The majority of the time that you spend indoors is spent in your home (or so we hope!), so the quality of the air there matters, and unlike at work, this air is your responsibility to pay attention to. The short-term consequences of bad air quality include fatigue, headaches, nausea, and irritation in your eyes and respiratory system. The long-term effects, if you really let it go and don’t take care of it, can include heart and respiratory diseases and cancer. The most common of all is asthma, with 25 million people a year experiencing some symptoms. Keeping a tidy house can help, but even that is no guarantee that there are no pollutants as we’ll see below.
You could always have professionals come and conduct a test, but we know many have budget concerns and don’t want to jump to that right away. Here are some things you can do without calling in the technicians.
Install a Carbon Monoxide (CO) Monitor
CO is the most dangerous of all the things you’re likely to have in your indoor air. It is tasteless, odorless, colorless, and deadly. It mostly comes from natural gas, so if you have a gas stove, oven, furnace, or water heater then it is absolutely essential to have a working CO monitor in your home, preferably located close to the gas appliances.
Check for Mold
Mold takes a while to cause noticeable health symptoms in most people, so finding and remediating it early should prevent any problems. Check areas where they might be higher moisture, especially where there’s also little natural light: under sinks, the tub or shower stall, and the basement or laundry room. Some mold can be treated with household products, but any extensive presence will probably need professional remediation.
Install an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Monitor
An IAQ monitor is not a substitute for a radon test or a CO detector, and certainly not for a smoke detector. But it can monitor the presence of other common air pollutants that won’t show up on those other tests. Pet dander, pollen, airborne mold spores, and some others. They’re a bit more expensive than other detectors but they will help you keep a year-round eye on the finer shades of your indoor air quality.
Sometimes DIY is not enough
Even with these helpful steps, you may still sometimes need the professionals to come in, like for a more detailed test or for out-of-control mold. Twin Air in Manassas has been serving Northern Virginia for more than 15 years and we never tell you a job is done until it is done. We will test an entire home for mold, pollutants, airborne organisms, and more. Call us at (703) 754-1062 or you can also email us on our website.