Indoor Air Quality Allergens

Pollen and other plant allergens can enter the home through natural ventilation, open windows and doors as well as being tracked into the home by the occupants and affect air quality.  

The more pollen or plant allergens stay in the home without being filtered, the worse the indoor air quality will be.  Pollen can also add to the overall dust and particulate count in the breathable air and what settles on furniture as household dust.

The air your breathe indoors will contain a certain amount of fibres.  These fibres can come from clothing, furnishings, decorating materials as well as insulation such as fibreglass and asbestos.

Having properly filtered HEPA vacuum cleaners as well as air filtration systems will help in making your home a healthy home, or one that has poor indoor air quality.

Household dust is a generic term for all the particulates that are in the indoor environment.

Dust in your home is made up of pollen, fibres, sand, mould, bacteria, viruses, rodent droppings, insect fragments, VOC's, skin, heavy metals and anything else indoors that can emit a particle into the air your breathe.

Mould spores are all around us!  There is no such thing as a mould free environment.

Mould spores can come indoors from the natural outdoor environment or can be created indoors from a moisture source leading to indoor mould growth.

Health issues or diseases linked to mould exposure and inhalation of mould spores containing mycotoxins depends on moisture mitigation and where mould could be growing in your home.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's) are chemicals that can be emitted by any indoor building material, furniture, decorating material, paint, adhesive, as well as any plastic or man made material.  VOC's can also come from certain plants and mould growth.

VOC's can cause serious allergic reactions and long term diseases and should be tested for in any comprehensive indoor air quality test. 

Gases that affect the indoor air quality can be carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as well as natural gas, sewer gas and chlorine gas from unfiltered water.

Air quality testing can determine if any of these gases are part of your indoor environment.