An Introduction to Residential Air Quality Testing
Residential air quality testing can help you determine if there are any harmful airborne pollutants in your home. The truth is you don’t know what you have in your home until you perform a residential air quality test. Therefore it is important to understand the way the tests are done and what to look for when evaluating your indoor air quality. Here are some common mistakes that people make when performing their own residential air quality testing.
The biggest mistake made during residential air quality testing is using electronic devices such as sensors and vacuums without conducting any physical measurement. Testing the level of certain pollutants in your home with an electronic sensor or by vacuuming a certain area multiple times would be a great start. However, you I still need to conduct a physical measurement of the location where you think the pollutants could be located. Furthermore, you must also consider the fact that no two persons or even households are alike and the location of certain locations may not be representative of other locations in your household. For example, if you live in an apartment, your ventilation may differ from other persons who live in condominiums or high-rise condos.
Another common mistake in residential air quality testing is the failure to consider any potential sources of contamination. For example, if you were to perform the test outside, you would need to consider the possibility of house dust being blown in. Likewise, mold spores easily thrive in moist environments, which is why mold testing should be performed inside your home as well. Remember that the molds may have originated outside and escaped into the air once inside. By conducting both indoor and outdoor mold testing, you would be able to get a more accurate measurement of how much contamination exists within your home.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that the only time they should do residential air quality testing is when the EPA sets a new air pollutant level. The truth is that the contaminants most often associated with poor indoor air quality are tiny particles such as pollen, dust, and microscopic dust mites. In addition to these larger particles, there are a few other pollutants that either make up a tiny amount or are entirely absent from the air. Thus, the only way you would be able to accurately measure indoor air quality is by testing outdoors.
One important factor in indoor air quality testing is calculating the percentage of ventilation provided by each room in your home. You should test each room by using the same method, which is to add up the percentage of air flow for each room. If the number of airflow measurements for each room is greater than 0.5%, this means that significant ventilation is provided by that room. Remember that the ventilation provided by your venting system is an important factor because poor ventilation can significantly affect the particle removal and absorption qualities. Indoor air quality problems due to insufficient ventilation can result in serious health concerns.
If you are concerned about the health risks of residential mold and mildew, there are other ways of testing for these contaminants. In addition to the traditional testing methods described above, there are a variety of kits available that can be used to conduct an air quality inspection of your home. Kits contain a variety of different tools, including air sampling equipment, air quality probes, mold and mildew growing indicators, and greenhouses to replicate the conditions found outdoors. These kits are a good way to test for contaminants, but you should also be aware that even high quality kits may not be effective at removing all contaminants from the air.
