Air Quality Mold Inspection Services

How Clean Is the Air You’re Breathing?

Many things affect the air quality in your community, and many of these factors aren’t in your direct control. Wildfires, automobile exhaust, pollution from manufacturing processes, and even the changing climate all negatively impact the quality of air.

Due to factors outside your property and inside your building, there may be carbon monoxide, smoke, pollen, methane, and mold in the air. You probably can’t see those contaminants, but your health may already have been affected by them. The best way to determine air quality is to schedule expert air quality & mold inspection services.

What Are You Breathing?

Unseen particles of contaminants hang in the air until you breathe them in. At this point, pollution from methane, exhaust, and even the fire in your fireplace moves into your lungs and throughout your body. The damages caused there vary:

• Sulfur dioxide from burning oil and coal causes eye irritation and inflamed airways.
• Carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen in your blood until cells and organs die. Carbon monoxide poisoning is very serious and should prompt immediate attention from a medical professional.
• Methane is generally non-toxic, but when used inappropriately can cause explosions or asphyxiation. As the gas is breathed in, it replaces oxygen in the body making it difficult to breathe.
• Formaldehyde is used in the construction of many furnishings. The short-term health effects of the product include wheezing, coughing, skin irritation, and burning eyes. There is some evidence that links formaldehyde explosion to certain types of cancer.

Clearly, maintaining good air quality in your home or workplace is essential for your health. If you have unexplained health problems, those may be linked, at least in part, to your interior air quality. The best way to find out is through professional air quality testing.

What You Can Control

Some of the most common culprits that negatively affect the air quality inside the home are furnishings with formaldehyde, asbestos in older buildings, and the pesticides used in landscaping, and tracked into buildings. Even something as simple as walking across a damp lawn can introduce mold spores into your home or office.

The good news is that there are some things you can control. Pay close attention to the chemicals and substances brought into your home. Avoid overwatering the landscape and any indoor plants. Learn more about how to avoid the use of chemicals and noxious materials throughout your inside spaces.

Why Should You Hire Professionals?

With the knowledge that air quality is affected by factors outside of your control and those within your control, your next step of improving your breathing air is to schedule air quality & mold inspection services. Avoid home mold tests because many of these pick up the mold that exists everywhere, and the tests don’t identify where mold is located or how widespread the trouble is.

Professional air quality and mold test professionals conduct visual inspections, located the cause of trouble, understand how to read test results, and use the right techniques to avoid becoming contaminated and spreading further contamination through the property.

When To Call Mold Professionals

It isn’t always necessary to hire professional air quality inspectors, but there are certainly several instances that should prompt this move:

• You smell mold, but you can’t see it. If you can already see mold, you know there’s a problem. If you can’t see it, an air quality test will help you identify and measure the extent of the trouble.
• You’ve recently experienced flooding or plumbing problems and suspect mold within the walls.
• You are experiencing unexplained health problems, including wheezing, coughing, sneezing, skin irritation, and headaches.
• You’ve had mold problems in the past and want to be sure mold removal efforts were successful.
• You are concerned with having the best possible air quality in your home.

Many factors related to air quality are outside of your controls but taking action in the areas you can control will lead to improvements. Begin by contacting United Water Restoration to schedule air quality & mold inspection services for your home or commercial property.