Why Indoor Air Testing Is Crucial to Do Before You Buy a Home

The indoor air quality of your home can affect the long-term health of everyone inside. If issues with the air in a home go untreated, there could be permanent harmful effects that result.

This is why it’s so important for you to have your indoor air quality tested before you officially purchase a home. It makes sense to do this testing in conjunction with other tests, such as a new home inspection in Aspen, CO or any foundation or engineering inspections that need to be done.

Why you need to be able to test the quality of your air

There are a variety of substances that can have a negative impact on the air quality in your home. Radon, for example, occurs naturally in the ground, and depending on the geographic location of your home, it may seep up through the foundation. It is a colorless and odorless gas that can cause symptoms like nausea, dizziness or headaches. In the longer term, it’s known to be a cause of lung cancer.

Other substances can also form in abundance in homes, including simple dust and debris. In forced air HVAC systems, any dust buildup inside the system will get pushed throughout the home, where it could cause or worsen symptoms associated with respiratory conditions like allergies and asthma.

Just about every home will have some basic air quality features like standard air filters for furnaces and HVAC systems to help alleviate these concerns. However, depending on the home, these systems may not be enough to provide you with pure, fresh air. Additional products like ionization air purifiers, humidifiers, ventilation systems and more help to improve the air quality in a home and can eliminate particles that you would not otherwise see. In the case of radon, filtration isn’t enough—there are specific radon mitigation tasks you must employ to lower the level of radon in the home to safe levels, including specialized ventilation systems to allow the radon to vent out of the home.

Indoor air quality testing isn’t juts helpful for ensuring the long-term health of current or potential residents. It can also help you uncover problems like water leaks that could be causing mold, another substance that can cause some significant air quality issues with the spread of toxic spores. Indoor air quality tests also help you determine if your appliances are properly vented, and if not, the steps you need to take to ensure you have proper ventilation to protect against potential carbon monoxide poisoning or other effects.

While there are steps new homeowners can take to improve their indoor air quality after moving in, it’s important to know what you’re working with before you sign on the dotted line. You’ll want to be sure the air quality issues present (if any) are manageable and that you won’t have to spend an obscene amount of money on mitigation or resolution.

Interested in learning more about the importance of indoor air quality testing in Aspen, CO when purchasing a new home? Contact an indoor air testing specialist at HealthSafe Inspections Inc. with any questions you have.

Categorised in: Indoor Air Quality

This post was written by Writer