What are the household items or daily activities that typically result in a spike in particulate matter and volatile organic compounds levels in your home? How do manage these spikes?
*This discussion question was featured on our blog post:
Everything You Need to Know about Indoor Air Quality
Episode 1 - Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds
Heat vents don’t have the best filter.
Cooking - oil particulates
Dust in the carpets
I think it’s my carpet as it’s hard to vacuum and clean. And spikes from my cooking as I cook everyday.
I have 3 cats - I have no idea if they create air pollution, but they shed a lot and the fur sticks to all kinds of surfaces.
Cooking bacon, hands down. Mind you, this only happens once a week, but every time it does…there’s a crazy spike. I love bacon and don’t want to stop eating it so part of me doesn’t want to know that it’s a detriment to my indoor air quality haha. But at the very least, now that I know, I try to remember to turn my hood fan on and open up a few windows.
Cleaning our hood fan is something that I’ve been putting off as well…
I accidentally deleted my post when I tried to reply to @Timothy457 !
Here’s the original post:
Oh man, it’s crazy. Every time I cook, the app tells me I have a spike in the filtration/particle category. Since getting HAVEN, I’ve learned to cook with my range hood on all the time but think it might need cleaning. It definitely draws some of the smoke and steam out, but not enough to make a big difference. Windows always fog up too during cooking. I think I need to get someone in to check out the fan.
Possibly my dog. I have a husky and man, his fur is everywhere (not that I’m complaining, he is adorable). And also, there is a construction nearby my place, I think it’s part of the reason why the particle in my air is quite high recently.
Oh gosh, where to start?!?! Cooking is definitely a big one for me since I cook at least once a day. I keep my fans on but it’s been too cold to open a window for longer than 10 minutes, don’t want all my heat to disappear!
I got a new mattress a few weeks ago and noticed how…chemically it smelt for the first night. I tried laying on it then decided not to, the smell was way too distracting (I clearly didn’t know anything about VOCs). Good thing I didn’t haha, a friend told me that if I can smell the chemicals, it means it’s still there! Anyways, the smell went away and now, I can enjoy my brand new mattress 
the reason i think i need this is that ive had the Awair monitor on one side of my living room for a while. i live in a condo, so pretty condensed spot, kitchen is right across. the monitor show i have good air all the time - kind of hard to believe with what ive seen about cooking and cleaning. i want something that will give it to me straight.
I am concerned about my garage - it’s where I spend most of my time, but I have my Monitor installed in the house. Should I get a room monitor for the garage?
@Ricky_Bobby what are you doing in your garage for so much time? have a workshop out there or something?
