Checking the Air Quality in Your Home and Ways to Improve It
The air quality in your home is crucial, especially if you or a family member have environmental allergies that are set off by dust or other things in the air. Most homes have heat and AC units that filter the air coming into your home, but those filters along may not be enough, and having indoor air testing done can reveal what is getting through those filters.
1. Air Filters
The standard air filters in your home are designed to remove dust and debris in the air. They often do not filter out the smallest particles though, and those are the ones that often trigger allergies in people sensitive to dust, pollen, and other materials in the air.
Changing the air filters in your furnace or AC unit regularly will help, but the first step is to hire a company to perform indoor air quality testing throughout the house and see if you need more filtration or not. In many cases, the filters can be changed to better quality filters, with smaller openings in the filter medium, so more dirt and dust are caught on the filter. There are special filters that you can buy at the local home center to increase the air filtration, and remove more dust and particulates without adding additional filtration in the home.
HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters are an excellent option for most homes, and they increase the air filtration over standard filters, but that still may not be enough. If you are already using HEPA filters, have the air quality test run with them in place. This will help you determine if the filters are doing their job or not.
2. More Than Dust
Indoor air quality testing does not stop at just checking the dust and pollen in the air, it also includes checking for mold, gases like Radon, and other contaminants that could be affecting the air quality in your home. If mold is discovered during the test, you will need to get a mold remediation company to come to inspect the home and find the source of the mold, then remove it.
Likewise, if Radon is discovered, you can have a contractor come and install the proper ventilation system to remove the Radon from the home. Often they will also seal the basement or line the crawlspace to combat the gas getting in.
Most air quality tests measure the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide levels in the home as well. If there is a problem with your furnace, or if there is a source of either gas outside your home, you may have elevated levels of those gases that need to be dealt with immediately.