Indoor air quality issues plague Indianapolis area homes for many different reasons, causing various issues for a household’s occupants. To improve air quality in your home, learn how to treat common indoor air quality issues with help from your HVAC system.
The pros at Williams Comfort Air explain the different troublesome air quality problems commonly faced in the home and what to do about them. If you face air quality issues, we have solutions to help – contact us today to learn more and take the first step toward cleaner air inside your home.
In this day and age, air quality and air pollution are a big concern. Most people consider this only in respect to outdoor air. While not such an issue in the Indianapolis area, you’ve seen the pictures of visible smog looming in major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and throughout the world – it’s alarming. However, the air outside should not be your only concern.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), air pollutants are more highly concentrated indoors than they are outside. The air within a home is often polluted with contaminant concentrations 2 to 5 times higher than outdoors! This has greatly increased over the past few decades due to the way we build our homes and buildings for efficiency and the materials we bring into them.
Indoor and outdoor air pollution are both serious issues, but indoor air quality issues have such a big impact on us because most of our time is spent inside – a whopping 90% of our time, actually, for most of us. Those who are most vulnerable to issues caused by indoor air quality are often those who spend the greatest amount of time inside, like young children, the elderly, and those who suffer from respiratory or cardiovascular health conditions.
Poor indoor air quality isn’t a benign problem – it can actually cause physical health symptoms. Short-term exposure produces cold-like symptoms, including irritated eyes, nose and throat as well as dizziness, headaches, and fatigue. Contaminant exposure in the home increases the frequency of allergy symptoms and asthma attacks. Long-term exposure to certain pollutants in the home can lead to more serious health conditions such as lung cancer, heart disease, and respiratory conditions.
Indoor air pollutants come from a variety of sources, both within and outside the home. Common air pollutants found inside the home include:
Once they are introduced, there are other factors that contribute to their concentration at any given time. The behaviors of people inside the home, the climate and weather, along with the air exchange rate and other qualities of the air within your home can all improve or worsen indoor air quality.
Certain indoor air quality issues are more prevalent in Indianapolis homes than others. These issues often play off one another, and indoor air quality solutions address them in different ways. Take a look at the most common indoor air quality issues and what you need to do to prevent problems within your home.
Many Indianapolis area homes are susceptible to high indoor concentrations of air pollutants that cause indoor air quality issues, especially newer ones. This is because newer construction places a focus on creating an energy-efficient structure, so there is a tight building seal to help the home retain and conserve energy. However, while helpful for energy conservation, this creates indoor air quality issues.
The tight building seal prevents much of the natural ventilation that moves contaminants out of the home. With nowhere to go, they remain inside and collect. Airborne pollutants build inside the home through:
When you’re exposed to increased concentrations of these contaminants indoors, you notice physical symptoms such as itchy skin, irritations of the nose, throat, and eyes, runny nose, and others that mimic those of the common cold – which makes indoor air quality issues that much more difficult to discern. If members of your household have allergies or asthma, they may be especially sensitive to these contaminants and experience increased symptoms.
The first step to controlling contaminant concentrations in your home is to reduce use of certain products.
Next comes HVAC solutions that help reduce common indoor air quality issues. When faced with high levels of contaminants indoors, a whole-home air cleaner is helpful, as well as a ventilation system.
One of the most common indoor air quality issues is poor humidity control. If your home feels stuffy or muggy, you might have a humidity control issue. High-humidity indoor environments are perfect for mold to grow and allergens to thrive. It also increases concentrations of VOCs held in your indoor air.
When the air inside your home is burdened with too much moisture, your body feels it. You may experience:
High humidity also makes it difficult to balance temperatures in the home. The moister the air, the warmer it feels. You may experience related symptoms like muscle cramps, heat rash, and heat exhaustion.
As explained above, poor ventilation in the home allows contaminant concentrations and humidity levels to mount. Air feels stale, and you may have trouble keeping temperatures comfortable, on top of the bothersome health issues you may feel.
Poor ventilation causes another troublesome indoor air quality issue – increased radon levels. Radon is an odorless, colorless, radioactive gas that is undetectable by humans without assistance of a radon detection device. It is a known carcinogen and the second-most leading cause of lung cancer.
Radon is naturally occurring uranium that forms below ground as soil and rock decay. It infiltrates homes through foundation cracks and air leaks. When ventilation is poor, radon concentrations mount to unsafe levels. Homes tightly sealed for efficiency may be unknowingly increasing radon levels without proper ventilation.
I Don’t suffer the discomfort and troublesome side effects from common indoor air quality issues any longer – Williams Comfort Air is here to help. Let our indoor air quality professionals assess your home and match you to the right solutions that target your home’s specific areas of concern. Our NATE-certified technicians install indoor air quality products that work in conjunction with your HVAC system to deliver cleaner, healthier air throughout your home.
Contact us today to request an estimate for indoor air quality solutions in your Indianapolis area home.