5 Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality!

The summer heat is bad enough, but it's even worse when you can't escape to your A/C do to poor indoor air quality. The EPA lists indoor air quality as one of the top five environmental risks to public health. Fortunately there are ways to improve it, from simple day to day tasks to hiring local service pros. You dont have to live with poor indoor air quality!

Here are five of the best ways to help improve your indoor air quality!

1.) Let Your Home Breathe-

Okay we will start you off with an easy one. Open your windows if it's cool enough out, and let your home breathe. If you feel comfortable doing so, leave them open over night.  This will help recycle your homes old stagnant air while bringing in fresh air. Make sure you turn off your A/C before you do this.

2.) Use Pleated Air Filters - 

To improve the indoor air quality in your home you should never go less than a MERV 8 pleated air filter. These pleated filters will make sure to filter out the dust and dirt in the air. Many people purchase lesser grade filters as they don't seem to get dirty as fast. However, this is because they only collect a fraction of the pollutants that a pleated filter will collect. As always be sure you are replacing your air filters regularly (we recommend once a month).

Bonus Tip- Spice it up with essential oils! Put a few drops of your favorite smelling essential oils on your air filters before installing them. This will give your home a great healthy and natural aroma.

3.) Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum!-

Did we mention vacuum? Your carpets and floors collect he vast majority of the dust and dirt in your home. Making sure to vacuum once a week will help to prevent this dust and dirt from getting into your air. Always empty out the canister and/or change the bags when they get full too. If it becomes to full the vacuum will expel the excess dust and dirt into your air.

4.) Take off Your Shoes-

Your shoes see it all and have stepped in it all.  No matter how careful you are about what you step in, dirt, dust and more will attach itself to you shoes throughout the day. Leaving your shoes on when you walk around your home will cause that dust, dirt and more to get into your carpet, floors and even your air. To help reduce the amount of foreign contaminants in your home, all you need to do is take off your shoes as you step inside.

5.) Air Duct Cleaning-

If all else fails, you probably need an air duct cleaning. Your air ducts could already be full of dirt and dust, spewing it back into your air everytime your A/C turns on. Air duct cleaning is considered to be one of the most effective ways to improve your indoor air quality. If you are not sure if they are dirty, many HVAC and Duct Cleaning companies offer inspections to find out. Just be sure to do your research on the company prior to scheduling them to come out.

Bonus Tip-  If you are located in the greater Phoenix area in Arizona, click here to schedule a FREE air duct cleaning inspection. No cost, no commitment.

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7 Tips For the Summertime Allergies!

Summer is back... but so are your allergies!

Are you suffering from summer allergies? Check out these 7 tips we've compiled for allergy relief.

Summer means fun beach trips, beautiful flowers, and grilling at backyard BBQs. Unfortunately all those fun summer plans you have are a lot less fun if your going to be sneezing the whole time. And shutting yourself away in your home, besides being no fun, doesn't help anything either.

Here are 7 healthy tips to help keep your sneezing to a minimum!

1.) Stay on Top of Your Pillow Hygiene -

This may seem odd but if you think about it, you're putting your face on your pillow every night.  Over the years it's going to build up dirt, dust, mites, skin flakes and all shorts of other nasty stuff. If you suffer from allergies (and even if you don't) you need to stay on top of keeping your pillow clean. This means washing or changing out the pillow case once a week, washing the zippered pillow protector once a month and if you can wash your pillow do so every 3 months. If you can't wash your pillow make sure you are replacing them every 3 years. You should also look into purchasing a hypoallergenic pillow.

2.) Change Your Air Filters -

This is your biggest defence against in-home pollutants and allergens. Make sure you are replacing your air filters once a month as recommended. Always use pleated air filters too (minimum MERV 8), the fiberglass ones won't do you much good with allergies. If your still having trouble, look into getting antimicrobial air filters for your home during the summer months.

3.) Take Off Your Shoes - 

This simple task that will help a ton, but is often forgotten about. Your shoes collect dirt pollen, allergens and more from walking outside. So when you walk around with them inside, all that stuff gets into the air of your home. Moral of the story take your shoes off before you step inside.

4.) Drink More -

Non-Alcoholic beverages of course. It has been shown that staying hydrated can help to lessen the symptoms. If you are starting to feel some symptoms trying grabbing something to drink. Stick with the more natural beverages though like water, juice and tea. Alkalized water has been said to help as well.

5.) Try Some Natural Remedies -

There are tons and tons of natural home remedies out there for allergies. They can range from drinking alkalized water and eating raw honey, to taking certain plant extracts like the Butterbur extract called Ze 339. Keep in mind many of these remedies have not scientifically proven, yet they do seem to help a lot of people, and could be worth trying. We recommend contacting a health professional before taking anything you are unfamiliar with.

6.) Have your Air Ducts Inspected - 

If you are changing your air filters regularly, but you are still noticing a lot of dirt and dust around your home you may need your air ducts cleaned. Check your register and return grates, if there is a lot of dust around them, there is probably even more sitting in the duct. If you can't tell by just looking at the vent grates, look for a well reviewed local air duct cleaning company and see if they offer inspection services. Often times they may offer it as a free service, we do after all.

7.) Talk to Your Doctor - 

If you have tried everything yet nothing seems to work, contact your doctor. They will be able to prescribe you a antihistamine for your allergies and make sure that these are not symptoms of something more serious.


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Air Duct Cleaning & Your Indoor Air Quality

Why do you need an air duct cleaning?

Air duct cleaning is an important step in improving your home's indoor air quality. This is important to have done because according to the EPA, indoor air quality is one of the 5 greatest risks to public health!

Nearly 90% of American homeowners are unaware that air pollution levels inside one's homes can be two to five time higher than that of outside it. This means that the air quality in your home could be harmful to you and your family!

Poor indoor air quality can be especially harmful if someone in your home suffers from asthma or allergies. Your household dust can contain mites, mold, mildew, pollen, and animal dander. All of which is cycled through the central air system, which completely circulates the air in your home three to five times a day.

Here are the best ways to improve your indoor air quality...

• Contaminant Source Removal
• Air Duct Cleaning
• Air Filtration
• Increased Ventilation

What's in my ducts?

From dust bunnies, dirt and animal fur/dander to mold, rodent droppings and harmful microbes, all sorts of things can get caught in your air ducts. A professional air duct cleaning is the only way to effectively remove dust and harmful contaminants from your air ducts. Professionals will use a vacuuming method to get rid of the dust and debris in the ducts.  Than some professionals will fog your system with an antimicrobial mist (EPA-Registered) to sterilize the duct work. This will kill off harmful microbes and bacteria growing inside the ducts and help to rid it of any bad odors.

Schedule Inspections if you are not sure.

Not sure you need an air duct cleaning done? Well the EPA say to have your air ducts in your home cleaned only as needed. Since it is hard to know if you need it done without actually looking inside your ducts, it is smart to have a video inspection done every so often (we recommend once a year).  This is a great way to see the quality your duct work is in and confirm whether or not an air duct cleaning is necessary.

If you are located in the greater Phoenix area in Arizona, take advantage of our free inspections and schedule your visit today.

Get Rid of Bad Odors in your Home!

Unpleasant odors are never fun, especially if they are in your home! Once they are in your home the question is how do you get rid of them?  Below I will go over four ways on how to rid your home of bad odors! 

1.) Coffee Beans

Yes that's right, coffee beans can actually help to rid your home of unpleasant smells and nasty odors.  Coffee beans are able to absorb tastes and odors in their vicinity if left exposed to the air.  Leaving them exposed does not have to look tacky either.  many people like to put the beans in small lace or mesh bags to leave around the home or in a decorative bowl (similar to how you would display potpourri). For extra odor elimination some recommend mixing ground coffee in with the whole beans.

2.) Cinnamon Sticks

Similar to coffee beans, cinnamon sticks can help cover up and rid your home of nasty odors.  Simply placing small bundles of the sticks around your home in key locations where the most activity is, will help remove some of the bad odors.  If you have some really strong odors you need to get rid of, use the cinnamon sticks in a simmer pot.  This will help to fill your home with a pleasant aroma to replace the bad odors.

3.) Air Filters

Using air filters is by far one of the most effective ways to get rid of odors in your home.  There are two primary ways to use air filters to get rid of odors in your home.  The first way is to drip your favorite smelling essential oils onto the back of your air filters before installing them. This way as the air in your home gets pulled through the filter it will pick up the scent of the essential oil and your duct system will distribute the smell throughout your home. If you dont have essential oils, vanilla extract will work too.

The second way to use a carbon air filters.  Carbon air filters are specialty filters that are made for the purpose of odor absorption.  Carbon is naturally able to absorb contaminants and other causes of odors in your air.  As the air passes through the filter it gets trapped in the carbon and only the fresh clean smelling air gets through.

4.) Air Duct Cleaning

If the odor in your home stems from your ductwork, you may want to look into having your ducts cleaned.  Air duct cleaning will scrub your ductwork clean of dust and debris that might be hiding the the lingering odor.  Then, depending on the company you use, you can have your duct work fogged with an antimicrobial solution.  This will sterilize your ductwork, killing off any microbes and bacteria that may be contributing to the odor you are smelling.  Also often time the fogging will leave behind a pleasant odor that will then distributed throughout your home, resulting in a fresh clean smell.

(Make sure the antimicrobial solution being used is EPA certified and non harmful to pets and humans.)

10 Steps to a Healthy Happy Home!

Having a happy healthy home should be the goal of every homeowner and renter. The question now is how does one go about maintaining a healthy happy home?

The answer? Preventive maintenance, or as we like to call it Healthy Home Services. This includes but is not limited to changing air filters, cleaning your grill, dryer vent, air ducts and definitely replacing your water filters, and smoke detector batteries.

Here are 10 steps to a happy healthy home!

Step 1: Replace your air filters every month! This will help keep your indoor air clean and prevents your HVAC system from wasting energy trying to pull air through a dirty filter.

Step 2:  Clean out your vacuum every couple weeks or at least once a month.  Your vacuum takes care of some of the dirtiest jobs your home has to offer.  Keeping it clean will help make sure it keeps doing its job to the best of its ability.

Step 3: Change/replace any burnt out light bulb. This should go without saying since no one like tripping and falling or stubbing their toe because the lights don't work.

Step 4: Top off your water softener salt. Having soft water prevent scale build up in your hames plumbing and it is good for your hair and skin.

Step 5: Change your water filters. Most of the more common home water filter systems like fridge filters and RO systems are recommended to have their filters replaced every 6 months. Doing this prevents the filters from leaching and helps ensure your water stays healthy and clean.

Step 6: Change out the batteries in your smoke detectors every 6 months.  Not only is this recommended by the fire department to help avoid a tragedy, but it will also help prevent those annoying low battery beeps at 2am.

Step 7: Clean your dryer vent. A dirty dryer vent is an energy drain and a fire hazard. That is why the fire department recommends cleaning it at least once a year.

Step 8: Keep your grill clean. Keeping your grill clean by quickly cleaning after every use and by doing at least 1 deep clean a year. This can help to extend the life of your grill and keep it grilling in tip top shape. Plus nobody wants to see their burger coming off a nasty dirty grill!

Step 9: Have your air ducts cleaned. Most homeowners are unaware that the EPA reports air pollution levels inside our homes can be 2 to 5 times higher than outside. An air duct cleaning is one of the most effective ways to improve air quality.

Step 10: Install a Nest Learning Thermostat. The Nest Learning Thermostat learns what temperatures you like, turns itself down when you’re away and connects to your phone. This will help you save energy and will send you safety alerts to your phone even if you are not home!

Need help checking these steps off your Honey-do list? Visit joefilter.com or give us a call at (480) 813-9494!
Keep your home happy and healthy by putting it on Joe Filter Autopilot today!

Keep Your Air Germ Free!

How can we keep illness causing bacteria and viruses out of our homes air? The answer is simple, with antimicrobial filters and products. Many of you have probably heard the term "antimicrobial" thrown around before, but what does it mean? According to Webster's dictionary antimicrobial means "destroying or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and especially pathogenic microorganisms." What that basically means is that it is a way of killing off germs that cause disease. These are the germs that cause everything from an annoying cold to the chickenpox and all other airborne diseases.

The first step to keeping your home's air pathogen free is to try using antimicrobial air filters. They will help to kill off any of the contagious microbes in the air. This will help to prevent the sickness from spreading to everyone in a house.  This is why antimicrobial air filters are great to use during flu and cold season. These air filters are also great for families that suffer from allergies or any immune deficiency problems. Having a antimicrobial filter will get rid of most pathogens in your air but there will still be germs on the surfaces of your home.  This is why you should continue healthy habits like washing your hands or wiping down heavily used surfaces.


If just switching to an antimicrobial filter doesn't work it might be because you already have a wealth of bacteria and other microbes growing in your duct work. To fix that you can have an air duct cleaning to clean out any dust, hair or other debris that might be in your air ducts. Then after your air ducts have been thoroughly cleaned you can go ahead and fog them with an antimicrobial fog.  This fog while not hazardous to you will sterilize any microbes that might still be in your duct work so that they die off without being able to reproduce and spread.  It will also freshen your duct work, leaving behind a pleasant aroma.




To purchase Antimicrobial Air Filters or to schedule an Air Duct Cleaning Estimate visit JoeFilter.com.

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