How to Keep Your Home Clean and Healthy

Now more than ever, it’s important to keep your home free of germs and have good indoor air quality. The inside of your home contributes to the overall health of you and your family. Factors like mold, pests, dust mites and mildew — to name a few — could be affecting your health in a negative way over time. To help improve your home’s health, we share the best ways to keep your home clean so you and your family can stay healthy.

Clayton Built Home Features That Improve Indoor Air Quality

Your new Clayton Built® home will come standard with an ecobee smart thermostat. Not only can you control your home’s heating and cooling from anywhere using your smartphone, but you can also preset the run time for the exhaust fan to help improve ventilation.

The exhaust fan is connected to a whole-house ventilation system that dehumidifies the fresh air from outside. This prevents the air in your home from becoming stagnant while conditioning the outside air to help prevent humidity and unwanted allergens from entering your home. Mold and dust mites love warmth and humidity, so we recommend setting the air between 70 to 72 degrees during warmer months.

Since Clayton Built® homes have self-adhesive tape that seals around windows, doors and other small openings, homes with vinyl and lap siding come with an added guard against water and air in vulnerable areas such as dryer vents and exterior lights. This helps improve energy efficiency while minimizing outdoor noise and pest intrusion.

Another way Clayton helps improve the indoor air quality in our homes is by adding a layer of protective foam between exterior walls, the floor and the roof. This keeps outdoor elements outside to help keep your home comfortable and energy efficient.

Other Ways to Reduce Allergens in Your Home

Aside from these great features Clayton offers, you can reduce the allergens in your home with simple adjustments. Make sure you turn on the exhaust fan when showering, as well as the exhaust fan above your stove while cooking. This will help prevent mildew and mold from growing. Another way to prevent mildew is to avoid putting up wallpaper in wet rooms like kitchens and bathrooms and to use a HEPA filter when vacuuming.

To help keep dust mites at bay, make sure to change your AC filter in a timely manner, and if you are particularly prone to indoor allergies, install a filter that reduces allergens. (Avoid going for the cheaper filter option if you can help it.) Decluttering can also help reduce the amount of dust mites in your home. Reduce the number of items you have in your home, including books, magazines and knickknacks so less dust collects.

The Best Ways to Get Rid of Germs

The biggest part of keeping your home healthy is sanitizing your home. Many Clayton Built® home models include utility rooms that double as mud rooms. To keep germs out of your house, take off shoes, bags, backpacks and any other items you bring with you in the mud room, and then throw them straight into the washer or sanitize them with germ-killing wipes or spray.

Make sure to sanitize the touchpoints in your homelike doorknobs, light switches, cabinet and bathroom handles, the refrigerator, TV remote and coffee pot on a weekly basis. To make sure your home is sanitized, you can also buy germ-killing UV light bulbs that sterilize surfaces without you having to physically clean anything. Note: Make sure nobody is in the room when these lights are in use as they can cause skin and eye irritation.

These are just a few simple things you can do to make your home healthier and keep you and your family safe. Learn more ways to improve your home’s air quality by protecting your HVAC system.