Take a deep breath. What do you smell? Perhaps the smell of breakfast or dinner lingers, maybe a hint of pet odor wafts your way or if you cleaned today maybe your home smells super fresh. The air within your home likely undergoes a range of freshness depending on the day, season or events in your house. Regardless of how your house smells, there are probably pollutants lurking around every corner. Dust, dander, and other microscopic organisms and chemicals inevitably congregate on furniture and carpets, making a happy home within the air you and your family breathe. No, you don’t need to dust every hour or even every day. There’s an easier solution: house plants to improve air quality! Scientists have studied the effects certain house plants have on air pollutants with positive results.
Aloe Vera
You know that spiky plant that thrives in sunny windows and is always willing to share some of its oozing gel? That’s the aloe vera plant. Not only does aloe provide healing to cuts and sunburns, the plant filters formaldehyde and benzene from the air.
Spider Plant
With long, drooping leaves and tiny white flowers, the spider plant resembles the eight-legged arachnid. This hearty plant is hard to neglect and will clear the air of benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene from your home’s atmosphere.
Gerber Daisy
Adding a Gerber daisy to your bedroom or bathroom helps cleanse trichloroethylene, a biproduct of dry cleaning. The bright bloom it produces adds a pop of color and cheer to any room, making this house plant an easy choice.
Snake Plant and Golden Pothos
Did you know your bathroom is teeming with formaldehyde? It’s a common ingredient in toilet paper, tissue and cleaning products. The good news is the snake plant thrives with little light and lots of moisture, making it an ideal plant to improve air quality in your bathroom. The golden pothos can be placed in the garage to combat the formaldehyde from car exhaust.
Chrysanthemum
Add color to your home with the sun-loving chrysanthemum. It works double duty to combat benzene, found in glue, plastics, paint and detergent, while looking cheery.
Red-edged Dracaena
The tall, green spires of the red-edged dracaena can grow all the way to ceiling height. It tackles any xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde in your home due to lacquers or vanishes and gasoline.
Azalea
The beautiful blooms of an azalea plant add beauty while filtering formaldehyde from the air. They thrive in cooler temperatures, making them ideal in a sunny porch or bright basement.
Whether you choose one houseplant or one in every room, they add beauty and color to your home while filtering toxins from the air. Utilizing plants as a means to improve air quality is a natural way to improve the safety and cleanliness of your home.
Contact Snyder Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electric today to evaluate the quality of air in your home.
