The orange skies from the Canadian wildfires have many people thinking about the air they're breathing. While the smoke outside won't last forever, it's a good reminder of something that's easy to overlook: the air inside our homes matters every single day.
In fact, the EPA notes that indoor air can often be 2–5 times more polluted than outdoor air, and in some situations, pollutant levels can be much higher. That's because contaminants become trapped indoors and build up over time, especially in tightly sealed homes.
Poor indoor air quality can come from things many of us use every day, including:
- Frying or cooking food
- Gas stoves
- Candles and incense
- Air fresheners and heavily fragranced products
- Cleaning products
- New furniture, flooring, and paint that release VOCs
- Carpets and upholstery that trap dust and allergens
- Mold and excess moisture
- Pet dander
- Dust mites
- Wildfire smoke that makes its way indoors
While poor indoor air quality doesn't affect everyone the same way, it may contribute to headaches, eye and throat irritation, allergy symptoms, asthma flare-ups, coughing, fatigue, and can be especially concerning for infants, older adults, and people with underlying heart or lung conditions.
For our family, clean air has always been a priority, but even more so now that our youngest daughter came home from the NICU after being born at 27 weeks. She developed chronic lung disease of prematurity, so we're especially mindful of anything that could irritate her lungs.
During wildfire smoke events, we're simply a little more intentional.
If you have central air, switch your thermostat fan from AUTO to ON. This keeps air circulating continuously through your HVAC filter instead of only filtering while the air conditioner is actively cooling.
If you have a mini-split system, continue using it as normal since it recirculates the air already inside your home. If you have a window air conditioner, check that the fresh-air vent is closed so it isn't pulling smoky outdoor air inside.
We also run AirDoctor air purifiers year-round. We chose AirDoctor because its UltraHEPA filtration is designed to capture extremely small airborne particles, including many of the fine particles found in wildfire smoke. We keep one on each floor of our home.
While the smoke is around, we also try to avoid creating additional indoor air pollution by limiting deep frying, burning candles or incense, using the fireplace, and vacuuming unless it's with a HEPA-filter vacuum.
No one can control the air outside. But whether it's wildfire season or an ordinary Tuesday, taking a few simple steps to improve the air inside your home can make a meaningful difference.
Disclosure: I am an AirDoctor affiliate, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my link at no additional cost to you. We purchased ours because we wanted them in our own home, and I've continued recommending them because we've genuinely been happy with them.