Take a cruise through the rooms in your home. I'm sure you'll find some offensive odors. You might have indoor pets (litter box or dog's bed) or used athletic shoes and clothes. Maybe you can still smell the last fish fry from the most recent fishing trip, or your bathroom never seems to dry out, and that mildew smell just won't go away. You can buy all kinds of air fresheners, but then you get the pleasant smell trying to mask the bad one. The layers of scent don't mix or eliminate each other by canceling one another out. What should you do?
How They Work
Charcoal is carbon. Activated charcoal is regular charcoal treated with oxygen, which opens up millions of tiny spaces between the carbon atoms.
Highly porous charcoals have surface areas of 300-2,000 square meters per gram. These activated charcoals absorb odors or colored substances from gases or liquids.
A material absorbs something by attaching to it through chemical attraction. Activated charcoal's surface area has thousands of bonding sites. When particular chemicals pass close to the carbon surface, they grab on and are trapped.
Activated charcoal mostly traps other carbon-based pollutants ("organic"), and chemicals like chlorine. Chemicals like sodium and nitrates aren't attracted to carbon and pass right through. So activated charcoal removes certain impurities while ignoring others. Activated charcoal items stop working and must be replaced when all of the bonding sites are filled.
Bamboo (green) charcoal air purifying bags can absorb moisture and odors, which clean up the air in your home. Baking soda handles the smells in your fridge, but you can't use it for the rest of your house. With a little effort, green charcoal keeps its deodorizing properties for up to 2 years. All you need to do is lay the charcoal bag out in the sun monthly to refresh. Most of the popular air fresheners contain chemicals and aren't safe for children and pets.
These odor eliminating charcoal bags can be used any place with unwanted smells in your home. Your cat's litter box is a no-brainer use for green charcoal air purifier bags. How about a closet full of smelly sports paraphernalia? Bathroom and nursery odors are also locations where the air in your home might need purifying. They even work as air fresheners in your car; you won't even miss the artificial chemical pine scent. You can camouflage them by wrapping them in fabric, giving the appearance of sachets or throw pillows.
Consumers on the internet review these products providing positive testimonials about how effective they are. Countless reviews of these green charcoal bags mention that the odors in hard-corp offenders such as homes with multiple pets and vehicles, which often transported kids to and from sports practices, were eliminated. These products often end up on quirky gift lists compiled and published by internet influencers.
Humidity is the culprit for many indoor odors and other household health woes. A humid environment prevents your body from cooling itself normally, which increases the amount you sweat. Humidity in your home creates optimum conditions for growing potentially harmful microbes and dust mites.
Another thing that grows freely in humid homes is mold. Internet alternative health guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola warns that people often underestimate the risk inhaling mold spores poses to your respiratory health. Mold can sicken or actually kill you. The Environmental Protection Agency also warns all species of mold are capable of causing illness.
Prolonged exposure to mold can result in several health issues such as headaches, muscle and joint pain, concentration problems, flu-like symptoms, respiratory problems and fatigue. You can see why you should make an effort to keep the level of humidity inside your home in the range of 30% – 50%, which is considered normal.
Signs You Need to Dehumidify Your Home
Besides the symptoms mentioned above, there are visible visual signs that the humidity in your home is excessive. If you see mold spots on ceilings or in corners of rooms and on ceilings, it probably means the amount of moisture in the air is above the normal range we mentioned.
Condensation on windows is another indication of excessive humidity inside the house. Other high humidity symptoms are damp smells, water stains on drywall and the sudden appearance of rotting wood. If any of these appear inside your house, invest in a home humidity testing kit to measure the moisture level in your home. If the test result comes back above 50%, make an effort to lower the amount of humidity in your house for both structural and health reasons.
Ways to Naturally Dehumidify Your Home
A simple method to dehumidify your home is by running a dehumidifier. These devices can be pricey and aren't known for their energy efficiency, which adds to the overall cost of purchasing and running one of these machines. Ironically, dehumidifiers might dry the air in your house too much, which adds its own set of problems to the mix. Luckily, we can suggest a few green and natural ways to dehumidify buildings.
Absorb the Moisture
Place pots of calcium chloride in the areas of your home prone to high humidity and air moisture levels should drop quickly since it naturally pulls moisture from the air and is budget friendly. You can buy this powdered chemical either online or from big box or hardware stores.
A more family-friendly method of combating humidity is green charcoal bags. They are contained in packaging so no danger of your children or pets spilling the contents like the chemicals in pots above.
Vent Your Home
Improving ventilation is probably the most obvious way to regulate the excess humidity inside your house. The quick and simple way to do this is to open doors and windows regularly. Also, you might set up fans in problem areas to improve air circulation. Extraction fans are particularly useful in rooms prone to elevated humidity levels (i.e. bathrooms, the attic, or the kitchen.)
Remove Indoor Plants
As eye-pleasing and decorative as they are, plants add moisture to the air, which has a dramatic effect on the humidity range indoors. Relegate your live potted plants to the outdoors. If you miss the leafy accents, invest in artificial alternatives indoors.
Take Shorter Showers
It probably doesn't surprise you that the most typical source of airborne moisture is the bathroom. The shower is the number 1 offender. Always run ventilation fans while showering. Leave the bathroom door and windows open for about half an hour afterward. Cutting back on the length of time you spend showering can significantly cut the amount of moisture you release into your home.
Some indoor humidity is needed for comfort, so don't overdo your dehumidifying efforts. The green charcoal bags strike a healthy balance in the air quality within your home. By monitoring the moisture range inside your property, you can protect your investment while creating a healthy and comfortable living environment.