Making your home safer and healthier doesn’t need to be a time-consuming or expensive process. A few small changes and upgrades could have a major impact on your family’s comfort and well-being. Here is a look at five simple ways you can improve your home in the coming weeks.

Install a Whole Home Water Filter

Even though most municipalities have excellent water treatment plants, there could still be dangerous chemicals and toxins in your tap water. While you can filter your water at each individual faucet, whole home water filtration systems tend to be much more efficient. Most residential filtration systems will remove unwanted contaminants such as heavy metals, radioactive elements, pathogens, and scale.

Schedule Preventative Pest Control Services

A few stray bugs or rodents could turn into a major infestation before you know it. Many household pests carry a wide variety of pathogens and diseases that are harmful to humans, and you don’t want your family to be exposed to any of those germs. The most effective way to keep pests out of your home is to schedule biannual service calls with a reliable and experienced pest control specialist.

Test for Asbestos

Before the 1980s, almost every contractor was using materials that contained asbestos. That particular compound is currently classified as a carcinogen, and it kills over 12,000 people every year. A local asbestos remediation company can test your home for that carcinogen and help you come up with a comprehensive cleanup plan if any particles are found in your walls, roof, or basement.

Replace Your Old Cleaning Supplies with Chemical-Free Products

Many people don’t realize that older cleaning supplies usually contain dozens of different toxins. If you have older cleaning products in your home, then you need to check their labels for any dangerous chemicals. Some of the toxins that you should keep an eye out for include phthalates, ammonia, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide.

Have Your Vents and Ducts Cleaned

One of the easiest ways to improve your home’s indoor air quality is to have your ducts and vents professionally cleaned and your air conditioning system repaired at least once or twice a year. Over the course of a few months, those spaces might become clogged with dust, dander, mold, mites, and a wide variety of other contaminants. Your home’s air filters will catch some of those particles, but those products aren’t perfect.

In addition to these few tips and tricks, you should also make sure that all of the alarms and detectors throughout your home are installed in the correct locations and have full batteries. As a general rule, all of those devices need to be tested at least once a month to make sure that they are still working properly.