Indoor Air Quality

Is Air Purification and Filtration Necessary?

Even if your only health issues are the occasional seasonal allergy, your air may still be affecting your health. As contaminants like pollen, dirt, bacteria, viruses, pet dander, and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) enter your hair through open windows, doors, and nearly invisible cracks or holes throughout your home, they are absorbed by your heating and cooling system. 

Unless these contaminants are removed by an air filter or an air purifier, they will continue to recirculate your breathing air. This gives each contaminant a much higher chance of entering the lungs of you or your family members and causing health issues. Common symptoms of poor IAQ include:

• Sinus irritation (including sneezing or congestion)
• Dry and itchy eyes
• Insomnia
• Coughing
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Frequent headaches

Your HVAC system should already have an air filter included—but if your filters are not regularly changed and cleaned, or if your home is particularly prone to outdoor contaminants, it may be beneficial to the overall health of your home to install additional air purification and filtration for your Pittsburgh home. 

Air Filtration

There are a couple of ways to upgrade the filtration in your home with the experts at Calfo. First, we can increase the filtration rating of the filter in your existing system to be more tailored to your needs. For example, upgrading to a HEPA filter can remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm), according to the EPA.

We can also install separate whole-home filtration systems to give your existing air filters a helping hand. 

Air Purification

An air purifier destroys the harmful contaminants and viruses before they have a chance to recirculate your breathing air. This can also be done using a few different combinations of technologies, like UV-C exposure, ionization, activated carbon, and ozone gas, and purifiers can often be installed onto your existing heating and cooling system. 

Breathe Healthier Air—Call Calfo

If you’re concerned about the health of the air in your home, now is the time to take action. The sooner you increase your IAQ, the sooner you can start to feel the difference! Ask Calfo about our air filtration and purification services, and we can get started putting together a customized plan for improving your IAQ.

Want to boost indoor air quality and comfort? Calfo can offer a solution for your home! Call (412) 561-9784 or get in touch here.

Why Ventilate?

It might be hard to believe,  but when compared side by side, indoor air is often two to five times more contaminated than the air outside (according to the EPA). The air inside your home can quickly become stagnant or stale, as it holds onto moisture, contaminants, odors, and more. The more airtight your home is, the faster these contaminants can accumulate, as they recirculate through your heating and cooling systems. This is especially true if your home utilizes ductwork to deliver the conditioned air you need throughout the year. 

High numbers of contaminants in your breathing air can irritate and exacerbate many common respiratory issues, including asthma and seasonal allergies. Ventilating that stale air back outside, in combination with a regularly changed air filter, will keep your air clean so you can breathe easy. 

High-Quality Ventilation Installation

At Calfo we take pride in designing and installing effective ventilation solutions for Pittsburgh homeowners. We install the best available equipment to ensure proper ventilation and indoor air quality. Our goal is to reduce the concentration of harmful contaminants and ensure that your home receives a continuous supply of fresh air. 

Call Calfo for Your Home Ventilation Needs

If you are looking for ventilation services for your home here in Pittsburgh, make the call to Calfo. We can help you with all of your heating and air conditioning needs while keeping proper ventilation and your indoor air quality at the forefront. A properly ventilated home comes with many benefits, including:

• Increased indoor air quality
• Reduced reliance on heating and cooling equipment
• Less dust
• Fewer indoor odors

Is your home ready for some fresh air? Ask Calfo about ventilation today. Call us or get in touch here.

Summer Humidity: More Moisture = More Mold

You already know mold is unhealthy—when you see it in your fridge, the first place it goes is the trash. But did you know that mold only requires 50% to 60% relative humidity to begin to grow? Mold needs three things to thrive in a home: 

• Water (humidity)
• Food (your drywall and construction materials)
• Heat (temperatures above 40ºF)

Based on these requirements, what better place for mold to live than in your home, if your humidity is not properly managed? Controlling the humidity in your living space will go a long way toward increasing your indoor air quality and making your home a safer and healthier place to live. 

How To Control High Humidity

Because your heating and AC systems handle all of the air in your home, there is plenty of opportunity for your furnace or air conditioner to assist in maintaining optimum humidity levels in your home. However, there are other factors at play, like the number of air leaks that are in your home, and your own cooking, cleaning, and bathing habits, all of which contribute to the humidity in your home. 

For homes dealing with persistent humidity issues, installing a whole-home dehumidifier is the solution to gaining complete control over the level of moisture in the conditioned air in your home. 

Winter Humidity: The Problems with a Dry Home

You now know you don’t want a home that is too humid, but what about a home that is too dry? When the winter arrives in Pittsburgh, the humidity can often drop to equally unsatisfactory levels. Dry air in the home can lead to sinus irritation, issues with dry skin, and it can even dry out any of the leather in your home. 

But what you might not notice right away, are the damages that dry air can cause to your home. Things like creaky floors, warped flooring, warped or damaged furniture and fixtures, cracked wallpaper are symptoms of a home that has gone through frequent humidity fluctuations.

What to Do About Low Humidity

Using a standalone humidifier, or installing a whole home humidifier for the dry times of the year give you increased control over the health of your family, and the overall health of your home. However, determining the most efficient long term solution should be done with the help of experienced indoor air quality professionals, like the team at Calfo. 

How Will You Benefit From Optimal Humidity?

As mentioned above, mold is a serious concern when it comes to living in a humid area of the country, like Pittsburgh. However, there are many other benefits to controlling the humidity in your home as well, such as:

• Increased indoor air quality
• Fewer musty & mildewy smells
• Less condensation on windows
• No more wet walls in the basement

Whatever the case, Calfo can diagnose your humidity issues and implement the solutions needed for long-term health and safety in your home. 

Take care of the stuffy, musty feeling in your home—ask Calfo about our humidification services today! Call us or get in touch here.