How to clean allergens from your home

Allergy season seems to get worse every year! As the tree and grass pollen count starts to creep up again, you might be asking yourself ‘how do I remove allergens from my home?’.

Spring can be a tricky time to deal with, as pollen count spikes and the weather fluctuates a little more.  

If you suffer from allergies, trying to shield yourself from dust, mold, smoke, pet hair, and pollen can feel defeating.

Whilst you can’t do much to control outside, you can reduce the volume of allergens in the home. You’re not powerless in the fight against sneezing, runny noses, and watery eyes!

All-Around Allergen Busting

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To remove indoor allergens, you should clean each room from top to bottom. This means working from higher surfaces first, then down to the floor.

Use a vacuum cleaner on all surfaces, including lampshades and curtains. For best results, you should use a hoover with a HEPA filter. A HEPA filter is a ‘high efficiency particulate air’ filtration vacuum. It is designed specifically to trap tiny allergy-provoking particles like pollen, dust, and pet dander.

Then use a damp microfiber cloth or sponge to remove any lingering particles from your surfaces. This helps the particles to stick to the sponge, rather than simply wiping them into the air.

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Cleaning specific allergens

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Sometimes particular allergens require particular care and attention. For example:

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Pet hair

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If you’ve got a furry friend living with you, you’re likely to experience some allergy symptoms. Floating dander is inhaled and easily makes its way onto surfaces. Pets bring outdoor allergens into the house easily on their paws and fur.

When possible, if you have a dog or an outdoor cat, you should brush your pet outside, before they enter the house. This helps to stop allergens trapped in their fur from entering the home.

You should also make sure to vacuum your surfaces regularly, particularly in the living room and bedrooms. Remove fur from clothing using a lint roller before washing. If you don’t have a lint roller, you can wrap some tape, sticky side out, around your hand and dab at the hairy surfaces!

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There are certain types of flooring that are best for houses with pets. But if you’re not in a position to replace your floor, a carpet rake is a great tool to have. Hair trapped deep within carpet surfaces, including on stairs, can be easily removed with this device - you’d be surprised how much is lurking!

Top tip - sprinkling baking soda over hairy carpets and leave for 5 minutes before vacuuming. This will make the hair much easier to hoover up.

Dust

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Dust is made of bacteria, smoke, dirt, skin particles, pollen, and pet hair. Dust particles seem to make their way everywhere, making being indoors very difficult for allergy sufferers!

If dust is setting off your stuffy nose, you should clean the house regularly with a hoover and damp cloth. To allergy-proof your home from dust, there are some additional steps you can take:

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Know your dust magnets

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Understand the areas of your home that accumulate the most dust. Typically, electronics like televisions, computers, and speakers attract lots of dust due to the static electricity. Door frames and skirting boards are also culprits of collecting lots of dust.

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Regularly change your sheets

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Washing your bedding often will help make your sleeping space more allergy friendly.  

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Pet dander and dust mites can settle on bed sheets, causing allergic reactions. Hoover your mattress to remove hair, and wash the sheets at a high temperature to kill dust mites.

If possible, dry the sheets indoors to eliminate the possibility of bringing pollen into the house on the sheets.

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Clean your upholstery regularly

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Hoover fabric surfaces frequently and wash your curtains if possible. Hair, skin, and dust mites they attract can accumulate on high-traffic surfaces like beds and sofas.

In high-allergy season, you could also consider keeping a throw or large sheet on your sofa. This can easily be stripped and washed more regularly.

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Invest in an air purifier

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An air purifier is a great way to help remove allergens floating in the air and improve your indoor air quality.

Ultra-fine, allergy-provoking particles like dust, pollen, mold spores, and pet dander will be trapped. This helps keep the air inside your house fresher, and less able to trigger allergic reactions. This is particularly effective for people suffering from asthma and allergy flare-ups.

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Mould and mildew

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Mould grows in warm and wet conditions, which makes the bathroom and kitchen perfect locations for it to breed!

Mild cases of mold can cause breathing problems and allergic reactions. When left untreated, mold can also become very dangerous to live with.

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Ensure you have a working fan in the kitchen and bathroom to distil and remove misty air. Ceiling fans, for example in the living room, can also help to keep good air flow throughout your home.

To prevent the growth of mold, keep moisture and humidity to a minimum throughout your home. Keep all rooms well aerated, especially when cleaning carpets or air-drying laundry.  

It also helps to wipe wet surfaces immediately, including:

• Condensation on windows and window ledges
• Shower walls, bathroom mirrors, and wet bathroom walls and floors
• Wet surfaces anywhere in the house

To actually remove mold, general cleaning products aren’t enough. Apply specialist mold-targeting cleaning products and use as instructed on the packaging.

Note that cleaning mold isn’t the permanent solution. Unless you tackle the root cause of the mold, it will grow back. If mold changes colour and grows over an area larger than 1m squared, you should consult professionals.

Maintaining an allergen-free home

Allergens in the home are much easier to handle if you take consistent preventative steps. You can allergy-proof individual rooms, and limit the allergens entering your home.

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Stop allergens at the door

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Try leaving shoes and coats at the door and hoover the entrance of your home regularly. This should help to prevent allergen-dense air from travelling too far into your home.

You could also place a doormat outside your home to wipe your shoes on before entering. This will help stop pollen from being walked into your living area.

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Improve ventilation

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This can be tricky if you need to open your windows to improve ventilation. Open windows make it easier for pollen particles and pollen-carrying critters to enter the house.

However, fresh and flowing air helps to deal with lingering allergens and prevent the growth of mold. If you cannot open any windows, use a fan or invest in a quality air filter or purifier.

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Buy fragrance free products

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Scented products can also conjure up allergic reactions in the home. Laundry detergents, chemical sprays, and even scented candles can cause reactions.

Purchase non-bio and scent-free cleaning products to minimise allergic reactions brought on by cleaning.

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Calling in professional cleaning services

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If a deep clean on top of facing allergy season sounds too daunting to tackle alone, professional cleaning services can help.

A Cleaning Service specialises in deep cleaning services, including carpet and upholstery cleaning, and mould removal in Bristol, Bath, and Cardiff.

Get in touch or request a quote today.

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