What the First Days of Fall Mean For Indoor Air Quality

Posted in Air Quality, on October 24, 2024

As the air becomes crisper and the leaves begin to change, our indoor environments shift, too. At SafeAir, we recommend home air quality testing during the autumn to help ease your household through the seasonal change and prevent any adverse effects of changing air quality. Beyond allergens, many different types of air quality issues can grow or become more prominent during different seasons, and these changes can cause many different symptoms or discomfort. Air quality testing can help get to the bottom of these changes, and add-on services like radon testing or mold testing can round out SafeAir’s assessment to ensure your home is safe and healthy 365 days a year. 

5 Ways Your Indoor Air Quality Changes in Autumn

With over a decade of experience helping families with air quality testing, the SafeAir team has seen several recurring air quality changes during the fall months. The five most common changes are: 

• Reduced Airflow: As the air gets colder, we close the windows and doors we had open to summer breezes. This reduction in ventilation can seal off our homes and trap indoor air pollutants that can affect our health and comfort. 
• Increase in Allergens: Autumn is rich in outdoor molds and other allergens that can become concentrated in our homes, intensifying symptoms. 
• HVAC Problems: In the fall, your furnace will likely have been off for several months, and as the system comes back online, the result may be strange smells and air quality changes.
• Low Humidity: Cold air is able to hold less moisture, which can dry out the skin, hair, and mucus membranes, making you more susceptible to colds and the flu. Many people find dry air deeply uncomfortable, especially after the humidity of summer. 
• Mold Growth: Reduced ventilation and autumn storms can increase humidity in some areas of the home, like the basement, resulting in cool and damp conditions in which mold thrives. 

Solutions to Autumn Air Quality

The good news is that many of these common air quality issues are easy to solve. Home air quality testing is the most straightforward way to understand, from a scientific perspective, what’s happening in your home. While it’s easy to tell if a lightbulb is burnt out, air quality is much harder to detect with the senses, making a science-led approach critical for an accurate understanding of your risk factors. 

There are many easy solutions to reduced ventilation, allergens, HVAC problems, humidity, and mold growth. Some are simple: increasing ventilation with fans or a home ventilation system, for example, may be all the airflow that your home needs to move along pollutants. Another simple recommendation the SafeAir team frequently makes is to change the furnace filter more frequently or increase the MERV rating so it catches smaller particles. These small solutions can have a huge effect on the whole family. 

SafeAir’s Fall Air Quality Checklist

As the seasons shift, we suggest our clients take a moment to assess their air quality using this simple checklist:

• Ensure your furnace is ready to turn on by changing the filters or having a professional visit for annual maintenance. 
• Clean your outdoor air intake - remove leaves and debris and check for mold. 
• Monitor temperature and humidity with inexpensive sensors available from the hardware store. 
• Note strange smells or visible changes to walls, ceilings, and floors. 
• Increase ventilation in areas like the basement. 

On top of this checklist, we recommend having indoor air quality testing too. If you’ve never had an air quality test done before, it’s an excellent opportunity to get a snapshot of your indoor air environment. Specialized assessments like radon testing can be done at the same time, and together, the results can help you create a healthier, safer living environment for the whole family. Ask SafeAir about the benefits of home air quality testing by reading through our blog or calling the team today. 

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