St. Louis Indoor Air vs Outdoor Air. Is Indoor Really Better?

Why Should Homeowners Test Their Indoor Air Quality?

When you think of poor air quality, you probably think first about outdoor air. In big cities with large industrial plants, for example, air pollution is a common problem that can bring down air quality and make it hard to breathe. Likewise, wildfires can dump massive volumes of smoke into the surrounding areas and air quality can be degraded

While those remain serious problems, you might be surprised to learn that indoor air quality – in your own home – can be just as big of an issue. Even without noticing anything is wrong, you might be breathing in harmful air throughout the day and night in your house. Of course, considering how much time the average person spends at home, poor air quality can lead to major health problems in both the short and long term. On this page, we’ll talk not only about why it’s important to have your indoor air quality tested but also what you can do about it if you discover there is a problem.

The Potential Dangers of Poor Indoor Air Quality

There are so many things to worry about with poor indoor air quality. It seems wrong on some level that your health can be harmed simply by living your regular life at home, but that’s exactly what’s possible. You might not experience all of the issues listed below when your air quality is low, but these are some of the concerns to be aware of –

Respiratory issues. This is likely the big one, and the one that is most likely to be present for individuals living in a home with poor air quality. You and your family might run into problems with asthma, bronchitis, and more.

Allergies. Along a similar line, allergy problems can come up when there are too many particles hanging in the air. These allergies might be manifested in the form of sneezing, coughing, or irritated skin.

Headaches. There can be many potential causes for headaches, so this is a tricky one to narrow down, but it’s possible that ongoing headaches are linked to bad air quality in your house.

Irritated eyes. Are your eyes consistently itchy or watery inside your home? If so, it’s again a possibility that air quality is to blame.

Why Is Indoor Air Quality Worse than Outdoor?

On the surface, it would be easy to think that indoor air quality would always be better than outdoor. After all, indoor spaces are protected from the rest of the world by walls and a roof, and the HVAC system that serves a building is actively cleaning the air as it runs. Unfortunately, this isn’t typically how it plays out in the real world.

So, why is indoor air quality worse than outdoor? You can start with everything that is found inside the average building. From chemicals like cleaning products and even air fresheners to off-gassing from materials like paint and carpet, there are a lot of negative elements contributing to air quality problems. And, since indoor spaces are contained, there is nowhere for those things to easily escape and dissipate.

While outdoor air quality can certainly decline from time to time, the outdoors has the advantage of virtually endless space for air quality issues to be distributed, and the living plant life actively cleans the air as it grows. When you go outside and take a deep, refreshing breath, it is precisely that high air quality that you are enjoying.

Accurate Information is Critical

Guessing at the quality of the air in your home isn’t going to do any good. Even if you think the air smells fresh, or you don’t see any pollutants hanging in the air when looking across the room, you can’t be sure that it’s actually clean. The only way to know for sure what you are facing in terms of air quality is to have it professionally tested. This is a service we are proud to offer at Air Sense Environmental and you may be amazed at what we discover.

At Air Sense Environmental, we make sure to get great results in your home by using the Model 5200 IAQ Monitor. This is an advanced piece of equipment that is able to measure a range of factors that can negatively contribute to indoor air quality. Those include dust and particles, chemical pollutants, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and much more. This monitor is constantly collecting data on air quality and it stores that data every single minute. As a result, using this monitor permits us to get a complete picture of your air quality so we can determine how to proceed to make sure the air quality issues become a thing of the past.

When you work with us to test air quality, you’ll get a detailed, informative report that highlights exactly what the situation looks like in your space. The great thing about our AirAdvice report is that it breaks down technical information that is easy for anyone to understand. It highlights both Potential Causes of air quality issues and the Recommended Actions that you can take to get back on track.

The Right Partner for the Job

At Air Sense, we want all of our customers to breathe clean, healthy air while at home. Fortunately, through our use of AprilAire products, and thanks to our experience in this industry, you can be sure that your air will be as fresh as possible when we are done with the job. Take a moment today to get in touch with our team for a quote or to ask any questions you may have. Let’s get started!