Indoor air quality help

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ChrisHB Aug 2021 9:37am, 12 Aug 2021 21,111 posts	0 ChrisHB We have friends who live in a damp and mouldy house. The wife is suffering with lung problems that weren't diagnosed in a day at hospital yesterday. We want our friends to move to somewhere better, and maybe a powerful incentive would be to get a test that says the air is filled with damaging spores. Possibly of course the illness has nothing to do with the mouldy air, so we're wondering if there's is a way of getting the air quality tested for illness-causing things. It doesn't matter if the company is selling machines that improve things, but it does matter if they are selling snake-oil. I'll be out for much of the day but given 4g I hope to be able to drop in from time to time. Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences.
Mushroom Aug 2021 5:56pm, 12 Aug 2021 1,799 posts	0 Mushroom Don't know if this is any use or not Chris, but our local library was recently part of a research scheme in testing air quality in the local area. It's only a few weeks ago but I don't know whether it's part of something bigger. I'll try and find a link. They were 'lending' out small air testing monitors and we were given instructions to move it around the house every day or so to test different rooms. The monitors gave live on-screen assessments about air quality. At the end of the 2 or 3 weeks we then handed them back and the researchers used our data. We didn't have needs or issues, but my partner uses the library regularly and they were keen to get the monitors out into local homes so offered us one! It was during the very hot spell last month, so it was interesting to see air quality dip during the very humid periods. Presumably, they're sensitive enough for things like bacteria and mould as well. If I can't find anything, is it worth having a chat with local environmental health, they may have similar ones you could borrow?
Diogenes Aug 2021 5:58pm, 12 Aug 2021 62,059 posts	0 Diogenes Amusing that a question about damp causes a mushroom to pop up
Mushroom Aug 2021 5:59pm, 12 Aug 2021 1,800 posts	0 Mushroom I'm sitting here in the dark..
Weath Aug 2021 6:27pm, 12 Aug 2021 735 posts	0 Weath It sounds more like you are seeking to test for moisture and/or mold rather than 'air quality' per se. That is to say you are looking into issues fundamentally associated to the ventilation of the property. Air quality in an 'Environmental Health' sense (monitoring / equipment wise) will get you a response in terms of background pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and the like - not really relevant to the issue at hand. If you do speak to your local authority you need to be aware of the difference. It would be better to speak to the 'Private Sector Housing' (or similar) about housing conditions in general, rather than go down the blind-alley of raising AQ. Otherwise you risk being directed to the 'Environmental Protection' section who deal with atmospheric 'air quality'. Their equipment won't be able to help. Sorry I can't offer any advise on moisture/ mold detectors, but could offer far more info than you'd ever require on atmospheric AQ monitoring than you'd ever need.... sorry! 😜 ( I'm an Env Health Officer & Air Quality specialist)
Curly45 Aug 2021 6:32pm, 12 Aug 2021 4,023 posts	0 Curly45 You can also build either type of monitor (humidity or PM2.5s) using a raspberry pi and an environmental attachment if you or they are into that sort of thing. Sorry I don't know any way of detecting mould spores though. Or anything about relevant companies.
Weath Aug 2021 6:44pm, 12 Aug 2021 736 posts	0 Weath Ignoring the issue that an uncalibrated sensor for PM2.5 wouldn't be much use - what standards and concentrations would you be testing against (i.e. 24hr or annual means, National Air Quality Objectives or (unadopted) WHO standards) and how then do you then determine the proportion of 'mold' from the sample? Burn your toast / spray your deodorant and any concentrations will fly of the scale. Not having a dig Curly but from a professional point of view the terms 'air quality' and 'testing' are very ambiguous and don't really mean much in the real world.
ChrisHB Aug 2021 10:22pm, 12 Aug 2021 21,112 posts	0 ChrisHB A harder question than I had imagined. Thanks for your thoughts.
um Aug 2021 5:08pm, 13 Aug 2021 5,034 posts	0 um Chris - there are test kits on the web - typically back to school biology days with a (modernised) petri dish and jelly. Take samples and wait a few days to see what grows. Only I assume a bit more advanced than that. No idea of quality or reliability or whether good looking scams, though. Weath - what can you recommend for wood smoke testing and reporting? Where I live, wood burners seem to be the in thing, and at times the air feels very polluted
The Great Raemondo Aug 2021 5:12pm, 13 Aug 2021 8,141 posts	0 The Great Raemondo You need that spammer that popped up on the tour shirts thread... (you don't, obviously)