Indoor Air Quality - Part 1

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an in-depth topic that touches on many different systems within a building. This will be the first post in a series covering this topic. Please note that this will not cover everything, and if you want to take a really deep dive, the EPA has some fantastic information to start with: https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq.

The first order of business is what IAQ (indoor air quality) means and why we care. In the most straightforward definition, IAQ is the quality of the air in and around buildings (for our purposes, I will be focusing on homes). Now, the why do we care part? I can already hear many people saying ‘I’ve never checked the air inside my home, and I’ve always been fine,” or “A little mold never hurt anybody.” There are studies linking poor IAQ, and mold in particular, to developmental/brain problems in children. Maybe you don’t have kids. Did you know that Radon is one of the leading causes of lung cancer in the US? If you are curious about Radon, look at the EPA risk maps, https://www.epa.gov/radon/epa-map-radon-zones, for a starting point. Just for reference, all homes should be tested for Radon regardless of the zone in which they fall. The test is extremely inexpensive, and many IAQ monitors will even monitor Radon.

If you care about your health and the health of your loved ones, you should care deeply about the air quality in your home.

What are some of the significant things that can impact the IAQ? Household cleaning products, cooking, excess moisture, fuel-burning combustion appliances (I will likely make an entire post about wood-burning fireplaces, but they can be exceptionally terrible), some building materials (especially newly installed materials), and sources from outside like pesticides and outdoor air pollution (two great examples are wildfires in the West and living in/near a city with the associated pollution). These are not a complete list of items that can impact IAQ, but they are some of the significant items.

Do you monitor your IAQ? I recommend monitoring it for no other reason than to understand what is happening inside your home. I am amazed to see our particulate matter count spike every time we cook on our stovetop. We run multiple air filters in our home, one specifically next to the kitchen, separate from the other filters to help contain the particulates, but I also have a monitor in our kitchen.

Get curious about your home and what you are breathing in. The long-term health benefits are amazing, and the short-term health benefits can be incredibly significant. Please let me know if you get an IAQ monitor and have questions. I’d be happy to provide recommendations for checking and improving the IAQ in your home.

If you are still with me this far, the next post on this topic will examine humidity and mold, which are typically the most pressing issues where we build. It will be followed by a post on particulates, Radon, and carbon dioxide. I will also cover the easiest (in most cases) ways to improve indoor air quality.

If you have any questions, please let me know. We also consult on projects in many different capacities, from reviewing details to providing owner’s representative services, and can help ensure your project achieves long-term success.