinations

No matter how hard you try, your microfiber furniture is going to get dirty. Here are a few cleaning combinations when it comes to everyday (sometimes sticky) situations. Rubbing alcohol does the trick for ink stains and watermarks. Similarly, rubbing alcohol also works for oil based stains – such as stains from lipstick and moisturisers. meanwhile, you can use a piece of ice to harden a piece of gum and peel it off. Once the gum has been extracted, you may have to apply a spot cleaner to the affected area. Apply baking soda and water if you’re tackling unpleasant odours, then wait for it to dry and vacuum off the baking soda. Lastly, because it’s bound to happen at some point – red wine. If possible, pour salt onto the stain ASAP. Leave it on while you mix 2-3 drops of dish soap with a ½ cup of white vinegar. Once you’ve vacuumed up the salt, rub this mixture into the stain. Rinse and repeat until the stain is gone.

If you’re struggling with cleaning your microfiber furniture, contact us and ask about our services. After all, furniture cleaning is one of the many services we profession in.

The arrival of warmer weather means we can look forward to the summer, but that also means we’ll soon be dealing with more threatening levels of air pollution. The heat and smog of the summertime can make breathing difficult for people with respiratory problems and even for those without them. While cleaning the polluted air outdoors is an issue requiring a myriad of large-scale initiatives, you can take control over the polluted air inside your home. And yes, there is pollution in the air inside your home.

According to the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency, pollution inside the home can be two to five times higher than it is outdoors. That’s because the air inside your home can be loaded with pollen, mold, pet dander, and pollutants from household cleaning products. If you’ve had your home sealed up tightly during the winter you may have saved money on your heating bill, but you may have also inadvertently trapped in airborne toxins.

A number of health issues can result from poor indoor air quality, including allergies, asthma, and other respiratory ailments. Fear not, for there are steps you can take to reduce the amount of pollution in the air inside your home.

Remove pollutants by ventilating

Exhaust fans inside bathrooms are effective at removing gases from the house, and they help remove moisture, thereby stunting the growth of mold. If your kitchen has an exhaust fan that directs air outside the house, use it while cooking. If your fan doesn’t lead air outside, keep a window open when you’re cooking to let fumes and airborne particles escape from the house.

Open your windows regularly to let fresh air in and polluted air out. It’s a good practice to open your bedroom windows for five to ten minutes after you wake up in the morning, and to do the same just before going to bed at night. Those small periods of ventilation are enough to let carbon dioxide out of the house.

If you have an attached garage, never idle your car inside it. Doing so can cause a dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide. If you do have to leave your car running for a few moments, be sure it’s well outside the garage.

Keep pollutants out of the house

After you’ve made the effort to evict pollutants from your home, there are several things you can do to prevent them from returning. Fix leaky faucets to prevent standing water from accumulating. When combined with high humidity, standing water encourages the growth of mold and other pollutants. Avoid burning wood because it creates pollution indoors and out.

If there’s an unpleasant odour in your home, don’t use aerosol air fresheners or scented candles to cover it up. Scented candles give off more than fragrance – they also produce microscopic pollution known as particulates. Allergens like dust can latch onto particulates and enter your lungs when you breathe. Rather than masking odours, find their root causes, clean them up, and let some fresh air in to ventilate the area.

The indoor pollution might penetrate fabrics in your home, such as your rugs, carpets, couch cushions, and other furniture with fabric. It’s time for spring cleaning and you’re not alone, contact us for more information on our professional cleaning services.