In the U.S. alone, more than 30% of adults regularly suffer from allergies, and this number is thought to be even higher in children. While allergies and their symptoms may be mild for some, for others they can be extremely detrimental to their health and can even prevent them from living a normal life. So, what’s causing these allergies?

With the average home in America playing host to more than double the amount of pollutants typically found outside, the very air we’re breathing when we’re relaxing at home, could be responsible for many common but potentially serious allergies.

Some common allergy symptoms include itchy or watery eyes, a sore throat and a cough, and for anyone with a compromised immunity or preexisting health condition, these symptoms can be life threatening. When foreign particles such as dust and mold spores are introduced into our lungs, they can affect our breathing, sleep and overall quality of life; for many, exposure to dust particles and mold spores can make life truly miserable.

If you or anyone in your home is regularly experiencing the following symptoms, it could mean that they are being exposed to foreign particles, and this is most commonly through dirty air ducts in heating and cooling systems:

- Difficulty sleeping

- Coughing

- Sore throat

- Allergies and asthma

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has also classified the fiberglass used in many air ducts to be a possible cause of lung cancer.

Duct board is commonly used in many U.S. homes in the heating and cooling systems, and is a fiberglass insulator. Over time, the duct material breaks down and tiny particles of fiberglass are released into the air that you and your family are breathing, causing potentially harmful health conditions.

Do your air ducts need cleaning, restoring or replacing?

If you’re worried about the risks your air ducts could be exposing you and other members of your household to, then you should arrange for them to be inspected and cleaned at the earliest. In some cases, the system may need to be restored or even replaced, and only a detailed assessment from a duct specialist will tell you which option is the most viable. Naturally, replacing an A/C duct system can be costly, and most homeowners only go down this route when there is no other option.

If air duct restoration is a possibility, this is what your air duct specialist will do:

- Use a high-performance coating designed to bridge and reinforce the duct liner

- The coating will dry to form a flexible and moisture resistant protective coating that will help prevent the buildup of harmful mold and bacteria

- The duct is lined with a disinfectant spray to reduce bacteria growth in the future

This two-step process costs a lot less than replacing your entire heating and cooling system, and can not only breathe new life into the ducts, but into the lungs of your home’s inhabitants!

If you take one thing away from this article, it should be to never neglect the maintenance of your air ducts. Having air ducts cleaned regularly, or restored where necessary, can help prevent a whole host of potentially dangerous pollutants from entering your home.

We can’t control the air we breathe when we step outside, but we can certainly protect the air inside our own homes!

For more details about duct cleaning, please visit the website Ductgurus.com