Moving into your new home can be an exciting time. But what if you’ve got allergies? Moving into a space where you’re not used to living can trigger an allergic response. We’ve got the answers to get your new home clean and free of flare-ups!
You may love the layout of the home, the neighbourhood it’s in, and the size of the yard. But for some people, moving into a home where cats or dogs used to live can make them miserable! For others, they may react if the previous owners smoked inside the home. Even an abundance of regular house-dust can make most of us sneeze.
If you anticipate an allergic reaction when moving into your next home, we suggest doing a thorough cleaning before you actually bring your furniture and belongings into the space. It’s so much easier to get into all the nooks and crannies of the house without boxes around. Here are some areas to focus on:
THE CARPETS & FLOORS
Carpets can be the biggest culprit of smells, dust and allergens. If the previous owners didn’t maintain the carpets well enough, you may have some work ahead of you! We suggest calling a professional carpet steam clean company to freshen up any soft-surfaces in the home. You’d be surprised how well some of the dirtiest carpets come out after a good professional clean! This may help to relieve some of your allergic misery.
However, if there are pet accidents that have soaked through into the sub-floor below the carpet, you might need to consider replacing the carpet and under-pad (and perhaps even a few sections of sub-floor). Better yet, you may even consider going carpet-free in the home and getting hardwood, laminate or tiled floors. There’s less of a chance of dust and allergens collecting deep in these hard surfaces.
THE PREVIOUS OWNER’S DRAPES & SOFT SURFACES
If your previous owners left behind any drapes, area rugs or other fabric/soft surfaces, ditch them. Unless you’re in love with them and want to have them professionally cleaned, we recommend donating them or throwing them out. Soft surfaces trap all the things we’re trying to avoid here!
THE WALLS & CEILING
Believe it or not, walls and ceilings can actually hold a lot of smells and allergens on their surface! We don’t typically wash walls as often as we should, even though they can collect dust, cooking smells, and even the discolouration from nicotine and cigarettes. These things from the previous owners might trigger an allergic reaction from you if you’re highly sensitive.
We suggest giving the walls (and ceiling if you can manage!) a good wipe down with a solution of water and TSP (trisodium-phosphate, available at most hardware stores). The TSP doesn’t leave a soapy residue behind, and leaves the surface of the walls clean & grease free should you decide to give them a fresh coat of paint. The last thing you want to do is “seal in” the smells and dust behind a new coat of paint, so starting with fresh walls will certainly help create a cleaner space.
THE DUCTWORK & HVAC SYSTEM
The heating and cooling system in your home is constantly circulating the air around that you breathe every day. That also means it’s circulating the dust, dirt and allergens you don’t want in your life. The first, and easiest thing you should do is change the furnace filter. Who knows how often the previous owners changed it?
For a few dollars you can have a nice new filter cleaning the air in the home. We recommend changing it every other month to keep things nice and fresh! It might be a good time to have an HVAC company come and inspect your furnace and air conditioner to make sure they’re running efficiently.
You may also want to hire a professional duct cleaning company. They will come in and clean any debris and dust from all the ducts within the walls of the home. You’d be surprised how much collects in there!
Nobody wants to spend their first few months in their new home miserable with itchy eyes and sneezing! By putting in a little time and effort into your new home, you can have it clean & allergy free before you move in! You’ll appreciate the difference it makes. Happy moving!
