It’s easy to assume the air inside your home is safe, but hidden air quality issues can have a serious impact on your health and comfort. Your home's indoor air quality (IAQ) likely fluctuates depending on the season, changes in habits, and even unavoidable factors like natural disasters, climate, or unplanned home repairs, but that doesn’t mean it’s uncontrollable. Managing your IAQ allows you to take control and protect your family's and home's health.
But how can you tell if your home air quality is unhealthy? Knowing the top 3 warning signs your home needs an air quality monitor is a good start. When you or other occupants feel flu-like symptoms, allergy or asthma-like symptoms, or notice odors and condensation only inside your home, that's when you need to test and monitor your air quality. Then you just need to use the information collected from an air quality monitor to fix and maintain your ideal IAQ through every season and weather change.
- Frequent Headaches, Fatigue, or Dizziness
- Recurring Allergy Or Asthma Flare-Ups
- Visible Moisture, Mold, Or Lingering Odors
- Frequently Asked Questions about Home Air Quality Testing
- When Should You Monitor Indoor Air Quality?
Frequent Headaches, Fatigue, or Dizziness
If you or your family regularly experience headaches, fatigue, dizziness, or confusion at home that lessen or disappear whenever you leave, that’s an indicator that your indoor air quality may be unsafe. These symptoms should be immediately addressed if they affect multiple people at once, suddenly worsen, or only occur during colder months when windows are closed and heating appliances are active. A top-rated air quality monitor will help pinpoint the problem source, letting you respond quickly to poor air quality when it matters.
If these symptoms persist even after the air quality problem has been addressed, contact your doctor, as this could indicate a larger problem that may have developed due to long-term exposure.
What Causes These Health Issues?
Dangerously high levels of chemicals and gases like carbon monoxide (CO), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and other combustion byproducts might be the instigator, putting your home and family at risk. But where do these gases come from, and how dangerous are they?
- Unventilated Spaces: Running gas, oil, or wood-burning appliances, like stoves, furnaces, fireplaces, or even a car, in poorly ventilated spaces. Gases like carbon monoxide can build up, resulting in long-lasting health issues or death if left alone.
- Extensive Renovation: Both large and minor renovation projects bring in a lot of new and old material and chemicals that could release VOCs, asbestos, and lead into your home.
- Fires: Disasters inside and outside your home play a huge role in your air quality. Both small and large house fires or wildfires can release smoke with carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, VOCs, and, in the case of house fires, lead and asbestos.
- Natural Disasters: Natural disasters like tornadoes, flooding, and strong earthquakes can cause significant structural damage that may release gas, VOCs, excess water, and other harmful debris into the air.
Why It’s Important to Act Quickly
Ignoring these signals can put everyone at risk, especially vulnerable individuals like children, the elderly, and those with existing health conditions. This is why it’s crucial to take note of when these health issues occur and to take action immediately when patterns are noticed.
How to Test, Ventilate, and Safeguard Your Home
- Install CO detectors on every level of the building, especially near bedrooms, kitchens, and garages. Test these detectors once a month.
- Schedule routine professional maintenance and cleaning for all fuel-burning equipment and appliances.
- Use vented space heating and never run vehicles or generators in enclosed or semi-enclosed areas.
- Maintain good ventilation by increasing fresh air flow with ventilation fans like vent exhaust fans, air supply fans, or HRVs and ERVs.
- Use an air quality monitor to detect toxins early and to help decide on the next steps to fix the air quality in your home.
- Find the best air purifier for the job. Invest in a high-quality whole-home air purifier or individual room air purifiers that are HEPA-graded and designed for smoke and chemicals.
Recurring Allergy Or Asthma Flare-Ups
An increase in sneezing, wheezing, coughing, watery eyes, chest tightness, sinus problems, and rashes is also a good indicator that you need to monitor your home's air quality, especially if these symptoms are experienced by multiple people. Frequent allergy or asthma flare-ups in your home may be a major warning sign that your indoor air quality needs urgent attention.
What Causes these Allergy and Asthma Flares?
Common irritants, like dust mites, pet dander, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are leading triggers for both allergies and asthma symptoms and may be more than just seasonal annoyances. Persistent symptoms often mean you’re repeatedly exposed to these irritants that can linger and recirculate in home air if not fixed at the root cause. A spike in symptoms can sometimes be traced to activities like:
- Cleaning: Dusting and vacuuming can kick up irritants that settle into your furniture or flooring, and ultimately into your air. Using cleaning products may also introduce harsh chemicals that affect your home's air quality.
- Painting/Renovation Chemicals: Even minor home updates, like painting or drywall repair, can bring in VOCs and other irritants that trigger allergies and asthma.
- Adding New Furniture: Bringing in new furniture, especially used furniture, runs the risk of introducing dust mites and VOCs, or simply stirring up dust.
- Indoor Pets: As lovable as our furry friends are, indoor animals lead to more hair, dander, and debris entering your air.
- Forced-Air Heat or AC: Air systems that have not been maintained can raise levels of pet hair, dander, and microscopic mites by collecting and recirculating unfiltered air.
How to Address the Problem at the Source?
Addressing allergy or asthma triggers starts with accurate detection. Air quality monitors continuously check your indoor environment for hidden irritants in your air systems, furniture, flooring, and even your cleaning routine. Knowing the allergen source is the first step before you take one or more of the following targeted actions.
- HEPA Air Purifier: Adding a HEPA air purifier designed for pet hair control and asthma relief to any room helps remove those allergens, down to 0.3 microns, helping your space remain allergen-free. Integrating a whole-home air purifier into your HVAC system allows you to get allergen management throughout your home.
- HEPA Vacuums: Upgrading your cleaning appliances to filter even the smallest of micro-particles helps prevent allergens from reentering your air after cleaning.
- Routine HVAC Maintenance: Regularly replacing air system filters with high-quality furnace filters, cleaning out ducts, and dusting air vents helps remove any asthma-causing allergens from recycling into your home.
- Ventilation: Installing additional ventilation solutions like an ERV or HRV, or an Air Supply Fan to help replace stale, allergen-filled air with fresh air for improved air quality.
- High-Heat Cleaning: Regularly washing bedding or steam cleaning floors and furniture with high temperatures helps kill dust mites, mold, and other allergens that may be lurking inside upholstery, fabric, or down.
- Non-Toxic Cleaners: Switching to natural cleaning solutions helps eliminate VOCs and other chemicals from being introduced to your space during cleaning.
Visible Moisture, Mold, Or Lingering Odors
It’s time to take a closer look at your air quality if you notice significant condensation buildup on your windows, walls, or ceiling, visible mold growth, or lingering musty odors. Mold growth is linked to a range of issues, from triggering allergies and asthma-like symptoms to causing eye, skin, and throat irritation and even structural home damage in the long run. Humidity plays a huge role in your indoor air quality, making quality monitoring important to protect your home and health.
What Causes Excess Moisture and Lingering Odors in Your Home?
Ignoring these warning signs can jeopardize both your health and your home. These signs typically indicate unwanted moisture accumulation, often caused by:
- Poor Ventilation: Trapped indoor moisture allows mold and mildew spores to settle and grow on surfaces like wood, carpet, or insulation. This can cause health issues and foul odors.
- Unmanaged Crawl Spaces: Areas with bare earth floors are especially prone to higher levels of radon and hidden mold growth, since moisture and radon gases can easily seep up from unmaintained or bare ground and collect in the air that is supplied into your home.
- Floods: Flooding or leaks bring in an abundance of moisture that can cause mold and mildew to flourish.
- Geographical Location: Some regions are simply more humid than others, meaning there is no way to put a stop to the humidity. This makes ongoing management even more vital for long-term air quality improvement.
How to Balance Indoor Humidity
Tackling the root of the problem starts with managing moisture.
- Dehumidifiers: Consider using a whole-house or crawlspace dehumidifier to keep indoor humidity within the recommended humidity levels of 40 to 50 percent.
- Water Damage Restoration: In the case of floods or leaks, fix or turn off the water source and immediately dry out the space. For large-scale water damage, you may need to use water damage restoration fans, dehumidifiers, and air scrubbers to ventilate, dry, and filter out mold spores and other chemicals.
- Ventilation: Ensure there are adequate kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans, and that attics and crawl spaces have reliable ventilation fans.
- Moisture Detection: Place leak detectors and radon detectors near plumbing or water sources that may leak or hold humidity, like in crawlspaces, by water heaters, in bathrooms, under sinks, and near dishwashers and washing machines.
Frequently Asked Questions about Home Air Quality Testing
How do I know if the air in my home is toxic?
If you and/or a family member experience chronic fatigue, dizziness, headaches, and coughing, your indoor air might be toxic. It’s particularly important if you notice a change in those symptoms whenever you spend less time within your home.
How should I test? DIY Monitors vs. Professional Testing
DIY monitors are a great budget-friendly first step that give immediate results, but those results are not always the most accurate and should be followed up by a professional test if an issue is found. A professional test is often more expensive, but since it’s completed by a qualified professional, you get more accurate results and expert guidance towards the next best steps to removing the air quality issue and how to proactively defend your air quality in the future.
Can My Phone Check Air Quality Accurately?
No, your smartphone is not designed with the right sensors to check your air quality on its own. However, some air quality monitors or wi-fi air purifiers do have the correct sensors and can be connected to your phone. This lets you view the air quality data within that specific room where the monitor or purifier resides.
Does Ongoing Monitoring help maintain Healthier Air?
Yes, an ongoing, real-time monitor allows you to spot air quality dips, identify problems early, and take corrective action immediately. As recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pairing source control, fresh air intake, and regular air quality checks supports a healthier indoor environment.
How to tell if a house has poor ventilation?
Common signs of poor ventilation in your home include persistent odors, high humidity, and “stuffy” or dusty air. Poor ventilation in a home will accumulate more dust and mold or mildew and often cause allergy-like symptoms.
When Should You Monitor Indoor Air Quality?
When you start noticing allergy flare-ups, unusual odors, or dampness in your home, it’s time to consider an air quality monitor. These devices give you real-time updates, so you can respond quickly and create a healthier environment.
The signs mentioned above aren’t just minor annoyances; left unaddressed, they can affect your well-being and comfort year-round.
Ready to take control of your indoor air? Sylvane’s air quality specialists can help you choose the right air quality monitor for your needs. Call 1-800-934-9194 or email [email protected] and breathe easier, knowing you have expert support.
