Scheduling indoor air quality testing for your San Antonio, TX, home can help you achieve a comfortable and safe residence. Poor indoor air quality can have a profound impact on your health. Breathing in high concentrations of particulate matter and contaminants can lead to allergies, asthma, dizziness, and headaches. Indoor air quality testing can determine what’s circulating in your indoor air so that you can take steps to improve it.
What Is Indoor Air Quality Testing?
Our experienced and knowledgeable team will take different samples from a variety of areas of your home. This includes samples of the air as well as surfaces. We’ll test these samples to see the types and volume of particulate matter that are present. Common indoor air contaminants include things like pollen, dust, mold spores, and pet dander. Volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short, are chemicals that are emitted by cleaning products, building materials, air fresheners, and more.
Utilizing Indoor Air Quality Testing Results
You can use the information that you receive from your indoor air quality testing to determine what kind of improvements you may want to make to your home to improve your indoor air. This can include lifestyle changes like cleaning more often. You may also want to consider changing your HVAC filter more frequently. One of our service representatives can tell you our recommended schedule for replacements or cleaning, or you can manually check the condition of the filter. Installing whole-house air filtration equipment can help remove a substantial amount of particulate matter from the air that’s circulating through your residence.
Whole-house Air Filtration Equipment
You may be familiar with the portable air purifiers that you can plug into a room and move around the house as needed. While they are somewhat effective at removing particulates from your indoor air, they don’t cover a large amount of square footage. Instead, we recommend having air filtration equipment installed inside your HVAC system. This will remove particulates from the air that passes through it, covering much more square footage.
There are different types of air filtration equipment that you can choose. This includes purifiers that use enhanced filtration to remove as much as 99.97% of the particulate matter that passes through it. High-efficiency particulate air filters, HEPA for short, are very efficient and can remove things like smoke, pet dander, dust, and mold spores from your indoor air. You can also utilize activated carbon filtration to remove VOCs and odors from your home.
Electrostatic filtration eliminates the need for replaceable filters. Instead, electrically charged collection plates attract oppositely charged particles. You need to clean the collection plates periodically and replace them back into your equipment. This type of filtration usually removes more than 99% of the particulate matter in your home.
We can also add a UV light filter as part of your HVAC system. UV-C light damages the microorganisms’ DNA, rendering them harmless and preventing them from reproducing. This may result in fewer illnesses in your home, thanks to a decrease in viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. UV filtration doesn’t physically remove particulate matter from your indoor air, so this is usually a piece of technology that is a complement to whatever filtration equipment you’re already using as part of your HVAC setup.
Peace of Mind
A lot of times, you may not realize when your indoor air is contaminated. This is because these contaminants are too small for the naked eye to see. It often isn’t until IAQ testing occurs that you know there is a problem that you need to address. Indoor air quality testing can provide you with valuable information that can put your mind at ease so that you and your family members are healthy and safe inside your home.
Better Home Comfort
The quality of your indoor air can also affect how comfortable you are in your home. Indoor air quality testing usually includes checking the level of humidity in your air. It’s recommended that relative humidity remains between 35% and 50% to reduce the risk of mold growth and prevent symptoms associated with dry air. Also, humid air can hold onto more particulate matter.
We recommend that you utilize whole-house humidity control equipment to keep your relative humidity at a safe level. Since humidity can change based on season and other factors, you may benefit from both a whole-house dehumidifier to remove moisture and a whole-house humidifier to add it back in. You can change the equipment you’re using based on the current humidity readings in your home. Upgrading to a smart thermostat can help you keep track of this data even when you’re away from home.
Increasing the Value of Your Home
If you are selling your home and you can provide proof that you’ve been keeping up with routine indoor air quality testing over many years, this is something that may increase your home’s value. Potential buyers like to see that you’ve made the effort to take care of your home. Also, reducing the particulate matter in your indoor air can protect the integrity of your HVAC system. There will be less buildup on the inside of your ductwork and the interior components of your heating and cooling equipment. This can lead to fewer repair needs and prolong the lifespan of your equipment.
Lifestyle Changes to Consider
While you can’t completely remove particulates from coming into your home, there are steps that you can take to drastically reduce your exposure. For example, try to keep your home as “green” as possible. Choose chemical-free cleaning products that use natural ingredients instead of harmful ones. Skip chemical air fresheners and use essential oils instead. You should regularly vacuum and clean the surfaces of your home, especially if you have pets. Don’t allow anyone to smoke in your home.
You likely have exhaust fans installed in your kitchen and bathrooms. These fans expel air to the outside. You should run your exhaust fans when you’re cooking, bathing, or cleaning. This will remove contaminated air from the home. If you are concerned with the quality of the air inside your home, we may want to consider installing exhaust fans in other areas as well.
Ventilation equipment is also an option to help circulate cleaner air through your home and remove unhealthy air. Different types of systems exist, and we can help you determine your best choice based on your indoor air quality testing results.
Professional Indoor Air Quality Services
At Air Authority, A Riteway Service Company, our experts provide a number of services to help our customers improve their home comfort. We can install water heaters, generators, whole-house filtration equipment, whole-house dehumidifiers and humidifiers, and install and maintain your residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment.
If you would like to schedule indoor air quality testing for your San Antonio home or for more information about any of our services, reach out to us here at Air Authority, A Riteway Service Company for assistance.