Reduce Allergies and Asthma with Home Improvements

Filtering the Air
If you’re building a new house or upgrading your heating and cooling system, that’s a perfect time to improve your indoor air quality, especially if you have outdoor allergies, such as grass or ragweed.

“We recommend that people with significant outdoor allergies run their air conditioner or heat 24 hours a day and keep the doors and windows closed,” Dr. Doshi says. “That minimizes the introduction of outdoor pollen into the home. Having a very good ventilation system is vital; we recommend ones with built-in air filtration.”

You don’t have to put in a new air conditioning system to get cleaner air in your house, though. You may be able to tie a whole-house air filtration system into your existing system, says Randy Scott, vice president of product systems management for Tyler, TX-based Trane. Their CleanEffect air filtration system removes up to 99.98% of particles and allergens from a home’s air compared to the one percent removed by the standard, one-inch filters that most people use — and rarely change. “If a consumer is replacing a heating and cooling system, it can be installed with a system change-out,” Scott says. “If they’ve purchased a system in the last few years, it can be added where there’s enough space.”

Two other ideas to consider if you’re building a new house or doing a major remodeling job are installing a gas fireplace, which doesn’t produce irritating smoke, and a central vacuuming system. “A central vacuuming system is a great idea when you’re building a house,” Hammes says. “For $2,000 to $3,000, you have something to transport allergens out of the central area.”