I check the latest research, tested the air quality inside my own home, share my findings and provide simple ways you can improve the air quality in your home.
As we approach hay fever season, I was going to write about the known fact that the indoor air quality in our homes are terrible and that it has an impact on our physical health when I thought: “Wait, is the air quality in our homes still as bad as they say?”
I checked the latest research and conducted some tests of my own. I am happy to report that the general air quality in our home was good, but I also found that it doesn’t take much for the air quality to spike to levels that would be considered dangerous! I share what I found and the simple steps you can take to improve the air quality in your home too.
The latest scientific research
I searched the interweb for recent results of experiments on the air quality within our homes and I found that the majority of research were quite outdated. I found a lot of articles and papers from around 2010 and some from 2016. A couple more recent articles included a small scale experiment done in 2019 and an article from the World Health Organisation in 2021, however focusing on low-and middle-income countries.
The older articles contain what we have come to know about the state of air inside our homes and the newer articles still echo this:
The air quality inside our homes are often worse than outside and has a detrimental effect on our physical health.
This is due to outside pollutants entering our homes which is further compounded by pollutants we generate indoors through activities like heating, cleaning and decorating. With nowhere to escape to (as we make our homes more energy efficient), the pollutants get trapped inside for prolonged periods of time, extending our exposure to them.
Long-term exposure (over years) to these types of pollutants have been linked to cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and lung cancer, while short-term exposure (over hours or days) can cause effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular problems which may result in hospitalisation.
The good news is that we are in control of the air in our homes and we can change it!
Testing the air quality in my home
I wondered whether the findings in the articles were reflective of a typical household in the UK and I must admit was really curious to see how our home stacked up.
In the interest of full disclosure: We live in a semi-urban area, don’t have a wood burning fire, neither of us smoke, we don’t have an open plan living area (and therefore the cooking activities are separated from the main living area) and we share our home with one (semi)domesticated cat.
Also, I appreciate that this is by no means scientific, and I won’t pretend to be an expert, I thought it would be interesting none the less…
Know the Air You Breathe
As I was concerned about the most common pollutants that can harm our health, I wanted devices that specifically tested for these.
The pollutants in our homes that contribute to health concerns, can be measured as:
Particulate Matter (PM): These are tiny particles of dust and liquid in the air. They are carried in from outside and created by wood burning fires, smoking, cooking, steam (like from a shower), etc. These tiny particles can travel deep into the respiratory system, causing chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function and higher mortality rates from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease if exposed for extended periods of time. Short term exposure causes coughing, sneezing and worsen conditions like asthma.
Formaldehyde (HCHO): An organic compound that is known to be a human carcinogen. Its most common source in homes is from pressed wood products (like MDF) and new furniture that may have been treated with a coating. It is also found in adhesives fungicide and disinfectant, wood-burning fires, tobacco smoke and cosmetics. Short term exposure can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, while long term exposure has been linked to causing certain types of cancer.
Total Organic Compounds (TVOC): Toxic Gases (Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs) that are emitted from many everyday products like cleaning products and paints. Short term exposure effects include headache, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, pneumonia, etc. Long term exposure affects the central nervous system (headaches and anxiety), cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, impacts on liver function, etc.
Air Quality Index (AQI): A standard for measuring general air quality including Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Particle Matter. Ground level ozone and airborne particles are the greatest threat to human health, more so for those that have health concerns connected to air pollution.
Devices
I was surprised to see that IKEA has a very budget friendly device and immediately bought it! The VINDRIKTNING Air Quality Sensor is just £12!
It has limited capabilities and only detects Particle Matter that measure between 0.1 and 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) and cannot detect gasses or odours. Annoyingly it also doesn’t come with the required power cord (USB-C) and doesn’t have a battery, so you need to provide your own cable and find a socket that can be dedicated to power this device. Still for the price, I thought it was not to be sniffed at (pun intended).
For the price you can expect a no-frills approach and that is what you get. A colour changing light indicating the quality of your air:
Green – Good
Yellow – Fair
Red – Poor
Despite what the IKEA website claims, it does make a slight whirring noise every so often when it is testing the air, so be mindful of that if you plan to put this in a bedroom for example and are sensitive to that kind of thing.
This left me with a dilemma: How do I know it works? If only I had another meter to test the accuracy of this one!
As it turns out air quality meters are expensive! After some searching, I found this: The Temtop M10i.
It was reasonably priced compared to the other options online (I found it here for about £100). It was also limited in terms of what it tested (compared to more expensive devices), but it was perfect for my purposes and comes with great features like Wi-Fi connectivity, an App to interact with your device and the capability to capture and store readings over time and export them so you can follow trends.
The M10i is the real deal however and measures all four of the pollutants I mention above within a large range and with sensitivity (measurement of 0.1ug or pollutant per cubic meter air). It has a laser sensor to measure the Particle Matter and electrochemical sensors to measure toxins and gasses.
It also comes with an option to recalibrate the sensors (for example if it has been stored it away for some time), but be warned that the sensors do have a limited life span of 3 years.
Testing Process and Experiments
The main purpose of the tests were to understand:
How bad the indoor air quality gets in our home during normal activities.
How this changes during activities that we may do infrequently, like cleaning.
How the air quality is influenced by actions to like opening a window, etc.
It made sense to test the air in the two rooms we spend the most time in: The lounge and the bedroom.
I therefore set up the M10i tester in the lounge for a week to collect the readings as we go about our ‘normal’ routines. I also did some experiments of things we may do occasionally to see how the readings are affected. I then repeated this process in our bedroom.
Results
The results were encouraging and concerning at the same time. In the graph below you can see the 4 measures already mentioned that the M10i collected over the two weeks:
Formaldehyde (HCHO) – in blue
Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) - in red
Particle Matter (PM2.5) – in orange
Air Quality Index (AQI) – in green
The corresponding-coloured dotted lines are the levels for those measured considered safe for indoors.
The first noticeable observation is the change midway through the graph (at day 6), this is where I took the device upstairs to collect data from our bedroom. The second half of the graph has higher general readings and a lot more spikes, some well over the safe levels.
I put this down to two factors:
Our bedroom is smaller than our lounge and therefore the pollutants will be more concentrated.
Our bedroom is where we get ready in the mornings, using products known to cause air pollution, like sprays, cosmetics and perfumes.
Still, this is where we spend a lot of our time while sleeping, considering that the levels didn’t seem to reduce back down very fast, at least not to the same levels as the lounge, was quite concerning.
There is something encouraging however.
You can clearly see the spikes in the readings at around 8am every day. This is the time when we usually get ready for work. On days 9, 10 and 11, I opened a window in our bedroom to test the effect this will have on the measures. On these days you can see the levels reduce much quicker. Furthermore, on days 10 and 11 I opened the window while we were getting ready and this reduced the spikes in the readings associated with the chemical pollutants (Formaldehyde and TVOCs).
The other surprising result was a second spike around lunchtime and a third around dinnertime, particularly for those readings related to the Air Quality Index (AQI) and the Particle Matter (PM2.5). You’ve guessed it, that is due to cooking activities. I was very surprised at the readings in the bedroom at these times! I was not expecting for the particles from cooking in the kitchen downstairs to travel all the way up to our bedroom AND affect the air quality quite so much. Again, encouragingly, on the days I had opened our bedroom window, the effects there minimised, compare to the other days.
The surprises kept coming… While the M10i was downstairs in the lounge, I performed the same test by opening a window, to measure the effects.
On days 4 and 5, I opened a window in the lounge and it didn’t quite have the effect I was expecting. Although the readings related to Formaldehyde and TVOCs were lower, the Air Quality Index and Particle Matter readings higher compared to other days. I believe that this is a result of pollutants entering from outside, especially as the spikes seems to coincide with the times when there is more traffic in our area which will result in more airborne particles as well as gases specifically measured by the Air Quality Index (Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide).
How to improve the indoor air quality in your home
No surprises here, the very best thing you can do to improve the indoor air quality in your home is:
Open a window. Multiple times a day!
We should inform ourselves of the things that can impact our home air quality and be mindful to take steps to counter this. Opening a window or using extractor fans will reduce the accumulation and concentration of pollutants, especially while doing the following activities:
Cooking
Using cleaning products
Dusting
Vacuuming
Showering
Using aerosols, scented candles and other air fresheners – these are best avoided altogether
Using personal care products that include artificial scents (like shampoo, soaps and deodorant) – again, avoid if possible
Using a wood-burning stove or fire
Having building work or decorating done
Have new furniture
Open a windows for 5-10 minutes, several times a day to remove these toxins and keep your rooms well ventilated.
You do want to consider the time of day you open your windows, particularly if you suffer from allergies (like hay fever), respiratory illnesses or asthma. You can check current and forecasted AQI in your area (or anywhere in the world) on this website – The World Air Quality Index Project – a non-profit organisation dedicated to measuring and providing air quality information worldwide and making it available to citizens.
Drive Change
The laws are there to protect us and keep harmful chemicals out of consumer products, however although all the products I use are ‘within the legal limits’, I saw first hand the concerning levels of pollution they caused, all while I used them.
Considering that some of these products I will be using longer term (over my life) and that fact that we spend 90% of our time indoors (prolonging our exposure to this pollution once it is generated), there is great value in educating ourselves, minimising using potentially harmful products in our home, asking questions of suppliers and manufacturers to keep them accountable and drive consumer demand for less harmful products.
Here are some key elements to look for and ask suppliers when buying products:
Paints, Varnishes and Adhesives
Use water based paints wherever possible and look out for products that are labelled as containing low VOCs.
Check the wallpaper adhesive label for formaldehyde levels or ask the manufacturer if unsure.
MDF, Particle Board, plywood and Laminate Flooring
Check with the manufacturer prior to buying them that they meet the European standards for Formaldehyde content (and open a window while they are being installed and frequently for a few months after).
Cleaning Products
Choose solids, creams and liquid products, rather than sprays and confirm with the manufacturer that they are fragrance-free and allergy friendly.
New Furniture or Carpets
Especially those made from Particle Board and Laminate (which will also be glued onto the surface), but also new couches will have been treated with a fire retardant coating which will contain high levels of VOCs.
Summary
If your concern is gas and chemicals, open a window and reduce the use of harmful products like paint and cleaning.
If your concern is respiratory suffer from hay fever, open a window during low AQI times for your area and when doing particular things that increase Particle Matter to become airborne like dusting, vacuuming, wood fires, cooking. If still concerned, invest in an air filter.
Links provided throughout my blogs are not affiliated but based on my personal research and what I would use or recommend. Any other products shown are not intended as a recommendation for a specific product, but as examples of what is available and to provide ideas and inspiration.