Professional Air Quality Testing in Durham, NC

Probably more than you want to know about. The average home contains a mix of dust mites, mold spores, pet dander, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and potentially dangerous particles that you can't see or smell. Professional air quality testing gives you hard numbers on exactly what's floating through your house and whether any of it is at levels that affect your health.

Guessing doesn't work with air quality. A $30 hardware store test kit tells you almost nothing useful. Professional testing measures specific pollutant concentrations and compares them to established safety thresholds, so you walk away knowing precisely what needs to be addressed.

What Professional Testing Actually Measures

Our testing covers the contaminants that matter most for Triangle-area homes:

Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) — fine dust, pollen, and combustion particles. These are the ones that trigger allergy and asthma symptoms. NC's heavy pollen seasons mean Triangle homes often test high for particulate matter even with the windows closed.

Mold spore counts — both airborne counts and surface sampling when needed. The Triangle's humidity creates prime conditions for mold growth in crawl spaces, attic ductwork, and anywhere condensation forms. A home can have an active mold problem behind walls or in ductwork without any visible signs.

VOCs (volatile organic compounds) — off-gassing from paint, flooring, cabinets, cleaning products, and building materials. New construction and recent renovations in the Raleigh-Durham area are a common source. That "new house smell" is actually a cocktail of formaldehyde, benzene, and other chemicals.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide levels — CO is the obvious danger, but elevated CO2 indicates poor ventilation, which traps every other pollutant inside.

Humidity levels — too high promotes mold and dust mites, too low causes respiratory irritation. The sweet spot is 30 to 50 percent, and Triangle homes frequently run above 60 percent in summer without proper dehumidification.

Radon — NC has moderate radon potential, and certain areas of Wake County test above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer and has zero symptoms until it's far too late.

Who Should Get Their Air Tested

Some situations make testing especially important.

You just moved into a home. You have no idea what the previous owners did or didn't maintain. Older homes built before 1980 in the Triangle may contain asbestos in insulation, floor tiles, or duct wrap. Testing establishes a baseline so you know what you're breathing from day one.

Someone in the household has unexplained symptoms. Persistent coughing, headaches that go away when you leave the house, worsening allergy symptoms, or a musty smell that you can't locate. These are textbook signs of an indoor air quality problem.

You recently renovated. New flooring, paint, and cabinetry release VOCs for weeks to months. Testing tells you whether concentrations have dropped to safe levels or whether you need active ventilation to speed up the process.

You have a crawl space. In the Triangle, crawl spaces are humidity magnets. Moisture rises into the living space carrying mold spores and musty odors. Testing quantifies how much is getting through.

You've never tested. If you've lived in your home more than five years and never had the air tested, you simply don't know what you're breathing. That's not a scare tactic. It's just a fact.

How the Testing Process Works

The appointment takes about an hour for a standard home. Our tech places sampling equipment in the main living areas, bedrooms, and near the HVAC return to capture what the system is circulating. We also test the outdoor air for comparison — this is critical because it shows you whether your home is filtering outdoor pollutants effectively or making them worse.

Samples get processed and you get same-day results for most measurements. We sit down with you and go through every number, explaining what's elevated, what's normal, and what actions (if any) make sense.

What Happens After Testing

If everything comes back clean, we tell you and leave it at that. No invented problems.

If we find issues, we recommend specific solutions based on what the data says. High particulate matter might mean a filter upgrade. Elevated mold spores could point to a ductwork cleaning or a humidity issue in the crawl space. High VOCs might require better ventilation or an air purification system.

We serve Apex, Cary, Raleigh, Durham, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina with professional air quality testing that gives you real data, not guesswork. Element Service Group is veteran-owned with over 700 five-star reviews, and our techs give you straight answers about what they find. Schedule your professional air quality test and find out what's actually in the air your family is breathing.