Aileen Gagney knows what poor indoor air can do to a person's health. Once, while she was painting in an unventilated bathroom, polyurethane fumes knocked her out for 16 hours, leaving her with permanent sensitivities to chemical odors that give her migraines and breathing difficulties.

Gagney, 52, now trains volunteers at the American Lung Association of the Northwest in Seattle to conduct free home checkups, aimed at reducing allergies, asthma, and hidden airborne dangers.

Improvements can be quick and easy — 87 percent of the families visited by Gagney's volunteers make at least one change to freshen their air. So we asked her, and other health researchers and housing experts, to reveal common mistakes you're probably making — plus the solutions that help you breathe easy.

Mistake: You clean your clothes dryer's lint trap ... but ignore the exhaust pipe.


To read the full Prevention story, click here.