(music).
Wheezing, sneezing, and trouble breathing.
Well, while it might rhyme, there is nothing cute about it.
Especially if you're one of the 60 million Americans suffering
from asthma and allergies, and the biggest causes may be
sitting right under your nose.
Okay, allergy awareness month is in full swing and right on cue.
Michelle Casallia is here with some tips to make our homes more
asthma and allergy friendly.
So, Michelle, welcome.
Thank you.
What's wrong with our homes??
I'm just kidding.
(laughter).
What are some of the things we can do to make our homes more
friendly to these allergens and asthma problems?
Well, 60% of all people who have asthma also have allergies.
Okay.
Asthma and allergies are triggered by allergens and
irritants that we can find in the home.
Some examples of allergens can be found in our drapes, in our
bedrooms, in pillows, wall to wall carpeting.
Sure.
Examples of allergens can be mold, mildew, pet dander,
pollen, roaches.
Irritants can be found also in our home, in paints, in
chemicals, in cleaning products.
Some examples also include tobacco smoke, fireplace smoke,
carbon monoxide, so you really have to be careful.
Well, it makes me want to go through my whole home and just
Martinize it.
Well, how can we decrease these allergies and irritants?
I mean, where do we start?
Well, a great place to start is the Asthma and Allergy
Foundation of America, which is the largest, oldest, non-profit
patient organization in the world.
It's a wonderful resource.
It's a one-stop shop for all of your asthma and allergy needs.
Wow.
Okay, take me through, I've done a lot of building and
remodeling.
What should I think about if I do that again?
Okay, well there's three categories.
If you go to our website at AAFA.org, and you go to our
certifcation program.
AAFA.org?
Yes.
Going there.
Yes, we have an asthma allergy friendly certification program,
and guide, which is a wonderful resource.
In this guide, they break it down into three categories.
Okay.
Building and remodeling, second is outfitting your home, and
third is cleaning your home.
Starting off with building and remodeling, a couple red flags
come up.
Especially if you have somebody in your family that is dealing
with and living with allergies and asthma.
If you are building and remodeling a home, you want to
try and avoid, if possible, plywood.
If you can, try to avoid wall to wall carpeting and kind of go
with hardwood floors.
But if you can't, you can go to our website and find fabulous
certified friendly steamer cleaner.
Right.
You want to keep your humidity levels below 50%.
Also, if you're thinking about buying a new heating and
ventilation system, you want to make sure that you buy a
certified HEPA filter.
One that can be replaced or washable.
Good to know.
Now, what about if you're outfitting your home.
I'm always out there looking for the right things to buy.
What can help me?
Okay, if you're out and about shopping to outfit your home,
you want to check out our guide first.
Okay.
You want to get familiar with our seal.
Your seal?
Yes.
We have a seal.
An allergy asthma friendly certification seal, and you know
with that seal that product or service has been scientifically
tested, put through rigorous testing in a laboratory, and you
can trust that product or service is made asthma and
allergy friendly.
So, if I see that seal, I know it's been tested.
I know I can put it in my home and feel good about it.
Absolutely.
Great!
Alright, now there are certain types of products that are
irritants too as we clean our home.
What can we do about those?
Yes, a lot of irritants can be found in cleaning products, also
in dusting products, so you want to take a look.
You can go to the guide and see which ones, for example,
cleaning supplies like Endust, trap the actual dust and
particles, and they don't seep out.
You can go and check out some of our asthma allergy friendly
certified vacuum cleaners.
Okay.
Okay, we offer different paints that have been certified,
different pillows, mattress pads that keep out all of those
dustmites and moisture.
That's such great information, because when you're shopping,
you can look for that AAFA seal, that certification there, and
you can feel safe about what you're buying.
I didn't know that before today.
That's such an excellent tip.
It's a fantastic guide and program that you can find on our
website.
Oh Michelle, thank you so much for being on the show, and I
know you're also appearing on Designing Spaces.
I am.
I'm going to watch for that.
Thank you so much.
Alright, in the meantime, you can log on to AAFA.org and
TheBalancingAct.com for all this great info, and don't forget to
follow us on Facebook and Twitter.