Indoor Air Quality Test
Air Quality Testing
Have you been fighting a cold that you can’t seem to get over? Do you seem to persistently have itchy eyes, sneezing, runny nose, and other cold-like symptoms? Perhaps the first week or two you thought you just picked up a bug from a friend or maybe you thought it was something your kid brought home from germ-infested school. But then the symptoms lasted…and lasted…and lasted…
What if your cold-like symptoms are really not caused by a cold at all? What if the real problem was your house?
Suffering From Low Indoor Air Quality
Without realizing it, countless Americans suffer from cold-like symptoms or worsened asthma because of indoor pollutants in their own homes. Homeowners with asthma or who have asthmatic children are at increased risk of suffering from low indoor air quality, whether in the home, office or school.
With the majority of our lives spent indoors, the compounded effects of breathing one poor quality breath of air after another cannot be underestimated. In recent decades, several serious illnesses have been connected to polluted indoor air.
The Dangers of Indoor Air Pollutants
We all know that stepping outside for a breath of fresh air has a positive effect on the body and mind. Interestingly, modern science has shown just how much better a deep breath outside can really be.
The statistics are worth considering:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has discovered that the concentration level of pollutants in the air we breathe indoors is anywhere from 2 to 5 times (and in some cases, even 100 times!) higher than the air we breathe outdoors.
According to a recent study on Indoor Air Pollution, “Indoor air pollution is one of the world’s largest environmental problems,” and was even dubbed the cause of millions of premature deaths worldwide in 2016 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Most people coping with the shockingly negative health effects of indoor air pollution are largely unaware of the cause. The importance of identifying the cause of your ongoing symptoms cannot be understated, for the sake of you and your family’s health.
NO MORE GUESSWORK, WE USE SCIENTIFIC FACT
Insurance industry protocol has mandated that mold remediation require an independent 3rd party testing company to include pre-remediation levels of mold and post remediation clearance.
Causes & Solutions for Indoor Air Pollution
For many homeowners, the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policy seems to often be applied to the maintenance of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems. It is all too easy to let far too much time pass between changing air filters, leading to unhealthy buildup and lower quality air in your home.
At times, HVAC systems are installed without being adequately sized for a home, leading to a lack of efficiency and lack of air quality. For indoor air to be properly ventilated and regulated, the HVAC system must be proportionately sized for the home.
Having a properly working air ventilation system in your home is essential to keeping the air you and your family breathe clean and free from pollutants.
The air quality professionals here at AQC will check entire air duct system, including an analysis of the filters to ensure that your system is working as designed. We will also evaluate the size of the system to determine if it is adequate for the size of your home. Our air testing procedures will gage the effectiveness of your HVAC system and outline any potential weak points to help you make a plan for how to correct them.
Whether originating from mold, pollen, viruses, bacteria, pets, mildew, or another biological source, these indoor air contaminants have the potential to cause harm to you and your family’s health.
Commenting on the danger of biological air pollutants, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says “Mold, dust mites, pet dander and pest droppings or body parts can trigger asthma. Biological contaminants, including molds and pollens can cause allergic reactions for a significant portion of the population. Tuberculosis, measles, staphylococcus infections, Legionella and influenza are known to be transmitted by air.”
When we test the air quality in your home, our team will scour your air for biological contaminants in your air. We will scrupulously locate the source of the pollutants and then offer solutions to eliminate it.
Many common household cleaners contain chemicals that could be the source of your symptoms. Countless Americans have reported negative allergic reactions to common cleaners.
One way to minimize irritation is to keep windows open and fans running while using any chemical-containing cleaners. Strive to opt for cleaners that are ‘green’ and have a minimal amount of harsh chemicals.
Air Quality Consultants have to equipment and ‘know how’ it takes to effectively check for a large variety of chemicals in your air. Our reports will help you see if you have any dangerous levels of chemicals in the air you breathe in your home, and if so, what those chemicals are. We will help you pinpoint the source of the pollutants that are causing you trouble.
Chemicals in the air in your neighborhood from nearby sources, such as construction projects, nearby road work, manufacturing plants, factories, and more could be the source of your symptoms. Often, these dangerous chemicals can be odorless (or your sensitivity to the odor can dull after years of living around them).
Harmful gasses such as radon, which is found in soil, could also be making its way into your home through the foundation. Radon is odorless, and colorless yet radioactive and harmful. Long-term exposure to radon has been linked to lung cancer and other negative health effects.
According to a study by the Montana State University, “Radon enters the body through inhalation and settles in the lungs… These particles bombard the tissues of the lungs and can physically damage the DNA of the affected cells. This most notably manifest itself as lung cancer. According to the United Nation’s World Health Organization radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking in many countries.”
Our state of the art air quality testing equipment can detect these dangerous, odorless chemicals. If we can’t find the source indoors, we will look in the immediate vicinity of your home outdoors to track down the culprit of your home’s air pollutants.
Indoor Air Quality Testing Procedures
Prompt action is necessary to identify, minimize, and eliminate harmful pollutants in your home. The first step to having your air quality checked is to reach out to Air Quality Consultants (we’ve been licensed and insured to test indoor air quality since 1991) via telephone or by using our convenient online form.
We will waste no time scheduling an appointment for one of our professionals to come to your home or office to test your air.
After we have finished your tests, you will receive a diagnostic report on what our high tech air quality testing equipment has revealed as potential contaminants in your air.
If your tests reveal that your air quality does not, in fact, contain any dangerous levels of contaminants or allergens (such as mold, pollen, or pet dander), we will be on our way an you can rest assured that low quality air is not the cause of your health issues. Knowledge is power!
If our comprehensive report does reveal poor air quality – we will do everything within our means to help you by offering professional advice for finding a practical solution. A simple fix may be one of our indoor air purifiers (the same ones used in hospitals), some method of professional remediation (mold removal, for example), or other strategies of ensuring your air remains as pure as possible.
Our highly skilled air quality inspectors will walk through your home, collecting samples and testing the air. Samples will be sent to an independent, highly capable lab for verification of contaminants.
The AQC team will carefully examine your HVAC system, check occupants (pets), investigate pathways for pollutants to enter your home, and work to observe any other possible contaminant sources. We’ve been licensed and insured since 1991, and our passionately committed team knows exactly what to look for. If we can’t find the source of your low indoor air quality, nobody can!
After we have finished performing our thorough inspection and the lab has finished all air quality tests, you will be provided with a full diagnostic report of what the lab discovered. Because of our dedication to Virginia Beach and Richmond families breathing clean air, we supply the most comprehensive air test results possible…at times, even up to 25 pages!
Don’t like to read reports, or not sure what the data reveals? No worries! The AQC team is more than happy to go over the lab reports with you and help you get a full picture the potential air pollutants in your home. We hold to a high standard of giving a reliable, impartial analysis.
Once we discuss what pollutants exist, we will then go over possible solutions to clean up your air. AQC can recommend practical strategies and remediation techniques to remove the source of all contaminants we have found.
