When do you test the quality of the air inside your home? Know the warning signs
As Texans cocoon themselves inside their homes to escape the stifling heat wave, how healthy is the air inside?
Poor indoor air quality can have both short- and long-term effects on people and can be worse for those with heart or lung disease, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Keeping the air inside homes healthy is important as the heat persists pushing people indoors. Here’s what we know:
When should you get the air quality in your home tested?
There isn’t a specific time of the year to have the air quality inside your home tested. Get the air in your home tested if members of your family develop symptoms indicative of unhealthy air, said Frank Gossett, president of Texas Air Doctors.
A few symptoms to look for include:
- Headaches
- Allergy symptoms
- Feeling ill
- Smelling strange odors
- Excessive dust in the house
If any of these symptoms are present to anyone living in the household, it’s time to get the air quality tested, Gossett said.
What are the warning signs of bad air quality?
Something has to happen to impact the air quality, meaning that there has to be a cause to the effects you’re feeling, Gossett said.
Painting inside the house and buying new furniture or décor can bring new odors into the house, which could then have an impact on the quality of the air inside the house. Anything that has an odor can be detrimental to air quality, especially smoke from cigars, cigarettes and vapes.
Other indoor air pollution sources include:
- Excessive dust around the house.
- Dryer lint creating dust particles.
- Vacuum cleaners stirring up dust.
- Falling attic insulation.
- Chemicals produced from aerosol cans can stay in the air.
- Indoor mold growing in the house.
What will air quality technicians test for?
Air quality technician’s can test for a variety of things in the air, from mold to carbon dioxide.
At Texas Air Doctors, they test for particulate count comparing the indoor air quality to the outside, Gossett said. The particulate count is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air, according to the EPA.
The particulate count inside will never be zero, but it should be less than what it is outside, Gossett said. Everything is carried in particulates including most bacteria and viruses.
If there’s an area in the house with a high particulate count, it more than likely means that some sort of bacteria or virus is present and floating around in the air, Gossett said.
What solutions are out there to help with air quality?
Filtration is essential in helping improve the air quality in a home.
A high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is a type of pleated mechanical filter that can theoretically remove at least 99.7% of particles with a size of 0.3 microns, according to the EPA. These particles could range from dust, pollen, mold and bacteria.
Another thing to lookout for when buying filters is the minimum efficiency reporting values or MERVS setting, which determines how many microns it can stop. The higher the MERV rating, the more it filters out.
MERV ratings range from 1 to 20, with the latter used mostly in hospitals or medical facilities. MERV’s one through four can stop pollen and dust mites, and going up from there the filter gets more dense and can stop more pollutants, according to Grainger.
Determining the severity of your air quality issue will tell you what solution to implement.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 4:15 PM.
