Air is typically invisible, which means it can be nearly impossible to just look at it and tell if there might be something wrong.
While sometimes smog builds up and you can see contaminated air, that doesn’t work when you are inside at work, in your car, or at home.
So what type of warning system can you rely on to alert you if there is something “off”—or worse—with your indoor air?
Luckily, technology today has developed an indoor air quality test that can give you exact details about what is in your indoor air. Even better, this test is affordable, quick, and definitive.
In this post, learn more about how your indoor air is tested, what to expect when the test results come back, and what to do if toxins are detected in your air supply.
Why Get Your Indoor Air Tested?
According to the Canadian Parks Council, the average Canadian spends an estimated 90 percent of each day indoors.
What this means is that even the most heavily polluted outdoor air will affect us only one-tenth as much as the quality of the indoor air we are breathing.
With such a shift in lifestyle and daily habits, and with Canada’s outdoor air pollution cleanup initiatives well underway and producing beneficial results, the magnifying glass has now shifted to focus on the quality of our indoor air.
At the same time, with the rise in use of indoor toxins hidden in plain sight in the form of everyday cleaning products, scented air fresheners and deodorizers, personal care products, home furnishings, home improvement materials, craft supplies, appliance emissions, and more, our indoor air is becoming steadily more toxic.
For this reason alone, it is vital to know what toxins may be lurking in your indoor air supply both at work and at home. An indoor air quality test will reveal potential pollutants that may be causing a range of serious health issues including (but not limited to) the following:
- Allergies and asthma attacks
- Respiratory irritation and infection
- Lung issues such as bronchitis and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Cardiovascular issues like heart arrhythmias and heart attack
Having your indoor air quality tested at home and at work can:
- Isolate potential pollutants that may be linked to personal health concerns.
- Identify toxic buildup and take immediate action to correct it.
- Quantify the need for certain types of monitoring equipment (such as carbon monoxide and fire alarms).
- Identify the best long-term solutions to maintain clean, healthy, pure indoor air.
Indoor Air Quality Testing Basics
First things first: an indoor air test takes 72 hours (3 days) to complete and is completely unobtrusive. So you can be going about your daily business at home or at work and never once be disturbed by the testing going on in the background.
The Air Advice© testing machine itself is compact, attractive, and silent.
The testing machine’s job is to continuously monitor your indoor air quality conditions over the 72-hour testing period. It does this by taking an air quality sample every 60 seconds and recording the results.
The monitor will measure air quality in each of the following areas of your home (or similar at your workplace) as follows:
- Garage
- Yard
- Attic
- Kitchen
- Living areas
- Bedrooms
- Bathrooms
It will be looking for a diverse group of pollutants and toxins that fall into several categories as follows:
- Household cleaners
- Dust, dirt, and debris
- Pollen
- Pet dander
- Mould and mildew
- Radon
- Carbon monoxide
- Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides
- Asbestos
- Formaldehyde
- Bacteria, viruses, fungus
- Tobacco residue and smoke
- Particulate matter and VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
When the 72-hour testing period concludes, the monitoring unit will have catalogued a comprehensive list of components that make up your indoor air supply both inside and surrounding your home and garage.
What to Expect During and After Your Indoor Air Quality Test
When you schedule your indoor air quality test, you will have a chance to share any specific concerns or health problems you think could be linked to air quality. For instance, if your family has been struggling with ever-worsening allergy symptoms or you have a family member who has just been diagnosed with asthma, this is something you can share with your air quality testing technician.
On the day of your test, your technician will arrive promptly to place your air quality monitor in a discrete location inside your home or workplace. The monitor itself is nearly silent and will not disturb the flow of your regular home or workday activities.
After three days, your technician will return to collect the monitor and deliver your test results. You will get a full-color printed report detailing all test findings.
Moving forward, your technician will offer recommendations as needed to improve the quality of your indoor air. These recommendations will be directly based on data from the test results. You can then decide what steps, if any, you would like to take to provide for clean, pure indoor air.
Contact Clean Air Solutions Hamilton to Learn More
Here at Clean Air Solutions, a division of Shipton’s Heating & Cooling, we proudly serve the Hamilton and surrounding areas, as we have done since we first opened our doors in 1924. Today, as in the beginning, our passion and commitment is to offer you the highest quality of service to improve your life and your health.
As our air has become more toxic outdoors and indoors, we have dedicated our time to learning everything we can about cleaning up the air we breathe so we can pass our expertise along to you. Contact us at 905-544-2470 or online.
