apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Itchy eyes, runny noses and regular headaches have been increasingly ailing our household. Emily is sensitive to pollen and other allergens, but normally I don't suffer noticeably unless there are fires around. But this tail end of summer has been annoyingly unpleasant for both of us, despite having the best home air purifying machine scrubbing our indoor air of allergens. Until only recently, the IQAir was a purifying messiah in a box...after 15-20 minutes on, Emily's allergies would completely disappear. But not lately. We cracked open the IQAIr and upon first glance it was obviously dirty, but not to an extent where one would register it as abnormal. Then we pulled out the pre-filter housing and discovered these perfectly padded and formed layers of dust mixed with cat fur underneath...