How to Air Out Your Home

Does the air in your home ever feel stale? Do you ever feel like you need to improve your indoor ventilation?

You’re not alone! Cooking fumes and smoke can build up quickly in your home if you don’t have adequate ventilation. And even if you don’t cook often, activities like cleaning and painting can pollute your air quickly!

Sometimes just having the house closed up through the winter makes you feel like you need to open some doors and windows, right?

If you want to improve your indoor air quality, it’s important to air out your home.

We’ll give you a little advice to help you get your home smelling fresh. Here are six easy ways to air out your home.

1. Turn on your range hood.

For any cook, a professional range hood is important to remove smoke, cooking exhaust, and odors from your kitchen. It vents out all the harmful contaminants produced by your gas stove and your cooking, so you can enjoy the clean and fresh air.

Cooking odors can linger for days, and many homeowners struggle to keep their kitchen air fresh. Learn more about how to get rid of those pesky odors here.

If you want to start by purchasing a professional hood, here are some of the best range hoods on the market.

2. Open doors and windows.

If you’re going to follow any tip on this list, this is the one. It’s so easy! Just crack open a couple of windows or doors for a few hours a day to improve your indoor ventilation. If you live in an area with a lot of bugs, make sure your windows and doors have screens.

Also, check your outdoor air quality before you open windows too. If it’s pretty smoky outside, you’ll want to keep the windows shut.

3. Vacuum, dust, and disinfect surfaces.

The dirt, dust, and germs from surfaces on your home can float into the air and be detrimental to your health. You don’t want to be breathing in all those contaminants at every waking hour. So, set up a schedule to vacuum, dust, and disinfect surfaces in your home.

Start with the high traffic areas of your home, like your kitchen.

Then move to your living room, hallways, and bedrooms.

Even areas of your home that you may not think of can have a lot of dust! Baseboards, door frames, the top of your fridge...the list goes on.

So, think about what you haven’t had a chance to clean in a while. Then, get to it! It’ll only take a few minutes.

4. Invest in some plants that purify the air.

Did you know that some indoor plants can improve your indoor air quality? Cool, right? Plants like English Ivy, Chinese Evergreen, and Mother in Law’s Tongue are great at purifying your indoor air.

If you’re looking for one of these cool plants for your home, click here!

5. Purchase an air purifier.

All you have to do is buy an air purifier. Yup, it’s that easy!

The consensus is to leave it on all day and all night. Dust and dirt will always be circulating in your home. So it’s important to run your air purifier as long as possible.

There are a lot of air purifiers out there, and it can be hard to settle on just one. We wrote a complete article on the best air purifiers for cooking smells that you might find helpful.

6. Turn your “fan” mode on at your thermostat.

Most air conditioning and heating systems today also have a “fan” mode that improves your indoor ventilation. You can keep your fan running for as long as you’d like to improve ventilation in your home.

The fan takes air from your home or the outside. It’s not heated or cooled. So you can turn the fan on and open windows, without losing money.

How often should you air out your house?

You should air out your house every day for around 15 to 30 minutes a day. Always air out your apartment when you’re painting or doing other renovations in the home. If you’re frying, grilling, or cooking for a lot of people, make sure to turn your range hood on.

The more polluted your air, the more often you should air out your home. Click here to learn how to test your air quality in your home.

Is it good to let fresh air in your house?

Yes, you can never have enough fresh air in your home! The EPA found that 1) people spend over 90% of their time indoors and 2) indoor air can have two to five times more pollutants than outdoor air. So, it’s always smart to improve your ventilation.

If you are looking for more ways to air out your home, check out our complete list right here.

How can I get air in my home without opening windows?

Without opening windows, you can’t move fresh air into your home. But, you can use an air purifier or air-purifying plants to clean the air in your home. A box fan or ceiling fan helps improve ventilation in your home, too.

How do you ventilate a room quickly?

To ventilate a room quickly, open nearby windows and doors. If there’s a lot of smoke, open them all the way for a few minutes to get the heavy smoke out. If you’re cooking, turn on your range hood to ventilate the cooking exhaust to the outside.

Why is my room always so stuffy?

A stuffy room means the air is likely getting stale. You need to improve your ventilation. Before you go to sleep, crack open a window to allow the stale air to escape and fresh air to replace it.

If your room doesn’t have a window, definitely consider getting one. If you can’t do that right now, invest in a fan or air purifier and turn it on in your room.

If it gets warm at night, point the fan to the outside of your room. This will blow some of the warm air outside your room to the rest of your home.

Hopefully these tips for ventilating your home helped you out! We want you and your family to stay healthy in your home. So, take five minutes out of your day to try at least one of these strategies out. You’ll have fresh air in no time.