Indoor Air Quality Testing
Find out what is actually in your air, and whether the problem is the air at all. Half the complaints we assess turn out to be airflow or duct leakage — which no purifier will fix.
What brought you here?
Each of these has a most-likely cause, and in most cases it is not what people expect.
Dust that returns within days
Usually duct leakage pulling attic air past the filter, rather than anything airborne in the rooms themselves.
Stuffiness, headaches, or worse indoors
Frequently a ventilation problem — the air is not being changed often enough — rather than a contamination problem.
Symptoms worse on smoke days
Fine particulate getting in. Points at filtration capability and how much unfiltered air leaks into the house.
A musty or damp smell
Humidity and moisture. Worth locating the source, because a purifier will not address standing water or a wet coil.
Smells from the garage or crawlspace
Almost always a return-side leak drawing air from a space you do not want it drawn from.
One room noticeably worse than the rest
Airflow distribution rather than air quality. That room is probably not getting the air it was designed to.
Six readings, and why each one matters
Together these separate an air quality problem from an airflow problem. From inside the house the two feel identical, and they need completely different fixes.
Fine particulate
The measure that matters most on smoke days, and the one a good filter can genuinely change.
Humidity
Drives comfort, mould risk and dust mite populations. Frequently the actual culprit behind a musty complaint.
Ventilation rate
How often the air in the house is being replaced. A tight home with no mechanical ventilation is a common finding.
Temperature and distribution
Establishes whether the complaint is really about air quality or about air not reaching a room at all.
Static pressure and filtration
Whether the system can actually move air through the filter it has, which decides what filtration is even possible.
Duct leakage
Where unfiltered air is entering. The most common single cause of a recurring dust complaint.
The last two are the ones most air quality companies never take, because they belong to the HVAC side rather than the IAQ product side. They are also the two that most often explain the complaint.
Why we test before we sell anything
Indoor air quality is an easy thing to sell badly. The complaints are real, the anxiety is real, and the equipment is expensive — which makes it straightforward to fit a purifier without anyone establishing what the problem was.
In practice, a large share of the homes we assess have a cause that no purifier addresses: ducts leaking unfiltered air into the house, humidity sitting where it should not, or a house tight enough that the air is simply never changed.
Testing costs a fraction of the equipment. If it shows nothing wrong, you have saved yourself the equipment — and we would rather tell you that than sell you a box.
Identifying is step one of five
Each step makes the next one work. Done out of order, you spend more and get less. See the whole process.
- 1 Identify
Measure before buying anything, so you treat the problem you actually have.
You are here - 2 Remove
Clear genuine contamination out of the ductwork, where conditions warrant it.
Duct cleaning → - 3 Seal
Close the route unfiltered attic air uses to get back into the system.
Duct sealing & replacement → - 4 Filter
Filtration that works, because the air reaching it is the air you meant to treat.
Whole-home purification → - 5 Ventilate
Dilute what filters cannot catch by replacing indoor air with outdoor air.
Whole-home ventilation →
The measurement behind most of this
Static pressure is where an air quality complaint and an airflow problem most often turn out to be the same thing.
Why Is My House So Dusty Even After Cleaning?
Dust that returns within days is usually being pulled in through leaking ducts, not settling out of the room.
Read the article →HRV vs ERV: Which One Makes Sense in a Dry Climate?
Most HRV vs ERV advice is written for Canada. The answer is different in a hot, dry climate — and so is the plumbing.
Read the article →The 'Static Pressure' Secret: Why Your HVAC System is Suffocating
The most common reason an AC runs all day without cooling has nothing to do with refrigerant.
Read the article →Air Quality Testing FAQs
Why should I test my air before buying a purifier?
Because otherwise you are treating a problem nobody has measured. Testing frequently shows the cause is duct leakage, humidity or inadequate ventilation, none of which a purifier addresses. Knowing which one you have changes what you should be spending money on entirely.
What does an indoor air quality assessment measure?
We measure fine particulate, humidity, ventilation rate, temperature distribution, static pressure across your filtration, and duct leakage. Together those readings distinguish an air quality problem from an airflow problem, which feel completely identical from inside the house but need entirely different fixes.
My house gets dusty again days after cleaning. Why?
The usual cause is leakage on the return side of your ductwork, drawing attic or crawlspace air into the system and past the filter. Cleaning treats the result. Finding where the unfiltered air enters is what actually stops it recurring.
Do you test for mould?
We measure humidity and look for the moisture conditions that let mould establish, which is the actionable part. Where laboratory identification of a specific organism is needed, that is properly the work of an industrial hygienist and we will say so.
Is indoor air worse during wildfire season?
It can be, and how much worse depends almost entirely on your particular house. Filtration capability and how much unfiltered outside air leaks in are what separate a home that stays tolerable through a smoke event from one that does not. Both are measurable.
How long does an assessment take?
Most homes take a couple of hours, covering the equipment, the ductwork and readings taken in the living space itself. You get the findings and the actual numbers, whether or not they lead to any work that we would end up being the ones to do.
What if the testing shows nothing wrong?
Then you have saved yourself the cost of equipment you did not need, which is a genuinely good outcome. It happens often enough that we would rather tell you than sell you a purifier for a problem the measurements do not support.
Find out what you are actually dealing with
Tell us what you are noticing and when it is worst. That alone usually narrows it considerably.