Why You Should Have Your Indoor Air Quality Tested
Your home is your own private sanctuary, but bad air quality can ruin the peaceful vibes, lower your mood, and even affect your health. Things like VOCs (Volatile Organic compounds), pesticides, carbon monoxide, and other toxic chemicals can build up in your home over time without proper knowledge of how to eliminate them. These contaminants in your home can worsen asthma, allergies, and a number of other health problems.
However, there’s an easy solution to determining whether the air quality in your home is suffering; an air quality test. Keep reading for 5 reasons why an air quality test is important for the safety and health of your home.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
When you bring something new into your home like carpet, curtains, or furniture, you may notice a chemical smell. That’s the scent of toxic compounds. These scents can last days, weeks, or even months without proper elimination methods. Even if you don’t smell any chemical scents in your home, they could still be there, although not all levels of VOCs are ‘threatening’. indoor air quality tested
All homes can have small or ‘background levels’ of VOCs, but once they exceed a certain threshold, health problems begin presenting themselves. Although VOC testing cannot fully uncover all dangerous VOC levels in your home, it can still reveal dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde (Methanal), which is often found in older homes’ wood, some appliances, and older manufactured fabrics.
Pest Droppings
You may not realize it, but pest droppings have a significant impact on the air quality score of your home. Although you are often unable to see the pest droppings from dust mites, cockroaches, flies, and bugs, they can be silently polluting your home’s air quality. In fact, pest droppings, along with particles of the remains of bugs themselves are some of what makes up the dust in our homes. Pets and children are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of pest droppings. To ensure that your home is safe from dangerous levels of pest droppings, you will need an air quality test.
Pesticides
If you recently struggled with pests in your home you likely used pesticides to get rid of them. What you may not realize is that pesticides can pollute indoor air quality, and linger for a long time. If you must use pesticides to rid your home of infestations, be sure to use all-natural options and ensure proper ventilation of your home afterwards. Having an air quality test conducted can determine the severity of the pesticide levels in your home. It is especially important to have this test performed if you have recently used pesticides in your home.
Carbon Monoxide
You are likely aware that carbon monoxide is not something that should be in your home. Many homes already have carbon monoxide detectors that alert you when the levels become dangerously high, but you may be living with low levels of carbon monoxide that could still be affecting your health.
If you have a furnace, gas stove, or fireplace in your home, there is a possibility of carbon monoxide accumulation. Even though this is rare, carbon monoxide can be very toxic as it replaces the oxygen in your blood, and it is dangerously flammable. When you get the air quality tested in your home, you’ll be able to determine if there are high levels of carbon monoxide before it’s too late.
Micro-Organisms
Most homes battle with bacteria, mold, and viruses at some point. When you see mold or become aware of high bacteria levels in your home, the microorganisms developed from those contaminants are already polluting the air. If you have seen mold in your home, have stagnant water in the condensate pan of your HVAC system, or notice water leaks around your home, it is important to remove the moisture as soon as possible. Adding a dehumidifier to your home can help remove the moisture from the air and reduce the likelihood of mold in your home as well.
Bacteria and viruses are also more easily spread in poorly ventilated areas with higher humidity levels. Increasing ventilation, decreasing humidity, and introducing air purification can reduce the spread of contagious diseases and other bacteria and viruses.
Are Home Air Quality Tests Accurate?
Now that we have discussed how air quality tests can benefit your home, it is important to understand that we cannot always rely on the results of these tests. Every environment is different and every person reacts differently to contaminants. Therefore, the results of air quality tests are always subjective.
If you have children or pets, be aware they may react to lower levels of contaminants than an adult would, as do people with asthma or other respiratory diseases.
Even though the results may be subjective, it is still important to understand what contaminants may be present in your home, and a home air quality test is the best way to do this.
What Symptoms Result From Poor Air Quality
If your home has poor air quality, you may notice the following symptoms:
- Dryness and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Hypersensitivity and allergies
- Sinus congestion
- Coughing and sneezing
- Dizziness
- Nausea
What’s Next?
If you think that your home needs an air quality test, Garrison & Garrison can help. Our technicians are trained to inspect your air quality and advise you on the best air purification solutions for your home. Give us a call at (256) 859-8500 or email us at [email protected].
Garrison & Garrison is a trusted American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning Customer Care Dealer in Huntsville, AL. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. indoor air quality tested indoor air quality tested indoor air quality tested
