Your home is supposed to be your safe haven. It’s a place where you can unwind, feel safe and enjoy time with family. You might not think about it, but the air quality in your home may be making it unsafe and unhealthy for you and your family. Maybe you’ve thought more about indoor air quality because of a medical condition. It could be a worry only when you smell something off. It could be you’ve never thought about it all. When does it make sense to get an air quality test on your home?

What Does an Indoor Air Quality Test Detect?

Radon

Radon is one of the most common pollutants found in an indoor air quality test in a home. It’s a radioactive, colorless and scentless gas. It can be both naturally occurring. Direct, long exposure to radon can lead to lung cancer. Finding and stopping radon is important for a home’s air quality and everyone’s health.

Bio Contaminants

Bacteria, mold and viruses are biological contaminants which cause many people a wide array of problems. The higher the volume of biological contaminants, irritants and allergens, the higher the likelihood of someone being harmed by one.

It’s critical to have your home tested for mold on a regular basis. Once you find mold, it is very difficult and costly to remove. The mold can spread past where you initially see it and think, hopefully, you’ve cleaned it yourself. Often a mold service company is needed to professionally inspect, clean and prevent mold growth. This can include a home’s HVAC system. If you are a prospective buyer and find mold in a home inspection, it is often best to forget the property and move on versus going through an expensive remediation process.

VOCs

Volatile organic compounds are byproducts or left over from products like cosmetics, cleaners, sprays and other chemical compounds. Even material such as new treated wood, furniture and carpet can have put chemicals, like formaldehyde, into interior air and cause reactions. The health issues can be short-term or long-term and some symptoms include red eyes, sneezing, coughing and more serious respiratory reactions.

Why Get an Air Quality Test?

Safe indoor air quality is important all the time. It’s something to think about if you’re buying or selling a home. It’s worth knowing about if you and your family are going to be in your home for years to come. Air quality has a major effect on everyone’s health. As more people care about indoor air quality and expect it to be at a high level, it’s more important in residential, commercial and other buildings. Clean air, with systems to help give homes the best air quality possible, is becoming an important feature, or even a requirement, for people looking to buy homes or properties.

If you have a home and you don’t intend to sell anytime soon, knowing your home’s air is in good, safe condition is still very important. Taking steps to improve, replace, service or renovate the systems and parts which impact air quality can help your family. Consider how much time we spend in our homes and a safe environment is very important.

Home sellers can make the property more attractive by taking pro-active steps for good air quality and showing the home’s living environment is the best it can be. If a home has the best airflow system and the right level of maintenance and upkeep, it is actually becoming a top selling point these days. Buyers want to know a home is undoubtedly right for their family without major expenses or problems coming up in the near future.

More Reasons to Get an Air Quality Test

Asthma and Allergies

Poor indoor air quality in a home, or any building, can trigger asthma or allergy symptoms. A complete air quality test will find if a home’s environment has allergens, dander, dust, mold and mildew, which all can cause respiratory problems, asthmatic reactions and allergic reactions in people.

Carbon Monoxide

Having carbon monoxide detectors throughout a home is equally important and can be a literal lifesaver. In some new, modern homes, the house is sealed so well, the airflow can actually be hampered. Then, if you have gas appliances, there can be an amount of natural gas and carbon monoxide in the air. Carbon monoxide is odorless and can be undetectable. It can cause nausea, fainting, headaches and can become fatal. A home air quality test can detect any minute level of carbon monoxide.

Energy Savings

An air quality test for your home can reveal issues with your HVAC or AC system, or if you have dirty, obstructed or problems with air vents. Once you find out about any of these issues, you can solve them and this will lead to better energy efficiency and lower utility bills. In time, this can mean more budget help by helping systems and components last longer.

You can get and perform a home air quality test yourself. Test kits are for sale, for example, on Amazon. A kit generally includes sending away the test sample to a lab for the analysis. Most tests are easy to use by a novice. Air quality tests can be done by a professional technician, as well. This is usually more expensive, but doesn’t involve the added steps of you sending the kit away to a lab and getting results back.

At South End Heating and Air we specialize in HVAC and furnace repair, call us for a free consult and free estimate. We’ll evaluate your system and help make recommendations for optimum value. After all, we want to keep you cool all summer long and warm in the winter. Just schedule a visit with one of our technicians to talk about how we can help with your heating needs. Would you like to learn more options our techs can help you with? Give us a call 704-684-5339.