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K-Guard Kansas City Blog

How to Reduce Seasonal Allergens in Your Home

Woman Blowing her Nose Sitting on Couch - K-Guard Heartland

Raise your hand if you’ve had the sniffles and have watery and itchy eyes and a sore throat as you deal with seasonal allergies. Albeit this time of year is beautiful here in Kansas City, Overland Park, Shawnee, and surrounding cities, it is the time of year for severe seasonal allergies. 

Pollen levels often fluctuate weekly, however, spring and summer are the time of year when pollen counts for ragweed, mold, and grass are moderate to high. While some can tolerate allergens well with over-the-counter medicines, others have severe seasonal allergies that require prescriptions and shots to keep symptoms at bay. Whichever category you fall into, everyone can agree that seasonal allergies are no fun.

Though pollens are outdoors, they can easily enter the home in many different ways, causing you to feel sick and get no relief from pesky allergens. Keep reading as we discuss how to reduce seasonal allergens in your home so you can breathe a sigh of relief inside your home this allergy season.

 

How Do Allergens Enter Your Home?

Before we discuss how you can prevent allergens from entering your home we need to discuss how they can enter your home. Believe it or not, the outdoors doesn’t just stay outside – it’s easily tracked in through humans, pets, windows, doors, etc. When we spend time outdoors our clothes, shoes, hair, and even our pets can carry pollen on them. Allergens can also enter the home through open screen doors and windows.

 

How To Keep Allergens Out

There are many things you can do to keep allergens from entering your home. Though they can easily enter your home, keeping a strict cleaning schedule, following some tips, and making some changes around your home can help you combat allergies this season. Below are just a few ways you can reduce allergens in your home, thus improving the air quality.

 

Removing Shoes & Clothing

When we leave our homes to go to work, run errands, or spend the day at the park with our family, we can easily become covered in microscopic pollens that can aggregate our allergies. the last thing we think to do when we arrive back home is to remove our shoes and clothing before entering our homes. Depending on the severity of your allergies or other family members’ allergies, consider removing shoes and clothing before entering the home. 

Leave shoes outside or in your garage if you can, and remove outer layers of clothing before entering your home. After removing clothing, wash the entire family’s clothes and shower if possible. You’ll be able to wash off all the pollen that hair and clothes collected throughout the day.

 

Replace Filters

If you’re a homeowner, you know the importance of changing your air filters. You’ve probably been reminded by family members, commercials, or HVAC service technicians of how important it is to your home’s air quality to replace air filters every few months. As a general guide, replace your filters every three months to ensure they’re trapping allergens. Replacing your filters often is important because a clean filter can trap dust and other allergens whereas a dirty filter can force allergens back into your home, causing you to breathe them in, worsening allergies.

 

Maintain a Cleaning Schedule

Allergens can easily be tracked inside the home by way of humans, pets, windows, doors, etc. While you can’t completely prevent them from entering the home, you can implement a strict cleaning routine that can keep allergens in your home at a minimum. Follow these cleaning tips to reduce the number of allergens in your home:

  • Vacuum at least once a week (use a HEPA filter)
  • Scrub shower tiles to ensure there is no mold
  • Keep entryways and walkways clean to limit the number of allergens that can be carried in
  • Clean windowsills and window frames with a damp cloth to remove allergens

 

Clean Your Gutters

Just like you would clean the inside of your home to reduce allergens, you’ll want to make sure your half-round gutters or open-top gutters are clean. Gutter systems collect and carry water away from the roof, however, if there is a clog then water that is collected from the roof can stay in the gutter, allowing it to trap and contain debris and pollens, creating a pool of allergens. Mold can also grow in a gutter system if damp leaves, twigs, and other debris sit and collects over time. Pollen that flies around from trees, grass, and weeds are easily collected inside a half-round gutter system, which can make you feel those allergy symptoms each time you’re sitting near the gutter system like on a patio or entering and exiting your home.

To keep allergens inside of your half-round gutter system to a minimum, clean them regularly. Deep cleaning your gutter system and maintaining a regular cleaning schedule will reduce allergens that can become trapped. 

If you’re tired of cleaning your gutter system or if you want to eliminate the possibility of debris getting trapped in your gutters, consider installing gutter guards like the K-Guard System. Our gutter system has a curved hood that keeps leaves and other debris out, never allowing them to enter the system in the first place. Your K-Guard Leaf Free Gutter System will never become clogged, reducing allergens in and around your gutters. Our gutter product eliminates the need for you to clean your gutters and is so durable that it’s guaranteed transferable for the life of the home.

Allergens are everywhere this time of year, but you can reduce the amount that enters your home by implementing the tips above. Removing shoes and clothing before entering your home, replacing filters, maintaining a cleaning schedule, and cleaning your gutters can reduce seasonal allergens in your home.

Contact our team today or call (913) 380-1616 to schedule your free estimate for installing the K-Guard System. We’ll examine your current gutter system and will offer an assessment as well as our recommendations for installing the K-Guard System in your home. We offer our gutter installation service to homeowners across both Missouri and Kansas including, but not limited to, the following locations:

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