Crawl Space, Air Ducts, Attic, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Air Quality.

Air, Moisture, Mold, and Energy Loss

Indoor Environmental Systems, Inc. can assess your crawl space, air ducts, attic, and exterior.

We look at six major issues:

• • Air leakage
  • Filtration
  • Insulation
  • Moisture
  • Mold
  • Ventilation

Using infrared cameras we can show you areas where there is air leakage, lack of insulation and water damage.

There are many variables affecting energy efficiency and indoor air quality (IAQ). The goal of our inspection is to discover the location of the issues and its condition. Once your building has been assessed, we use our 20 years of experience in building science to advise you on where to start.

Knowing where to start is valuable in helping you get the quickest return on your investment. For example, air duct cleaning alone does little good if the air ducts leak and there are inefficient air filters.

Level One Assessment – Assess One Area of the Home

For this inspection, we assess only one area of your home. This inspection would include one of the following:

• Crawl Space
  • Moisture, Mold, Insulation and Air Ducts
• Attic
  • Air leaks, Insulation Levels and Energy Efficiency
• Air Ducts
  • Air Leaks, Mold and Insulation

Level Two Assessment – Assess Multiple Areas:  Whole House Assessment

For a Level Two Assessment, we inspect multiple areas in the house:

Crawl spaces are inspected for moisture, mold, and insect issues. If needed a quote for remediation is provided. We look for rain water intrusion, hydrostatic pressure, black mold, damaged insulation, radon entry points, insects and condensation. When necessary, properly sealing crawl spaces will improve your air quality and reduce your utility costs.

Air Ducts are assessed for, mold, debris, air leaks, condensation, debris, filtration, ventilation, humidification, insulation and energy efficiency. Each air distribution system is unique and may require specific techniques and equipment for cleaning. Not all air ducts can be cleaned. In climates which both heat and cool the cost of energy may be 50% of their utility bill, so having a clean, sealed efficient system is very beneficial.

Attics we look for air leakage, insulation amounts and condition, moisture, mold, insets, rodents and bats.  Attics play a crucial role in your homes comfort, health, and energy efficiency. A hot attic will transfer its heat into your living area and may allow pollen, insects, fiberglass, and carcinogenic formaldehyde to enter your living space.

Exterior siding is inspected for its paint condition, water damage, and mold. The “skin” of your home is your first defense against water, heat and cold, therefore it’s cost effective to keep it in great condition. We offer thermal paints which provide significant insulation properties and last as long as you own your home.

Testing, when requested we can test for Mold, Moisture Levels, Radon, Lead, Asbestos, and Formaldehyde. They are hazardous substance that you should know about if in your home. Testing can be done using Infrared cameras, duct blaster, and air, surface, and bulk samplings (price not included).

Stack Effect is of special concern. Stack Effect happens when warm air rises and leaves through holes at the top- half of the building (through attic floor holes). Air leaving the top of the building causes air from the lower half (especially crawlspace’s and underground parking areas) to be drawn into the building. Pulling radon, mold, moisture, and pesticides into your home is not good and can be easily prevented.

Indoor Air Quality Tests

Common indoor air quality tests include:

• Air Sampling: Air samples are can be utilized to evaluate indoor environments for a variety of potential contaminants including mold and bacteria.
• Dust Collection: provides a historical view or can be used to show effectiveness of the remediation. It’s common to find mold spores, pollen, insect parts, skin fragments, dust mites, cockroach and cat allergens in dust.
• Monitoring: Our air monitors can be placed in your building which record data during the day and download at night for viewing on our website the next day. The monitors can detect temperature, humidity, Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide, VOC and particulates. This provides a wealth of information about how your building is performing when occupied.
• Swab Analysis: Swabbing a surface is an effective way to sample surfaces for mold, bacteria, and lead.
• Tape Lift Analysis: Tape lifts are also good for surface sampling. The exception from a swab sample is the microbes sampled cannot be transferred to a Petri dish for growing.