Indoor Air Quality Testing

Are you looking to test the environment in your home? Call us at (323) 412-9525 and schedule an appointment for expert testing solutions today.

 

 

Why Is Indoor Air Quality So Important?

Poor air quality has been linked to numerous acute and chronic conditions, from decreased concentration and cognitive function to sleep issues and the development of autoimmune conditions, asthma, or even cancer.

 

Indoor Air Quality

 

The Indoor Environmental Assessment

Your home is a haven for you and your family that can fall susceptible to many different types of pollutants. With the use of our professional testing services, you can rest easy that your home is protected from the many pollutants that can pose health dangers. Common Sense Inspections offers background expertise which includes indoor environmental consulting in various commercial settings to benefit the homeowner and business person, screening for conditions and constituents that may be impacting the indoor environment. The indoor environment includes a number of complex factors working together to make a space livable or to work in. These include air quality inspection, thermal comfort, lighting, sound, and odor.

our air quality testing company is capable of addressing all of these factors on an as-needed basis or by request. For complaints of an indoor air quality concern, or in preventing an air quality situation from developing, governmental guidelines and standards are followed. The most useful resource for the homeowner or small business enterprise in existing situations is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who has identified the most common sources of indoor air pollution in a home as:

  • Radon
  • Environmental Tobacco Smoke
  • Biologicals (mold & bacteria)
  • Formaldehyde
  • Pesticides
  • Asbestos
  • Lead

Additionally, moisture can be a major contributor affecting indoor health. Either in unregulated humidity levels or uncontrolled or unidentified leaks, moisture can lead to fungal spores or mold that can be very unhealthy to occupants; and can cause extensive structural damage.

 

Here are some important facts to know:

1. The US EPA has reported that home air can have 100 times more chemicals inside than outside.

2. The US EPA has also reported that adults and kids now spend most of their time indoors (90%).

3. The CDC has reported that 20+ million adults have asthma, and the National Asthma Survey has reported that asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease among children. These numbers continue to increase annually, suggesting that the indoor environment plays a contributing role in this trend.

4. Mold growth can be present within the home and be hidden behind walls or underneath carpeting or flooring.

5. The use of Formaldehyde is prevalent in certain building materials and the concentration of this known cancer-causing agent can be many times the safe level.

Read about our Indoor Air Quality testing services below, and find out how we can help you.

 

What About Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?
Indoor air is a “chemical soup” made up of a variety of chemicals from building materials, cleaning products, pesticides, personal care and consumer products, emissions from building equipment and activities, etc. There can serious risks to the additive and cumulative effects of these chemicals and it is recommended to get an air quality inspection when needed.

Persistent discomfort due to indoor air pollutants often are the direct result of the materials used in “fitting out” for livability. Many porous materials and furnishings such as carpeting, couches, drapes, and wallboard absorb cleaning chemicals, fragrances, pesticides, and other air pollutants. Chemicals adsorb to virtually all indoor surfaces, but more strongly to rough rather than smooth surfaces. These chemicals are released again into the air for long periods of time, leading to prolonged indoor air pollution. Ever notice how a former smoking space still has the odor lingering long after smoking has ended…days, weeks, months?

 

Managing Indoor Air Quality
Clean indoor air can be as easy as opening a window or changing filters more frequently. However; with building envelopes becoming tighter for increased energy efficiency, the management of indoor air quality can become very complicated, especially in existing buildings.

Correcting problems with indoor air quality in existing buildings, and occasionally in new structures as well, may require a multi-step approach, especially buildings requiring industrial air quality testing.

  • Interview - In all cases, a detailed interview with the occupant(s), or person making the complaint, is a necessary first step.
  • Visual Inspection - The second step is a visual inspection of the area where the source of the complaint may be focused.
  • Baseline Screening – In this three step approach, Common Sense Inspections uses a strategy which begins with advanced sensor technology to screen for conditions that could be the cause for poor indoor air quality such as those listed by the EPA. Graphic analysis makes understanding the cause less of a guess or a maybe and helps identify the source together with the aid of additional strategies depending on the severity.

 

Strategies
Once a baseline has been established and data analyzed, Common Sense Inspections offers a number of strategies for determining the source or cause of poor indoor air if not readily apparent. These strategies may be performed simultaneously for cost savings and may include:

  • Infra-red Scanning for sources of moisture using a thermal imaging video camera. A moisture assessment can identify sources of existing and potential indoor air quality concerns related to mold.
  • Sampling for mold, visible and not visible using recognized laboratory methods and analysis.
  • Duct video analysis. Many duct systems harbor the conditions that are ripe for mold growth and bacteria. A special video camera provides visual evidence of these conditions.
  • Duct leakage analysis. A faulty or poorly designed duct system can “pull” polluted air from outside and circulate it throughout the occupied space, creating or worsening health problems, particularly for allergen and asthmatic sufferers.
  • Chemicals of Concern (COC) are those chemicals considered dangerous to the environment or to your health. Common Sense Inspections provides an incidental spot sampling strategy for indoor application to identify up to 2,000 known chemical substances that may affect the health of the chemically sensitive.

 

 

 

Our testing services include:

  • Asthma Trigger Testing - When you have someone in the family with asthma, you need to make sure you have your home clear of all asthma triggers. There are many things that trigger asthma attacks, and it is best to use a home testing service to find those triggers. We offer expert asthma trigger testing that can be used to ensure the environment in your home is safe for your family and friends.
  • VOC Testing - Volatile Organic Compounds are a large group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. While most people can smell high levels of some VOCs, other VOCs have no odor. Odor does not indicate the level of risk from inhalation of this group of chemicals. There are thousands of different VOCs produced and used in our daily lives many could be harmful. Many of these VOCs are found in air vapor, and you cannot smell or see them. When you work with our experts we report the total amount of VOCs found in the home and whether they are within a recommended safe range.
  • Laser Particle Scanning - Laser particle scanning can be used in your home to diagnose air-quality problems and to verify solutions. You could have mold spores or airborne particles floating through the house causing you harm without your knowledge. Our testing service can detect where these particles are, how abundant they are, and their source.

Why hire a professional air quality testing company?

Hiring a professional is most vital when you are trying to rid your home of dangerous chemicals or pathogens. Every item that is found in your home is potentially lethal to someone in the house, and this testing helps keep the family safe. Also, you must make sure your home is suitable for the people in the family that have respiratory problems. Someone who has a hard time breathing is going to be miserable in the house if they are constantly met with asthma triggers.

Hire our professionals for your home air quality testing services today. We know how to detect these problems efficiently and can provide you with an effective report that can help you solve these issues in no time. Have a business? no problem, we provide industrial air quality testing as well.

See our Indoor Air Quality services:

Don’t let the polluted air in your home cause health risks in your family. Give us a call at (323) 412-9525 and hire the very best home air quality testing services today!