With the fall weather comes ragweed, mold and a host of other allergens. By simply changing the air filters in their heating/air conditioning units, homeowners can dramatically increase the level of comfort that they experience indoors.

“Even if you keep your windows closed, you’re likely to carry in ragweed pollen on your shoes and clothes, which means allergy or asthma sufferers have no real refuge. Plus, building interiors produce dust and other microparticles such as lint, smoke or mold spores. None of us should be breathing in those substances,” said Ray Scardigno, president of Filters Fast, a leading retailer of air filters and a 2007 winner of the Bizrate circle of excellence platinum award.

“Some people think they’re suffering from a changing-of-the-seasons cold when in fact they’re having a reaction from one or more allergens,” continued Scardigno. “Most of us aren’t even aware of the many different types of microparticles that have the potential to cause respiratory distress.”

For many people, pollen causes the release of histamines, which in turn triggers sneezing, runny noses and itchy, watery eyes.

Dust and dust mite debris (the creatures’ dead skin and fecal matter) accumulate on furniture, carpets and even stuffed toys. Lint consists of tiny fibers from fabric, papers, plants and other items, and those fibers are easily stirred up into the air and inhaled.

Cigarette or fireplace smoke contains tar, soot and ashes that can trigger bronchitis or asthma attacks. Pet dander consists of tiny pieces of skin from cats and dogs that can irritate the respiratory system.

Mold is often hidden away in places where people may never think to look, such as wood, ceiling tiles, carpets, wallpaper and heating pipes.

“When mold accumulates in heating pipes and people turn on their furnaces, mold spores are literally sprayed all through the building,” said Scardigno. “Replacing air filters before you turn on the heat and also using an air purifier are your best bets for cleaning the air.”

Also, in these times of rising energy costs, replacing air filters helps heating bills stay as low as possible. Cleaning or replacing filters at regular intervals (two to three months is usually recommended by filter manufacturers) allows heated air to flow freely so that energy is not wasted.

Filters can be either washable or disposable and are designed to work with specific units. Consumers should choose the highest-efficiency filter that works with their furnace. In addition, they should check that the filter they have selected meets with the American Lung Association’s Health House indoor air quality guidelines.

“Once you take the proper precautions, autumn can be enjoyable even for allergy and asthma sufferers,” said Scardigno.

The air ventilation system which is part of the renovated $55 million Brattleboro Union High School is upstaging the performers in the new auditorium. During last week’s performance of “Mousetrap” the air system was so loud that the audience was not able to hear the students.

The BUHS board at their meeting Monday heard from at least one community member who said the school needs to be more aggressive in fixing the problem.

Dart Everett said the students and staff and the union high school community deserve better after spending so much money on what has become the largest public school project in the state’s history.

“I guess $55 million doesn’t buy as much as it used to,” Everett told the board after reporting his frustration with the racket that reverberates through the auditorium when the air system kicks in. “It is totally unacceptable.”

Everett came out to the board meeting Monday because he said he has been complaining about the system for months.

After months of rehearsals, costume design and staging, the student were blown away by the vibrating clatter of the duct work.

BUHS principal Jim Day said he knows about the issue and he said he has been on the phone with the project manager and the clerk of the works.

The seven-year project was officially finished at the start of this school year, though there remains a small list of problems.

Day said the ventilation system is at the top of that list.

According to Day, the air systems in the middle school auditorium and in the high school multipurpose room are also so loud as to make the spaces almost unusable.

It is going to cost about $20,000, Day said, to install emergency switches that will at least give administrators the power to turn the system down.

Right now there is no way for a stage manager to turn off the air during a performance and there is nothing else to do but encourage the student performers to fight their way through the production.

“I am familiar with the problem,” Day said. “We have to be able to at least give people a last resort to turn it off. We can’t even do that.”

Day did not have financial statements at the board meeting Monday but he said the school has withheld payments on the air system.

He has been working to fix the problem and said the bills won’t be paid until the engineer addresses the issue.

The building and grounds committee will meet on Nov. 14 to find a solution to the noisy problem.

The phrase “20 mule team” conjures images of wagon trains, macho cowpokes and pioneer women scrubbing their knuckles raw on a washboard set in a tin tub on a dusty, windblown prairie.

Ick.

Certainly there were a few 19th-century women who dreamed of tying those dirty clothes to the team’s caboose and letting those durn mules drag ‘em behind, agitating the fabric clean on river rock while the missus lounged in nearby shade, sipping a sarsaparilla and reading Jane Austen.

While washboards are long gone - hallelujah! - 20 Mule Team Borax is still with us, and is much the same as it was in the late 1800s. It’s still utilized as a detergent booster and whitener, along with a long list of other uses that you might not guess.

“Borax was the most important cleaner in the house,” recalls Jean Topor of Chicopee, Mass. She used it on her kids’ cloth diapers in the 1950s. “They had to be clean and white, and Borax did the job.”

Borax is made from borate, a naturally occurring mineral compound of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. It’s been around for 4,000 years but was first mined for use as an industrial product starting in the late 1800s in the vast desert around Teel’s Marsh, Nev.

Soon after, rich fields of crude borate ore (called “cottonball”) were discovered in Death Valley, Calif. There were no rail lines at the time, so teams of mules dragged the stuff across 165 miles of desert and mountains. And because it was heavy, some smart businessman came up with the idea to double the power of the era’s standard 10-mule teams that pulled wagons loaded with the ore.

Today, 20 Mule Team Borax is made by Dial Corp. The product is environmentally friendly, as detergents go: It’s colorless, odorless and is free of phosphates and chlorine.

And it still works. A few informal tests showed Borax effective as a whitener when added to laundry detergent, and as a deodorizer, easily neutralizing a smelly kitchen trash can.