Back-to-school time means getting your family back on a regular schedule. You likely have an early morning wake-up alarm, school lunch prep, after-school sports and activities, and homework help among your many responsibilities as a parent. On top of these duties, you also need to be aware of various illnesses that tend to surface at the beginning of a new school year. From maintaining healthy routines to caring for your HVAC system, discover some smart solutions for keeping your Auburn, Georgia, home as healthy and comfortable as possible this school year.
Maintain Healthy Routines When It’s Back-to-School Time
The start of a new school year means adjusting your typical summertime household routines. Make sure these routines include keeping your family healthy. Prepare a healthy breakfast for your children to eat before they leave for school each day. Encourage your children to wash their hands often, especially before they sit down to eat a meal. Dedicate a space in your mudroom or another entryway in your home for your children to hang up their jackets and take off their shoes to minimize the transfer of germs and allergens to your carpets and flooring.
Along with these tasks, don’t forget to include smart home management routines. Adjust your thermostat to account for the times of the day when you and your family will be away from home. Schedule dates on your calendar to change the air filters in your HVAC system, which can help trap particles and prevent them from entering your home’s indoor air.
Keep Up Your Cleaning Regimen
When you’re battling back-to-school bugs, you want to keep your home as clean as possible.
- Vacuum carpets and rugs at least twice a week.
- Clean hard floor surfaces each week.
- Thoroughly wash dining spaces and food prep areas in your kitchen each time you use them.
- Wash bed linens and towels frequently.
- Use disinfectant wipes to clean objects such as doorknobs, toilet handles, light switches, and other items where germs tend to lurk.
When cleaning your home, don’t forget to clean your home’s indoor air. Installing a UV lamp or a whole-home air purifier will help capture and kill airborne pathogens before they can make you and your family sick.
Ensure Proper Ventilation
A healthy home needs proper ventilation. While a tightly sealed home can prevent wasted energy, it can also hold stale, unhealthy air if there isn’t proper ventilation. A whole-home ventilation system allows fresh outdoor air to enter while enabling stale indoor air to exit your home. Proper ventilation also discourages biological growth, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants from taking up residence indoors.
Schedule HVAC System Maintenance
While you can take steps to minimize back-to-school bugs as much as possible, some will inevitably make their way into your home. To battle them, you need to ensure that clean air circulates freely throughout your living spaces, something that a well-maintained HVAC system can allow. When your HVAC system functions properly, you’ll benefit from comfortable temperatures and balanced airflow throughout your home.
Schedule an HVAC system maintenance service appointment at least once each year, preferably twice per year, once in the spring and once in the fall. During this appointment, our HVAC service technicians will ensure that your heating and air conditioning system is operating correctly and is free of debris, dust, and other particulates. Regular maintenance goes a long way toward maintaining your HVAC system’s health.
Give Family Members Their Own Spaces When Battling Back-to-School Bugs
All members of your family deserve a place of their own inside your home, especially when they’re feeling ill. If one of your children has come down with a cold or cough, you want to take care to prevent an illness from spreading throughout your home.
- Set aside a box of tissues for your son’s or daughter’s personal use only.
- Keep dishware and cups separate from those used by other family members.
- Give your child his or her own room to rest and recuperate.
- Don’t allow sharing of water bottles and drinking glasses.
Maintaining healthy indoor air is important for maintaining a healthy home. If you need help improving your home’s indoor air quality, contact our HVAC professionals at Indoor Solutions at 706-225-8241.
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