How can I keep my home feeling fresh when I can't air it out?

January 24, 2018 4:22 AM

How can I keep my home feeling/smelling fresh when circumstances do not allow me to open the windows?

For various reasons I can't keep the windows to my small basement apartment open much if at all. I'm out during the day and in the evening it gets too cold, and bugs are attracted to the light. Sometimes I have houseguests who open the windows during the day - immediately the bug population goes up a thousandfold. (This is in the UK - we don't have bug-preventing screens as standard. I really, really hate bugs.) I can't smell that my place is particularly stuffy, and no one has mentioned to me that it is, but it just may be because (1) I am used to it and (2) people are being polite.

But this means that I rarely have any actual fresh air inside my house. I have a solitary peace lily, a dehumidifier and extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom. What can I do to ensure that I'm not sitting at home inhaling used gross carbon dioxide all day?

posted by Ziggy500 to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

You can get mesh screens, you just cut them to size and stick the provided velcro around the window - obviously you have to lift the mesh to open and close the window but they work pretty well. Available in black or white

You could get more plants but there really is nothing like actually being able to air the place out
posted by missmagenta at 4:29 AM on January 24, 2018 [6 favorites]

In the US, you can typically get a custom sized screen made at a hardware store. Maybe worth a try?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 4:31 AM on January 24, 2018

The way you're phrasing this really makes me wonder if there's an environmental issue here, or whether this is more an an issue of anxiety.

If you leave an extractor fan running during the day, and your apartment isn't hermetically sealed, that's going to be very effective in cycling the air between your apartment and outside. The peace lily looks lovely, I'm sure, but it's not going to have any measurable effect on air quality.

Something to bear in mind: you can't make the air quality any better than what's outside, so if you're in a basement and there's traffic outside or you're in a city with a high pollution level, that's a limiting factor.

The phrase 'used gross carbon dioxide' rings alarm bells for me. Carbon dioxide is an inoffensive, pretty unreactive gas - it has no taste, no odour, no colour. The terms 'gross' and 'used' just don't apply. You'll know if there's too much of it (or rather, too little oxygen) because you'll feel faint and eventually pass out and then die. That ain't going to happen. The feeling of 'stuffiness' in a room usually comes about due to some combination of overheating, damp, smells and pollution (smoke, cooking fumes, etc.) The dehumidifier suggests to me that your apartment is damp - is that the case? Dampness definitely contributes to low air quality. If there's no damp problem, maybe the dehumidifier is drying the air too much, and you might want to reconsider its use.

There's no shame in asking a close friend how your place smells, if you really need to know. Everybody's place smells of some combination of the building itself, the furnishings, the people who live there, the food they cook, their pets and so on. If you can't smell anything much when you walk in after being away all day (or even for a few days) then that's a good indicator that there's no odour problem, unless your sense of smell is compromised. I have a pretty amazing sense of smell, and for me, the vast majority of people's homes smell of (a) nothing much, (b) whatever they last cooked, (c) their dog, or (d) fabric conditioner. By far, (d) is the smell I notice most.

The insect thing puzzles me. I live in the country, close to several farms, and with a garden full of wildlife. Insects in our house are really rare at this time of year. Admittedly, we don't open the windows an awful lot in the winter, but even in the summer I'm not seeing many insects - just the odd housefly or lost ladybird. If you're getting thousands of bugs in your apartment, that would point to there being an infestation nearby that maybe needs looking into. Of course, don't open a window and put on bright lights when it's dark outside - insects will get confused and stumble into your house. Thick curtains or a blackout blind will help a lot here.

Screens aren't really a thing in the UK, although I've seen a few suppliers online. You definitely won't get them made to measure at a hardware/DIY shop. Also, it's going to cost you a lot of money to heat your apartment at current temperatures with windows open.

So on to advice. Air purifiers are a thing, and having a HEPA filter in my bedroom at night has really benefited my allergies, so I can vouch for their effect on air quality. Take a look online at air quality in your area - if the data upsets you, then consider moving somewhere where it's lower, because trying to get your apartment air quality better than what's outside in the street is a losing proposition. There's no shame in scenting your home with something subtle, like a good-quality reed diffuser. And maybe consider that all of this might just be a manifestation of some anxieties around health and cleanliness lurking below the surface. It's incredibly common, and I've experienced it myself.
posted by pipeski at 5:39 AM on January 24, 2018 [16 favorites]

Can't you just open the windows in the morning while you're getting ready? A good airing once a day should be sufficient, especially if you put the extractor fans on to get the air moving. If that doesn't do it, then you can buy a HEPA air purifier. I disagree that trying to get your apartment air quality better than what's outside in the street is a losing proposition. We use ours during our annual summer wildfires, when the air outside is sometimes rated "hazardous" and you can't see to the end of the block for all the thick, brown smoke. The filters keep the air inside the house perfectly livable. A good HEPA air purifier should be more than enough to address a vague sense that the air isn't fresh.
posted by HotToddy at 6:17 AM on January 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I use a diffuser with lavender oil.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:48 AM on January 24, 2018

If you can't get screens at the hardware store, you can get mosquito nets for camping at a camping store. You can cut them and make them into curtains for your windows to prevent insects. A HEPA filter is probably easier.
posted by blnkfrnk at 7:08 AM on January 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

For fresh, clean smells, you can simmer sliced citrus in a pot of water (herbs like mint, lavender, and bay are also nice, as are cinnamon sticks and other whole spices). Just make sure to keep an eye on it and never let the water boil off.
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:32 AM on January 24, 2018

It's unclear to me if you're mainly worried about a slightly-bad smell or about poisonous gases.

If it's the former: make sure you clean the bathroom regularly and wash your sheets either once a week, or at most, once every two weeks. Take out the trash regularly. Vacuum. Basically, if you keep the place clean, you will keep bad smells to a minimum.

If it's the latter: get a carbon-monoxide detector.
posted by colfax at 7:34 AM on January 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

(Be careful with essential oils/ diffusers - there are still a lot of unknowns - this UM website recommends no more than 15 min/hour of diffusing.)
posted by queseyo at 7:54 AM on January 24, 2018

The advice from experts here is to air your home for 15 minutes a day max. - not more than that. Could you do that in the morning, as suggested above? Or five minutes in the morning and five minutes when you get home? Otherwise, your ventilators are probably doing a good job, specially if your flat is small.
posted by mumimor at 8:24 AM on January 24, 2018

I once petsat for a month at a older house that was immaculate, and wanted to return the place as good as I found it, right down to smelling good. The folks I was petsitting for did yellow mellow, so I did yellow mellow. No matter how much I scrubbed that toilet, aired the windowless bathroom, I could NOT figure out how to get the smell out of the bathroom.

Then I realized they had a candle. Reader, I lit that candle. The smell dissipated.

Try an unscented candle.
posted by aniola at 9:04 AM on January 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

You can have screens made or use netting. Keep a bowl with lemons, limes and oranges, or a dish of coffee beans. Bring home flowers; carnations are inexpensive and smell nice. Have a couple of plants. A bit of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, or other spices in a pan, simmered with water for 15 minutes. Save and dry citrus peel, add to simmering liquid, or a drop or 2 of vanilla. In Maine, you can buy small pillows filled with balsam pine needles; the scent is quite strong and smells fresh; also lavender. Many herbs smell good, strew some before vacuuming. A bunch of dried lavender or eucalyptus.
posted by theora55 at 9:25 AM on January 24, 2018

Oh my God I hear you. I have two dogs that sleep with us and a pregnant nose and every morning I wake up choking on our bedroom air. There is no substitute for opening the window. Get a screen. Pull down your bed sheets and open all the windows while you drink your coffee, then close it back up. Voila, smells are gone.
posted by pintapicasso at 10:01 AM on January 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’ve never used one, but people say that ozone generators do this. There is some concern about the health effects, especially if you have pets, though.
posted by Weeping_angel at 10:08 AM on January 24, 2018

Has your home been tested for radon?
Living in the basement puts you at risk of lung cancer if there is radon present.
A radon mitigation system moves air out of basements and would likely solve your stale air problems.
posted by littlewater at 5:33 PM on January 24, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks all, the screens sound like the answer to my issue.

yes there is indeed some anxiety at play here (I don't like bugs! And I live in a basement and get a lot of bugs when the windows are left open for any extended period of time)
posted by Ziggy500 at 4:31 AM on January 29, 2018