When you spend all winter living in Wisconsin, you’re likely to open up all the windows you can once the temperature gets anywhere near 50 degrees.
Good for you! That’s actually a great idea. Fresh air from opening your windows can benefit your body, your mind, the atmosphere of your home, and your wallet.
Here’s how …
Opening Windows Can Clear Your Home of Indoor Pollutants
When you hear about pollution, you probably picture smoggy skies, car exhaust, and smokestacks pouring filth into the air. However, it’s now well-established that the air inside your home often contains more toxins than outside air.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission states on its website:
“In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.”
That’s bad news for those of us who spend most of our day inside.
One reason indoor air quality is worse is the rate of dilution. If the air outside were an Olympic size swimming pool, your house would be more like a thimble of water. Pollutants simply become more concentrated inside a building.
Pollutants released from things like fireplaces, water heaters, gas ovens, and space heaters all get trapped in your home.
Open Windows Can Make Your Home Smell Better
Have you ever noticed how everyone’s home smells a bit differently? Wouldn’t it be great if your home had the fresh aroma of spring? Open a window!
Nobody likes that stuffy house smell, but you’ll notice a dramatic difference when you air things out.
Just as pollutants get trapped inside a closed-up home, so can odors. While you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who dislike the aroma of bacon, that smell hangs in the air for a long time.
Regularly opening your windows for short periods of time each day can greatly improve the scent of your home. You may not even need air fresheners anymore! They can add more chemical particles to the air.
Open Windows Can Help You Think and Can Make You Happier
Not only will your physical health benefit from open windows, but your mental health could also get a boost as well.
Various studies indicate air quality has a profound effect on cognition. For example, a University of Tulsa research project found proper ventilation is important for learning. Researchers say student test scores improved when hot stuffy indoor air was replaced with cooler outdoor air.
“Improving ventilation, bringing in more outdoor air, and lowering temperatures in the classroom dramatically improves students’ ability to achieve,” Dr. Richard Shaughnessy of the University of Tulsa told KOTV news.
Fresh air is good for adults as well as kids. The Huffington Post reported on a Harvard study that found poor indoor air quality leads to low productivity among employees.
However, reducing CO2 levels and indoor pollutants produced a dramatic swing in the other direction. Better air quality improved participants’ ability to make decisions, process information, and respond to emergency situations.
Opening Windows Could Save You Money in the Summer
Honestly, when you live in Wisconsin, there are some summers when you’ll barely need to use the A/C. Opening your windows at the right time of day can help cool your house down.
It can get awfully humid in Wisconsin in the summer, so you’ll want to be careful about when you open windows to avoid getting humid air in your home. However, cracking the windows at night when the temperature falls and humidity drops is a good idea.
Don’t Forget About Your Screens!
Of course, open windows call for screens! Many Wisconsin homeowners are taking their screens out of storage so they can let the fresh spring air into their homes.
Sometimes screens get damaged in storage over the winter. They may not fit tightly into your windows anymore, and screens with tears in them may lead to bugs getting in the house.
Want help getting your window screens back in shape? If you have Pella windows, you can call our service department at 920-321-3467 to let us know what your issues are. We may be able to help you over the phone. If not, we’ll come to take a look.
Our technicians can make a service call to your home to try and patch things up or install replacement screens. They can also help with windows that might be sticking or aren’t operating as well as they once did.
