A lovely tree-lined street

We live in increasingly sealed boxes. In order to be efficient, modern houses are built to be as airtight as possible; air exchange with the outdoors usually means heat loss or gain. It can be difficult (and expensive) to maintain a comfortable home while letting fresh air in – especially in the height of summer and the depths of winter.

Get fresh

Sealing off your home, however, can mean that you’re breathing more and more stale air: you consume oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. The only way to replenish the oxygen in your home is to open the doors and windows and get some fresh air in. Well, as fresh as you can get it – especially if you live in a busy city, the ‘fresh’ air will come with some aded extras from traffic and industry.

To get oxygen-rich air, we need plants. Trees, bushes, grass, flowers, water plants; all use daylight to convert carbon dioxide, water and nutrients from the soil to the molecules they need to grow and flourish. The main byproduct of the process is oxygen.

Day of the Triffids

Plant power

Recent research, however, shows that CO2 is not the only substance plants are filtering from the air. The process of respiration that plants go through daily also involves filtering all kinds of substances from the air they’re absorbing. Trees and bushes have been shown to drastically reduce airborne pollution to the extent that planting a decent hedge between the road and a building can reduce the traffic fumes that reach the building significantly.

Within your own home, detergents, paints, disinfectants and aerosols can emit harmful compounds into the air, including benzene, formaldehyde and ammonia. Artificial air fresheners, rather than removing these compounds are more likely to be contributing to the problem. A common chemical compound that is included in many household cleaning products, limonene, reacts in the air to form formaldehyde, which can be particularly harmful to our health. If you’re looking to ‘pickle’ a biological sample, formaldehyde is your go-to chemical. Probably not great to be breathing too much of it.

Well, it turns out that the humble house plant is just the ticket for helping to clean up and freshen the air in your home. They are great at filtering CO2 and toxins (as well as airborne bacteria) and producing oxygen. House plants even help to regulate the humidity in your home, which can be valuable on close summer days or in winter, when your central heating lowers the humidity.

Add a bit of nature indoors

Pick your favourite plants to place around your home in light positions, but if you’re looking for the high-performers at air filtration, go for ivy, palms, ferns, or a couple of the old favourites: the Rubber Plant (Ficus Elastica) and the Spider Plant. These are all easy to care for, and do a good job of improving your indoor air.

Cleaning your cleaners

While they’re doing a great job of cleaning up the air in your home, return the favour and give them a little clean every so often to make sure they’re not under a layer of dust. In nature, they’d be exposed to wind and rain, so dust isn’t something they would have to deal with. Keeping them clean also helps them to resist pests, infections and mould.

Cleaning methods

1. Give them a shower

If they’re easily portable and they’re not sensitive to over-watering (cacti, succulents and orchids don’t like too much water), you can simulate a bit of rainfall and just put your plants in the shower. Make sure the water is cool (neither hot nor very cold) and give them a gentle dousing, then let them drip dry before returning them to their spot. You can do several at once like this.

If the weather is nice and mild and you’re due a bit of rain, you could just pop your plants outside to catch a shower and bring them in again.

2. Give them a wipe over

Larger and less portable plants, especially those with larger leaves, will benefit from a gentle wipe over with a damp cloth. Support the underside of each leaf with your hand while you gently wipe the upper.

3. Misting

For the more water-sensitive plant (the afore-mentioned cacti, succulents and orchids), you can spray a fine mist over the plant to dampen and clean it.

A happier work environment

4. Gentle brushing

For plants that don’t have shiny waxy leaves, and for the less spiny cactus,  you can use an art brush to gently dust the leaves or body of the plant to get rid of dust without having to get them wet.

Mutual care

If you give them a bit of care and attention, and follow the advice for caring for each type of plant, your house plants should make your house cleaner, healthier – and, as other research into the positive reaction many of us have to the presence of greenery in our homes has shown – happier!

So why not get green-fingered and give your home a breath of fresh, naturally-filtered air?

Let us know how you get on!