The quality of the air inside your Austin, TX home greatly impacts your health and well-being. Contaminants such as dust, dust mites, pollen, mold spores, volatile organic compounds, and pet dander all have the potential to increase allergy symptoms, cause headaches, and make you feel unwell. Luckily, you can take to determine the current quality of your indoor air so you can take steps to make improvements.
Indoor Air Quality Testing
An indoor air quality and environmental assessment performed by our team can determine what kind of contaminants are currently in your indoor air. We will take samples from different areas of your home, including the air and physical surfaces. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we can help you make improvements to your home that will benefit your indoor air quality.
What Is Considered Good Air Quality?
Good air quality means that the level of pollutants in a specific area is relatively low. The air quality index scale is a way of measuring air quality. A rating of 0 to 50 means that air quality is good. A rating of 51 to 100 is moderate and poses a slight risk to sensitive individuals. Air quality index numbers over 100 should be addressed to minimize the risk of exposure.
It’s important to remember that the contaminants impacting your indoor air quality can vary from one day to the next. You may have a high level of pollen in your home one day because of outdoor conditions that impacted your interior. You may be exposed to VOCs another day because of remodeling work or the use of chemical-based cleaning products. You may need to shift your IAQ strategies as needed.
Whole-Home Air Filtration
You may already have a portable air filtration device in your home. While these units are effective, they only address a small amount of square footage at a time. Instead of moving your device from one room to another, we recommend investing in a whole-home air purification system.
We install this equipment directly onto your HVAC system. As air passes through your system during the heating or cooling process, particulate matter and contaminants will be removed. Different units use different filters, so we’ll work with you to figure out the best option.
Many whole-home purification units use high-efficiency particulate air filters, or HEPA for short. These ultra-effective filters can remove up to 99.97% of the particulate matter in your home, as well as bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.
Activated carbon filters are also beneficial and do a great job of removing VOCs from your indoor air. They can also improve the overall smell of your home, which is ideal if you have pets or someone in your residence who smokes.
Just make sure that you’re keeping up with replacing or cleaning your filters periodically. This will ensure that your filtration equipment can work as intended. This also prevents equipment strain, which ensures longevity and reliability.
Controlling Indoor Relative Humidity
The relative humidity level in your home should always be between 35% and 50%. If humidity rises above that level, this promotes the growth of mold and mildew. Humid air also holds onto more particulate matter, decreasing the quality of your indoor air.
You can use whole-home dehumidifiers and humidifiers to manage indoor humidity. This equipment is installed onto your HVAC system for whole-home benefits. Dry air can also be harmful since it can cause skin and sinus irritation.
Supporting IAQ With Ventilation
You can ensure that the quality of the air inside your home is healthy and safe by using ventilation techniques. For example, run the exhaust fans in your kitchen or bathroom anytime you are cooking, bathing, or cleaning. This will remove excess moisture, cooking odors, and more.
You can have additional ventilation equipment installed in areas like your basement or attic. Exhaust ventilation systems pull stale air out of the home, creating negative pressure that pulls fresh air in. Supply ventilation systems pull fresh air into the home, creating slight positive pressure that pushes stale air out. Other options include heat recovery ventilators and energy recovery ventilators.
Totally Cool Heating & Air offers indoor air quality testing and supportive IAQ measures in the Austin area. We can provide a ductwork inspection, duct sealing, and other maintenance and repair tasks. Our team also performs furnace and AC repairs and maintenance to always ensure healthy indoor air quality.
Reach out to our team at Totally Cool Heating & Air today for more information or to schedule an appointment in Austin.
