What does a home air quality test actually find? At HOI Property Services in Peoria, I pull timed air samples from the rooms you live in, send them to PriorityLab, and get back a particle-by-particle account of what is floating in your home's air — results are typically back in 24 hours. Two recent tests show why that is worth knowing: one caught high levels of pet dander for a new homebuyer, and one traced a homeowner's allergy flare-ups to leftover renovation dust.
How the Test Works
I collect air samples in the rooms that matter — living areas, kitchen, basement — plus one sample outside. The outdoor sample is the baseline: it tells the lab what is normal for your area's air that day, so anything elevated indoors stands out immediately. The samples go to PriorityLab for detailed particle identification, where an analyst identifies and counts every particle type in each sample.
How to Read the Report
The sample report above shows the format. Down the left side is every particle type the lab identified — skin cells, cotton and synthetic fibers, soot, pollen, minerals, fiberglass, and more. For each room sampled, you get three numbers.
Raw count: how many of that particle the analyst actually counted in the sample.
Particles per cubic meter: the concentration in the air. This is the number that lets you compare one room against another, and every room against outside.
Percent of total: how much of a room's airborne load is that one particle type. When a single particle dominates a room, that is usually the story of the house.
On top of the numbers, PriorityLab adds qualitative indicators to the samples — markers like “normal” or “problem” — so you are not left guessing whether a count matters. And I walk through the results with every client, clearly and concisely, so you know what the report means for your home before you make any decisions.
Two Recent Finds
Pet dander for a new homebuyer: one recent test came back with high levels of pet dander for a client buying a home. You cannot see dander on a walkthrough, and a freshly cleaned house will not tell you what is still circulating in the air. For a buyer — especially one with allergies in the household — that is information you want before move-in, not after.
Renovation dust behind allergy symptoms: another homeowner had just finished a renovation and was dealing with allergy issues. Their samples showed high levels of minerals, dust, and gypsum in the air — and gypsum is drywall. The numbers pointed straight at construction dust still circulating after the work wrapped up, which gave the homeowner a specific target to address instead of a mystery.
When a Test Makes Sense
Before you buy: air quality testing can be added to a home inspection, so you learn what you are breathing along with everything else about the house.
After a renovation: construction dust does not always settle when the contractors leave, as the case above shows.
Unexplained symptoms at home: if allergies or respiratory irritation act up in the house but ease when you leave, a particle count turns guesswork into data.
Alongside mold testing: particle identification and mold evaluation cover different questions about the same air. I hold the IAC2 indoor-air-quality certification and recently added the NORMI Certified IAQ/Mold Inspector credential — I wrote about what that training covers if you want the details.
Want to Know What Is in Your Air?
If any of those situations sounds like yours, I am happy to talk through whether air quality testing makes sense for your home. Schedule online or call (309) 712-4189 — Monday through Saturday, serving 20 counties across Central, Northern, and Western Illinois.
