10 Signs Your Home Has Poor Indoor Air Quality
If you’ve noticed strange odors, allergy symptoms, or generally stuffy air in your home lately, your indoor air quality may be compromised. Poor indoor air quality can cause a variety of health issues and reduce your overall comfort at home. As licensed indoor air quality assessors serving all of Florida, Air Quality Assessors (AQA) handle poor air quality in homes on a regular basis.
Read on as we cover 10 common signs that your home may be suffering from poor indoor air quality, along with some background on AQA’s air testing and consultation services.
1. Persistent Odd Odors
If you notice strange smells like rotten eggs, gas fumes, burning plastic, or sewage smells that don’t have an obvious source and seem to linger, your air quality likely has an issue. Poor ventilation and moisture buildup are common causes allowing odor-causing mold, mildew, or gasses to accumulate.
2. Excessive Dust or Particles
If you find yourself dusting frequently and still see excessive dust on surfaces, it’s a sign of poor filtration and possibly a ventilation problem. Besides dust allergies, particles in the air can worsen asthma and contribute to respiratory illness.
3. High Humidity Levels
Consistently elevated humidity encourages mold growth and causes general stuffiness. Humidity inside should stay between 30-50%. If it surpasses 60%, poor ventilation and leakage may be to blame.
4. Condensation on Windows and Cold Surfaces
Seeing condensation routinely form on glass windows, sills, walls, and cold water pipes hints at high indoor moisture. This moisture enables mold colonies and dust mites.
5. Frequent Mold Outbreaks
Recurring mold outbreaks in your home point to an underlying moisture issue, whether from flooding, plumbing leaks, foundation cracks, or inadequate ventilation trapping humid air. Stopping the moisture source and removing mold is crucial.
6. Allergy and Asthma Symptoms
If you, your family, or guests often experience allergy symptoms, asthma attacks, or respiratory irritation without a specific outdoor cause, indoor pollutants could be the culprit. Contaminants and particles aggravate these conditions for many.
7. Stuffy, Stagnant Air
Does the air feel heavy and stale, even with AC running? Stagnant air filled with lingering odors, chemicals, and gasses is a red flag for inadequate fresh air supply and circulation in the home. Proper ventilation exchanges old air with fresh air.
8. Pets Spending Less Time Indoors
Pets like dogs and cats have sensitive respiratory systems. If normally indoor pets are suddenly reluctant to come inside or stay indoors less, they may be avoiding poor indoor air quality triggering allergies or illness.
9. Lingering Headaches
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) off-gassed from some furnishings, cleaning products, air fresheners, paints, and other sources can contribute to lingering headaches along with asthma attacks. Tracking down the source of VOCs takes some investigation.
10. Higher Energy Bills
Increased heating and cooling costs can point to air leakage problems allowing conditioned air to escape while enabling outside contaminants inside. Sealing leaks not only improves indoor air quality but also saves on energy bills.
If you’ve noticed one or more of these common signs, your home likely suffers from compromised indoor air quality in some way. Both your home’s air quality and the health of occupants stand to benefit from an indoor air quality assessment by trained experts.
About Air Quality Assessors
Trusted throughout Florida for indoor air quality testing and expertise since 2010, Air Quality Assessors (AQA) employs IAQ specialists accredited in mold and moisture assessments. Serving both residential and commercial clients from multiple field offices statewide, AQA helps identify specific indoor air contamination issues through visual inspection, air sampling, and laboratory analysis. We offer a full range of indoor environmental testing, results interpretation, improvement plans to resolve problems at the source, and follow-ups to confirm air quality.
With deep roots originating from a family pest control and landscaping business established over 25 years ago in Central Florida, AQA has built an exceptional reputation, meeting indoor air quality challenges for our Florida neighbors with integrity, accountability, and reliability that homeowners can trust.
Have Questions About Your Indoor Air Quality?
Not sure where those frustrating odors originate? Looking to improve air quality and energy efficiency in your home? Once AQA air testing experts assess your indoor environment, we help guide appropriate solutions to enhance your air quality, health, and comfort while saving you money. Contact AQA to discuss your indoor air quality concerns with our helpful team.
