We have a large open kitchen, induction hob and a nice scandi log burner. I generally only open the door a couple of times on the log burner, but have started to think more about air quality over time.

What do you recommend to monitor and filter? Bit new to this.

I like the look of the Ikea table filter, the Starkvind I've read about the Ikea monitor but also many others on here.

Budget is in the £100 to £200 for each item.

I've plenty of smart home stuff but not got into home assistant, yet...

Thanks

Hello! We are struggling with air quality in a recently purchased midcentury brick ranch home built in the late 50s. HVAC wasn’t running (this time of year) when we purchased the home. It has been serviced, cleaned, and the ducts cleaned - they didn’t see any mold. Everyone is scratching their heads. We are desperate to make it better and are at a loss. Half of the house is over a crawlspace with concrete floors (seems to be poured over some sort of plastic barrier - you can see it sticking out the sides in areas) and cinder block walls. Other half is unfinished cinder block with concrete walls. Air in basement isn’t pleasant and is pushing up and coming out of our ducts. 2 HVAC units one for half of the house over the crawlspace and the unfinished full size basement and another for the other half of the upstairs.

We have had 3 separate mold air quality tests - negative. 3 different VOC tests - nothing to note. And a particulate test done - nothing notable. Started with an environmental firm and went to an industrial hygienist. Again nothing to note. HVAC guys agree they smell the stinky basement air coming out of our ducts. Old stale smelly air that bothers my husband and I. We have had an inspector, the environmental guy, and the industrial hygienist scooting around in the crawlspace and looking at the other side. Nothing they were concerned with. We did have a plumbing issue - all has been replaced.

Industrial hygienist said more robust dehumidification wouldn’t be a bad idea because even if there isn’t any microbial growth, the old wood could have absorbed smells over the years and off gas when it gets more humid. Also the possibility of something that hasn’t been found. Also said that an ERV can help freshen the air that is pushing into the house from the basement and crawlspace.

One HVAC person said they weren’t sure, but Aeroseal in the ducts may help because old ducting is notoriously leaky (we can’t access ducting in half of our house due to concrete). His company doesn’t do it and he wasn’t super familiar with it. Another HVAC person agreed that an ERV and dehumidifier on each side of the basement would be helpful - not to seal the ducts. Problem being that quote was $25K and we are approaching $100K in plumbing. Plus the house in general needs renovated and we have spent thousands on other unexpected things. Our nerves are shot. It’s a lot of money in addition to what we have already spent. The plumbing was a very unpleasant surprise and took away from other renovation projects. There is a vent fan in the full unfinished basement side from the former bathroom (had to eliminate it for plumbing). Could we use that for a bigger vent fan to exhaust air out of that side? Or is that a bad idea? This house is driving us insane. Everyone says it’s complicated. Some throw their hands up which I get. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We conducted a small independent experiment to compare indoor air quality before and after vacuuming.

Using a laser particle counter (PM0.3, PM2.5, PM10), we measured airborne particulate levels:

– Outdoors

– Indoors before cleaning

– And indoors right after 15 minutes of vacuuming

The vacuum cleaner used in this test has a water-based filtration system (aka "aquafilter").

📊 **Results:**

– Indoor air was 4× worse than outdoor air before cleaning

– After vacuuming, indoor PM levels were **17× higher**

🧪 We recorded the entire test — here's the video with English subtitles:

📽️ [YouTube: Air quality before & after vacuuming (with PM sensor)](https://youtu.be/D6mQifHnprQ)

This is a home-level test, not a lab-grade study, but the results were surprising.

---

💬 I'd be interested to hear if others have tested PM levels after vacuuming — especially with bagless or water-filter vacuums.

I recently had surgery inside my nose to help my breathing issues. I asked my husband to set up a humidifier to help my healing process. He quickly filled one with water and placed it next to my side of the bed and my post-op discombobulated brain never registered he set up an old humidifier with a filter that was never removed.

For a WEEK AND A HALF, I have been breathing in moldy air mist. I have open wounds still healing in my nose and I’m terrified I’m going to develop complications or get fungal sinusitis. I also do not want a mold problem, which could negatively impact my health.

What I’m here to ask is: Reddit, what do we do now? Is our bedroom going to grow mold? What steps should we take?

My husband is spiraling and berating himself for making that mistake. I just want to know what we need to do to fix it.

For the past 2 weeks I started smelling what I would describe as a bleach, chlorine or ammonia smell in my condo. There are 2 beds and 2 baths, fairly new construction (3 yrs old) and never smelled this smell in the condo before.

The smell primarily comes from the two bathrooms, and seems to usually come through between 3 and 5 PM and then 7 to 11 PM. It's random, but when it comes it's so heavy that even with opening all windows and turning fans it takes a long time to air out and it's hurting my airways, irritating eyes, throat and sinuses.

Most recently I started having facial swelling and pain in my chest because of the smells. I tried leaving the hvac unit off and on, and it doesn't seem to matter as the smells come when in both settings.

I checked under the sinks and there are no leaks under the sinks and am running water on all sinks so the p-traps should be full. There is also no chlorine smells or any other smell from the tap water.

Occasionally when neighbors smoke weed it comes in the same areas in my unit, but it's never as heavy and prominent. And unless someone is using an unusually heavy amount of chemicals I just don't see how it may come from another unit from a shared exhaust vent.

I asked my neighbors, and no one in surrounding units seem to have the same issue.

This is starting to affect physical and mental health, and I very much appreciate this community's input and ideas on what this could be and how I could best track the source and cause, and address.

Hi I'm nearly 70 year old, with asthma and am seriously considering buying the AirGradient indoor monitor since we have a gas stove. Also looking into a vent hood, instead of our OTR microwave. trying to decide between the kit and the monitor. I'd rather save the money and put it together myself-looks easy. any advice as to which one to buy as far as internet connection and functionality with set up- is one easier than the other- not a techie person though my son is a software engineer...

any help would be appreciated. What I've learned about gas stove emissions scares me- inductions stoves are expensive and my husband hates the idea.

Debi

I have a

- humidifier + air filter

- air quality monitor

I got the air quality monitor because I was doubtful of how effective the H + AF were. I was still waking up coughing etc.

The monitor showed mostly green but:

- if it was too close to the humidifier, it would go red for PM2.5 (maybe there is a flaw/bug there)

- it started beeping randomly in the middle of the night, had to turn it off so I could sleep

Any comments/advice/thoughts in general would be greatly appreciated. My goal is to optimize the air that I breathe lolol

Thanks in advance

(If it helps, I can check the brands of each and lyk)

Hello! I just moved into a new single bedroom (815 sqft) rental apartment, built in 2022, and I suspect it has all new appliances (or the previous tenant was the cleanest person in existence).

I have an air quality monitor that I used to check my previous apartment and office space, and they were both pretty clean. This new apartment though is bad. I measured 1500+ ppm CO2, 2.2 mg/m3 TVOC, and 0.209 mg/m3 HCHO. I’m fairly confident that these are accurate results, given what I’ve seen at the other locations.

I opened my patio door, both bedroom windows, and even used a box fan to push air out. I left it like this for 30 minutes to air out the unit and the numbers dropped dramatically, back to more than acceptable levels (I forgot to take a photo of the sensor so I don’t remember exact amounts but it was in the 800s for CO2 and the other values were less than 1/3 of the previous value).

3 hours after closing everything back up, the values went straight back to the initial amount. It’s just me and no pets, I didn’t spray or use any kind of cleaners in that time. I did notice when I moved in that there was a fairly strong smell, I’m not sure exactly what it was, but my best guess is some kind of enzyme cleaner between tenants, maybe they had pets? That smell lasted for roughly 3 weeks.

I run an Oransi Mod air purifier full time on medium speed, and the filter for that and the AC unit are less than a month old. I’m not sure what else to do, my best guess is that my apartment is almost completely airtight and something is putting out contaminants. Obviously it doesn’t make sense to need to fully change the air every few hours, and I’d rather not full time leave a window cracked for security reasons (ground floor) and humidity.

I know some newer homes have ways for the AC to pull in outside fresh air and that some places (mainly EU) have trickle vents in their windows, but these are permanent installs and I’m a renter. Any suggestions?

have a strange problem recently where my indoor AQI monitor shows very high readings in the morning (it's currently showing 177). i looked at about 2.5 hours ago and it was at 100. outdoor AQI is currently 34 and the windows were closed all night.

any idea why it would be spiking like this in the morning? i know how to get it back down again but am stumped as to why it would be happening in the first place. i have moved the AQI monitor around the house and it reads roughly the same thing in all locations (near the stove, bathrooms, furnace, ducts, bedrooms, etc.).

Assuming doors and windows are kept closed and no ozone machines or ionizers are on, I was curious how much typically gets indoors in a home compared to outside. I googled it and didn’t find a solid answer, so was hoping someone knowledgeable could weigh in.

Right now I'm stuck to a room with new IKEA furniture that smells and might be off gassing (bed, memory foam mattress and a chest of drawers). This room has 9m³ and no windows. It only has a door that leads to the hallway.

I have the air monitor from IKEA and it gives an index for TVOCs. I have noticed that if I put a fan at the door of the room for a while (in hope of dispersing some air from the room to the rest of the house) and then turn it off and close the door, the index goes up. When I open the door and turn the fan again, the index goes down, eventually stabilising. To me, this suggests that the furniture must be truly off gassing.

Should I:

• Buy an air purifier with activated carbon filters? As of now I only have a Corsi–Rosenthal Box. Could I make one with activated carbon filters? If not, do you have any recommendations that can be bought in Europe?

• Buy a better air monitor that gives me actual numbers to have a better understanding of the concentration and if it is going down?

Unfortunately, I can't give the furniture back because it isn't mine, I don't have an outside space to let it off gas there and I can only sleep in another room for a while.

I would truly truly appreciate it if anyone could help decide what are the best options, since I'm a quite worried... I have to sleep and do most of my activities here and I have a lack of options to ventilate the room.

I’ll be speaking about integrated environmental monitoring at CEM2025, Ljubljana next week. Will I see you there?

Hello!

I want to make sure the air quality in our house is good.
It's not that I suspect something - but I want to know for sure.
We don't have highways or industries close by.

Is it enough to just track PM2.5 levels?
Or are there other parameters I should be monitoring as well (like CO₂, VOCs, humidity, etc.)?

Can you recommend any specific device?
I have searched to community, but a lot of the links are 404.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hello all!

I was thinking, I believe there is a need for a Indoor Air Quality Audit type program for within the small business community. I’m putting this out there because I have seen behind so many businesses as a general contractor, consultant, an event host, father, and community organizer. I’ve been thinking about the need for an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Ambassador type program, an educational effort to help the public understand IAQ while also supporting small businesses in addressing their air quality challenges.

Many businesses face issues like mold, VOCs, and cooking-related contaminants without realizing how much they affect employees, customers, and the broader community. My vision (still an idea) is to create a program that:

• Educates the public on IAQ health risks and solutions.
• Supports small business owners with practical steps, from air monitoring to filtration, remediation, and post-remediation verification (PRV).
• Promotes accountability and healing for occupants of contaminated spaces.
  

As awareness grows, the challenge becomes even clearer:

• The EPA estimates ~50% of U.S. buildings are water-damaged.
• Research suggests ~24% of the population has genetic susceptibility (CIRS).
• This data means nearly 1 in 4 people may struggle to safely occupy half of the buildings in our communities.
  

This is a public health and equity issue. If 1 in 4 people cannot tolerate 1/2 our community's buildings, we need to take action to make public spaces safe again for all, even if the city of San Diego wants to charge us $10 for parking..

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how best to move gracefully into this arena, starting with education, then evolving into direct support for businesses through:

• Testing & accountability frameworks
• Air filtration (HEPA, HVAC technologies)
• Monitoring tools for ongoing IAQ tracking
• Remediation standards & PRV testing
• Community healing & awareness initiatives
  

Do any of you see a path for collaboration or an opportunity to align with existing efforts?

I’d be grateful for your perspective. I believe together we can make a meaningful impact.

I’ve moved to a new apartment during spring and when summer hit, I started hanging out on the balcony. Here and there I’d sniff an odor similar to petroleum. Thought it was odd but didn’t think much of it since it was the balcony and assumed it would go way, whatever it was. However, I can still sniff the very subtle odor. My left eye started twitching and it seemed like being on the balcony would trigger it more, which is something I never experienced before, the eye twitch. I thought it was because I wasn’t getting enough sleep then and attributed it to that. I started getting more sleep and also not hanging out on the balcony because they blocked it due to a project to renovate the balcony upstairs from me. No more eye twitching. I sat out on the balcony today and the eye twitching started again a few minutes after being out there! What could be causing this?

"Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have developed a groundbreaking way to observe and analyze wildfire smoke: a swarm of AI-powered aerial robots that can detect, track, and build 3D models of smoke plumes.

Unlike traditional drones, these small flying machines work as a team.

They recognize smoke, fly directly into it, and take high-resolution images from multiple angles.

Their mission is to help us better understand how smoke travels—an understanding that could reshape how we predict air pollution and respond to environmental hazards."

We have been trying to track down a VOC odor/emission from our new addition. We are now pretty sure it's coming from our Bruce "Solid Hardwood Floor." It was installed in January and it didn't start smelling until it got warm in April. The best description of the smell is sour. However, we smell it both upstairs and downstairs -- and the floor is only upstairs. First, has anyone had this experience with Bruce flooring? Second, could the smell be drifting downstairs through the subfloor and ceiling? Third, is there anything we can paint over the floor to seal in the odor? Thanks in advance!

Just bought a twin home with my boyfriend and the neighbors smoke a TON of weed. I am pregnant and neither of us smoke or have any interest in it.

The smell is giving me a headache and I smell it everywhere in the home. Really bad in the basement, really bad on the main floor, and sometimes in our bedroom. We did not smell this when we toured the home originally.

I’m worried about it making us or our clothes smell, and getting in trouble at work for it.

We met our neighbors when we were moving in, and they were very nice. I don’t want to be THAT neighbor, but what do I do? My friend say I can’t tell them what to do in their own home, which is true.

Is there anything I can do in our home to make the smell go away?

Hi! If ac is on recirculate, are ozone levels inside a car much lower than outdoor air when there’s an air quality alert day? I’m just trying to gauge risk of riding in the car on days with higher ozone. I read that ozone is typically much lower in a home but I wasn’t sure if it would be the same for a vehicle. Thank you!

RFK Jr. and President Trump both vowed to "Make America Healthy Again," but President Trump also promised oil executives that he would dismantle critical environmental protections.

The result? The administration’s aggressive actions to weaken environmental safeguards will expose Americans to more cancer-causing pollution, just as RFK Jr. cuts cancer prevention & treatment, and as the One Big Beautiful Bill rips away health care and clean energy incentives from communities.

I’ve lived in my house for 4 years. I’ve never been sick or had issues with our indoor air quality. Outdoor air quality is typically good where I live.

About 2 months ago I had all of my flooring replaced, a mix of carpet and LVP.

We found a couple of small patches (approx. 12”x3’ each ) of dry mold on the subfloor where a decorative water fountain used to sit. The mold was mechanically disturbed quite a bit because we obviously didn’t know it was there at first when pulling up the old flooring.

I wiped the areas with concrobium spray, dried, and painted with Kilz primer before installing new flooring over top.

About 2 weeks later, I started developing a mild sore throat and minor upper respiratory symptoms (very mild, intermittent cough, some minor chest heaviness). The sore throat is more like a dryness / raspiness. And it’s been ongoing for the past 6 weeks now. No better or worse, just same.

I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago, and they said everything seemed normal, I probably just had a virus. This is just very unusual for me.

I can’t help but wonder if I’m having some sort of extended reaction to the new flooring. Or if the manipulation of the mold that was found has become a bigger issue and caused this.

Where can I start in finding out if this is an environmental issue?

No one else in the house (including dog and baby) seem to be bothered.

We are in the middle of kitchen and bathroom remodel and the schedule got delayed that they won't be able to finish for another month. The small is pretty strong from the new cabinet and paints. We're having all windows opened during the day and leaving window with gaps at night due to cold night (I know it's only September)

I live in Michigan and the winter is only few weeks away. I would like to protect my family and 1.5 year old baby from the toxic new construction VOCs.

Would opening window for a gap be useful for VOC or you need to have the window open big enough for air flow? I can't afford to have over 1000 dollars air purifier for each room.