If you’re sneezing, coughing, and getting ill frequently, it may be because the air in your home isn’t as clean as it could be. Even if you maintain the cleanliness of your home regularly, the air quality can still be poor.
Simply disinfecting surfaces and vacuuming isn’t always enough to remove pollutant particles from being airborne in your home.
Below, you can learn more about how to check the air quality in your home and implement practical tips to make your breathing environment cleaner.
Importance of Air Quality Testing
Most people are completely unaware of the pollutant particles that are contaminating the air in their homes. Therefore, it may be worth testing the quality of your air even if there aren’t any health concerns that you think could be related.
Using an air test kit can be a fantastic way to provide you with information on the specific kinds of pollutant particles that are airborne in your home. You may be surprised to discover the types of contaminants that you’ve been breathing in.
When you measure the air quality at home, you’re able to prevent pollutant particles from causing further damage. You can also reduce any negative health issues that you’re experiencing due to the airborne pollutants.
Learning about which contaminants are causing the problems can make it easier for you to select an air purifier machine or to seek out other helpful methods for making your home cleaner.
Indoor Air Quality Testing
When it comes to testing the quality of the air in your home, there’s a selection of methods that you can use. Below, we’ve broken down the different air test kit methods that are available so that you can easily distinguish between them.
Lead Kits
If the levels of lead in your air become too high, it can cause lead poisoning. Using a lead testing kit helps you determine the amount of lead that’s airborne in your home so that you’re aware of the issue and can take steps to remove it.
Mold Kit
If you wanted to be more thorough with testing the amount of mold in your air, using a mold test kit would be your best option. Mold can grow all around your home and it can become toxic which leads to health issues that can get serious.
People who find mold in their air should take further steps to remove it as quickly as possible due to how toxic it can be.
Allergen Kit
Many people who have poor air quality experience allergy symptoms that include coughing and sneezing. As a result, allergen testing kits are among the most sought out tests.
Allergic responses can be caused by dust mites, pollen, mold, and even skin cells. Allergen kits are effective at testing specifically for these pollutant particles.
Volatile Organic Compound Kits (VOC)
Using a volatile organic compound testing kit is excellent for enabling you to carry out air quality checks on the many compounds that could be causing health issues for you and the people in your home. Organic chemicals can lead to health adversities that include nausea, headaches, tiredness, dizziness, and more.
If those symptoms seem familiar to you or people in your home, using a VOC testing kit could be useful in helping you detect exactly which compounds are causing the problems
Formaldehyde Kit
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has declared formaldehyde as being a carcinogenic compound. Using formaldehyde testing kits is a great way to be sure that you know whether or not there are formaldehyde elements in the air so that you can remove them and live healthier.
How to Test Air Quality In Your Home
Many home air testing kits are fairly simple to use so that you’re able to get straight to determining the cleanliness of your air. Below, you can learn about the steps on how to check the air quality in your home when using these kits.
- Most testing kits will come with instructions that you can follow to start gathering samples of air in your home. These samples can be from surfaces or the air depending on the kit and all of the equipment required will be included.
- You can then send the samples off to the lab for them to carry out tests. All of the details on addresses and how to send the samples are available with the kit.
- The sample results are normally sent back to you after 7-10 days. Within the results, you’ll be provided with specific details on the type of pollutants that were found in your air.
- They usually include tips on ways that you can resolve the issues that have been found.
- There are also home air quality test kits that provide you with information on the toxins in your air right away.
Best Air Quality Test Kits
Home Air Check Testing Kit
The Home Air Check testing kit can be used one time and enables you to gather samples of your air to send to a lab for testing. It’s effective at detecting pollen, mold, dust, skin cells, and more.
You’ll be glad to hear that the cost of the analysis by the lab is included within the price of the kit.
Home Mold Test Kit
This DIY Mold Test Kit comes with all of the instructions you need to sample your air and send it to a lab for analysis. You can use it to carry out 3 tests for mold and a detailed report is sent back to you based on the results. The lab fees are also included within the price of the kit.
Awair 2nd Edition Air Quality Monitor
Awair’s 2nd Edition Air Quality Monitor is fantastic for enabling you to detect VOCs, dust, C02, as well as the temperature and humidity of the air in your home.
We liked how you can download the Awair app which lets you monitor the cleanliness of your air via your phone.
Conclusion
Upon discovering the results of your tests, installing an air purifier in your home could be a highly effective way of reducing the amount of harmful airborne toxins. We recommend looking for ones that come with a true HEPA filter as they can remove 99.97% of small pollutant particles that are as small as 0.3 microns.
After reading our post on how to test air quality in your home, you’ll be able to put the information into practical use to determine how clean your air really is.
Discovering the specific toxins that are airborne in your home is one of the most effective and easiest ways to keep you and the people in your home safe and healthy.
