These days, more homeowners than ever are starting to worry about the air quality in their homes. That makes sense since modern, well-insulated homes tend to trap pollutants, and central HVAC systems don’t do much to help. Unfortunately, various companies are rushing to take advantage of homeowners’ concerns by offering DIY air quality testing kits for sale. And while most of those tests do work, they’re just as likely to give homeowners a false sense of security. To explain why that is, here’s everything you need to know about DIY air quality test accuracy and why you’re better off leaving air quality testing to the experts.
How Accurate Are DIY Air Quality Tests?
The DIY air quality test kits you see for sale online and in stores do what they claim to do, to a certain extent. However, it is worth pointing out that some DIY air quality test kits err on caution. That means they’re designed with extra sensitivity to avoid any false-negative results. The problem with that is that they’ll instead produce false positives some of the time. That can send a homeowner off on a wild goose chase, looking for a solution to a problem their home doesn’t have.
Why You Should Avoid DIY Air Quality Tests
The other problem with DIY air quality test kits is that they’re typically only designed to detect a small handful of airborne pollutants. For example, one test might only screen for formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like nitrogen, bromine, and sulfur. The problem is that there are countless other air quality problems your home might suffer from.
For example, there are allergens like dust, mold, and mites. And if you’re living in an older home, you could have an issue with asbestos or lead. And while you could purchase a handful of pollutant-specific tests to cover all your bases, that could get expensive in a hurry. And you’d still need to home you haven’t overlooked anything and that the tests you’ve chosen are giving you trustworthy results.
What You Get From Professional Air Quality Testing
The first and most important thing you get from professional air quality testing is the benefit of a trained technician’s experience. When a qualified air quality testing technician comes to your home, the first thing they’ll do is talk to you about your specific concerns. They’ll ask you if you or anyone in your home has started having unexplained health or respiratory issues. They’ll review the cleaning products you use in your home and inquire if you’ve done any recent remodeling. Through their conversation with you, they might glean useful information on what air quality issues exist in your home.
After that, the technician will inspect your home to look for problems that might create poor air quality. For example, they’ll look for subtle signs of water damage that might point to a mold issue. They’ll be careful not to disturb anything in your home that might exacerbate a mold issue if there is one. Then they’ll collect air and surface samples from around your home, with special attention paid to any trouble spots their investigation identified.
With the investigation and sample collection complete, the next step is to send the samples to an accredited laboratory for evaluation. It’s more likely to yield accurate and actionable results than you’d ever get with a DIY test kit. From the collection to the evaluation, the samples from your home will be in the hands of experts that know how to avoid external contamination and produce reliable results.
Trust the Air Quality Specialists
Now that you know how and why professional air quality testing beats DIY testing, you have some of the knowledge required to keep your home’s air quality safe and healthy. However, that’s just a piece of the puzzle. You also need a trusted air quality specialist like [company_name] to help you select and install the systems and technology necessary to improve and maintain your home’s air quality.
We’ve provided comprehensive HVAC, plumbing, and indoor air quality services to the greater Los Angeles area for over 16 years. In that time, we’ve amassed an impressive record for service excellence that our competitors can’t match. So, if you need air quality services for your Los Angeles area home, call on the experts at [company_name] today!