Spring in Johnston should mean taking advantage of warmer weather and enjoying more time outside. Instead, for many homeowners, it means dealing with pollen allergies.

If you suffer from allergies, you know how miserable that pollen in your home can make you feel. The sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, sinus pain and congestion can leave you exhausted. If you have asthma, pollen can also cause wheezing, chest tightness and breathing problems.

Your home is supposed to be an escape from all that. However, pollen doesn’t stay outdoors. It follows you indoors, causing poor indoor air quality in your Johnston home —triggering the allergy symptoms that make you miserable.

The good news is, there are effective ways to get rid of indoor pollen problems in the spring. A one-two punch of pollen season prep and professional indoor air quality solutions can eliminate your allergy problems so you can finally breathe easier.

Why Pollen Is So Bad in Johnston, Iowa

Pollen spread from trees, grass and weeds is a serious spring problem in Johnston. Why does this pollen impact indoor air quality?

It finds its way into your home and collects in carpets, furniture, bedding and air ducts. Once inside, pollen can move in the air through an unfiltered HVAC system. As it circulates, it repeatedly aggravates your allergies.

How Pollen Gets In Your Home

Many people are surprised to learn just how much pollen builds up inside their home. It flows in through open windows and doors, rides in on your pets and even can be pulled in by a poorly filtered HVAC system. Even if you shut your windows and doors, pollen still can find ways into your home. You can carry it indoors on your shoes and clothing. Poorly sealed doors and windows even allow pollen in.

Once pollen gets in, it spreads quickly through your Johnston home. Understanding how to how to reduce pollen in homes means limiting the amount of pollen that gets in your home whenever possible and then filtering it from circulation if it does.

DIY Pollen Reduction Tips That Really Work

  • Swap out your HVAC filters on a routine basis. Clean filters trap pollen and allergens from the air circulating in your home.
  • Make sure your windows are closed on heavy pollen count days. Open windows allow large amounts of pollen indoors.
  • Wash your hair and change clothes after spending time outdoors. Pollen sticks to your hair, skin and clothing, and you can transfer that pollen onto your pillows, bedding and furniture
  • Use a vacuum that has a HEPA filter. HEPA filtration helps capture tiny pollen particles trapped in carpets and furniture.
  • doormats and don’t wear shoes inside your house. Shoes track pollen, dirt and other debris throughout your home.
  • Regularly bathe pets. Pets bring pollen indoors on their fur, which they can then leave all over your bedding, carpets and furniture.

Upgrade Your HVAC System for Healthy Home Air

Your HVAC system is an extremely effective way to boost your home’s the air quality in your home.These professional, whole-home indoor air quality solutions minimize allergens, improve airflow and make your home feel better throughout allergy season.

High-Efficiency Air Filters

High-efficiency HVAC filters help trap particles like pollen, dust and pet dander from your home’s air. You can compare filters using MERV ratings, which are numbers that measure how effectively a filter removes airborne particles. The higher the MERV rating, the smaller particles the filter can trap. Many homeowners searching for the best air filters for allergies choose high-efficiency air filters because they minimize pollen and other airborne contaminants.

Whole-Home Air Purifiers

Whole-home air filtration systems connect directly to your HVAC system to clean the air in every room of your home. Unlike portable air purifiers that only clean one room, whole-home air purification systems continuously remove microscopic particles like pollen, dust and pet dander as air moves through your ductwork. This creates a whole-home solution to your pollen problems.

Humidity Control

Higher spring humidity in Johnston can also worsen your allergies by creating conditions ripe for mold and mildew growth. In most homes, your home's humidity should be between 30-50 percent. Whole-home humidity control systems connect to your HVAC system to manage moisture levels throughout your house. In humid months, they eliminate excess moisture like a dehumidifier. In winter, they put moisture back into dry air. Unlike portable dehumidifiers that only cover one room, whole-home systems are a way toimprove indoor air quality in the spring in your whole home.

UV Air Purification

UV air purification systems help reduce mold spores, bacteria and certain viruses moving through your HVAC system. Unlike filters that only capture particles like pollen and dust, UV systems also use ultraviolet light to neutralize biological material.

When comparing an air purifier vs air filter for HVAC systems, remember that filters get rid of particles whiles purifiers have additional advanced technology to clean pollutants you might not be able to see. Combined with filtration and humidity control, UV purification can help maintain cleaner, healthier air inside your home.

Signs Your Home Needs IAQ Improvements

There’s a good chance your home has poor IAQ if you regularly experience allergy symptoms indoors like sneezing, coughing, congestion, headaches or red, itchy eyes. Other indicators of poor indoor air quality in your Johnston home include dust buildup even after you clean, musty smells, poor airflow and rooms that feel closed-in or humid. If your symptoms get better when you leave the house, that’s a major sign your indoor air may be the root cause.

Professional IAQ Services That Reduce Pollen Allergies

DIY solutions can help minimize pollen indoors, but alone they don’t completely resolve the problem. If you suffer from spring pollen allergies, even minor amounts of pollen can make you uncomfortable. That is where advanced HVAC air quality solutions can help. An indoor air quality assessment detects allergens and pollutants in your home so an HVAC professional can recommend filtration or purification solutions to finally solve your pollen problem.

Other methods are available to remove other allergens in your home, such as duct cleaning. For allergies like pollen, dust and pet dander, cleaning debris out of your home’s air ducts can be a an effective way to reduce allergy problems. Seasonal HVAC maintenance also ensures that your system filters pollutants effectively and also helps prolong the life of your system.

For many Des Moines residents, professional services like filtration, purification, duct cleaning and humidity control finally provide the spring allergies home solutions they’ve been looking for.

Get Ahead of Spring Pollen Season in Johnston

Prevention and professional solutions are the most effective way to eliminate spring allergies. Start with DIY tips to limit pollen indoors. To effectively manage your pollen problem, work with an HVAC professional like the team at Kohles & Bach Heating & Cooling. We have expert knowledge and high-quality tools to improve your indoor air quality, so you can breathe healthy, pollen-free air all spring.

We also can keep levels in from turning into a problem in the first place with professional pollen season prep in Johnston. Schedule an IAQ consultation online or call 515-278-2900 today to get started with Kohles & Bach Heating & Cooling.