What if I told you that your indoor air quality is about 10x worse than it is outside? People would think I’m crazy. You keep your house clean, mop, vacuum & dust every saturday morning. You change your air filters to your hvac system every month. So how in the world can the air inside your home be that much worse than outside? It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it & I’ll tell you about some of the ways to improve it.
Why is indoor air quality so important?
Many people spend the majority of their day indoors. It’s estimated that people spend up to 22 hours inside from work, sleep and normal indoor activities. Since so much time is spent indoors it is very important for your health that the air you are breathing in is free of harmful chemicals & mold. Home’s built now are built much tighter than they were 50+ years ago so most of these chemicals stay inside the home. Children are especially sensitive to chemicals in the air since they actually breath in 2x the air an adult does. So what are the steps to finding out the quality of the air in your home and correcting it?
First, get your air tested!
Having a indoor air quality test(IAQ) done is the first step to finding and correcting issues. Anyone can run a test on their own but not everyone knows how to interpret the results. This is why having a Certified IAQ Professional do your sampling is key. A full assessment will include mold air samples, surface samples and VOC testing. For this article we are going to focus on VOC testing(volatile organic compounds).
What are VOC’s(volatile organic compounds)
VOC’s are compounds that are found in building products, personal care products, cleaning products etc. These compounds will off gas into the air in our homes and greatly reduce the indoor air quality. A few sources of VOC’s are:
| Building Materials | Home & Personal Care Products | Activities |
| Paint, varnishes, caulks, adhesives, Carpet, vinyl flooring, Composite wood products, Upholstery and foam | Air fresheners, cleaning products, Cosmetics, Fuel oil, gasoline | Smoking, Dry cleaning, photocopiers, Cooking, hobbies, Burning wood |
What does the indoor air quality test look like?
For the VOC test a professional will come to your home and setup a air pump that will run for 2 hours. The test kit is then sent off to a lab and the results are usually received in 2-5 business days depending on the test performed. Test’s will come back showing the results of the compounds you wished to have tested that range from mild to severe levels. Here are a few sample reports showing a full VOC test, Formaldehyde and a stand alone nicotine test.
My results are back so now what?
Once a IAQ professional gets your results back that’s when they can guide you in the right direction as far as making improvements. Many of the contaminants that are in the air are from your personal lifestyle. It could be a simple as changing your cleaning products to a more eco friendly option. If your home has an attached garage with stored chemicals they may recommend moving them to a storage unit outside. One of the best ways to improve air quality is with a fresh air intake connected to your hvac system. For those in humid climates you will want to have that air run through a dehumidifier first. Adding fresh air will dilute the chemicals that are in the air thus reducing the levels. Once the corrective steps are taken to fix the issues it’s good to have another test done to confirm they have been corrected.
All of our inspectors at Ocoee Home Inspections are IAQ certified professionals as well as NORMI members. If you feel you may have an issue with your indoor air quality you can feel free to give us a call at 407-633-1661 or visit us at our website.