With all the effort you put into keeping your home cozy and comfortable, you might be overlooking one very important thing: the quality of its indoor air. In fact, by adding insulation and reducing leaks, you might actually be making matters worse. That’s because your home is likely already filled with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that are found in common household cleaners, fire-retardant furniture and certain paints and polishes.
But keeping plants in the home can change that. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants absorb toxins, transform them into energy, then expel oxygen as a byproduct. This means that you can improve indoor air quality just by adding houseplants to your home décor.
Here are some specimens to consider:
Peace Lily: The Peace Lily works hard to remove the most common household VOCs and is exceptionally easy to care for. Just give it plenty of shade and moisten the soil weekly and this flower will repay you with clean air and a beautiful bloom.
Gerber Daisy: Bringing a burst of color into any well-lit room, the Gerber Daisy is great for removing airborne benzene, a common pollutant found in many inks and cleaning chemicals.
Spider Plant: The Spider Plant serves as a wonderful air filter for gardeners of all skill levels. It is easy to care for, has minimal light requirements and can rid your air of many different VOCs including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene and xylene.
Golden Pothos: This vining plant can grow to great lengths with minimal effort on your part, which makes it a great option for garages or other places with low-light.
English Ivy: This plant is commonly found in bathrooms because it serves as an attractive way to rid the air of fecal pollutants and formaldehyde that is common in many bathroom cleaners.
If you’re concerned about the quality of air in your home, then improve indoor air quality by adding a few houseplants throughout your home.
Learn more ways to improve indoor air quality by contacting Arpi’s Industries. We’ve been keeping Canada comfortable for over 50 years and would love to help you, too.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about IAQ and other HVAC topics, downloadour free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Ovi M/Shutterstock”
