A sniffle here and there is one thing, but consistent coughing and weak wheezes are another.

That is, if you’re finding it more difficult to breathe easily in your home — be it due to respiratory symptoms or an unpleasant odor — there just might be something more going on behind the scenes.

Or, more specifically, in your air ducts.

How Your Home Breathes

Your air ducts throughout your home serve as a highway for transporting air from your HVAC system to your vents. Whether you’re heating or cooling your air, it will eventually pass through these ducts — making it integral that they remain clean.

After all, if the ducts are dirty, then you are more likely to be exposed to contaminants throughout your home.

“Dirty ducts may be contributing to larger health issues or be harboring contaminants that could cause serious problems for those with respiratory health conditions, autoimmune disorders or some environmental allergies,” according to the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NACDA).

And one of the more serious contaminants that may infiltrate your air ducts? Mold spores.

Tips, Tricks, and Tell-Tale Signs

If you’re not sure whether or not mold may be present in your air ducts, there are a few tell-tale signs you may want to consider.

Try asking yourself some of the following questions:

• Does the air carry a musty, mildewy odor throughout your home?
• Have you experienced an increase in indoor humidity/moisture?
• Is there visible discoloration within your air ducts when you look inside?
• Have you noticed new or exacerbated allergy and/or respiratory symptoms in your family?

If you’ve answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, you may have mold. But remember: it’s important never to attempt to clean it out by yourself.

This is because “duct cleaning should be undertaken only after the source of the contaminant has been identified and controlled,” the National Institutes of Health’s Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS) explains. “Otherwise, the problem will not go away. For instance, the water source causing mold growth must be identified and controlled or duct cleaning will be only a temporary fix.”

Mold? Meet Your Match.

Last but not least, we cannot stress enough that, regardless of what you see or smell, you’re not going to know for a fact that mold is proliferating throughout your air ducts.

“You should be aware that although a substance may look like mold, a positive determination of whether it is mold or not can be made only by an expert and may require laboratory analysis for final confirmation,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns. “

Thus, Luce Air Quality is here to help provide you with solutions you trust!

During our mold investigations, we will determine:

• Whether mold growth is present
• How much mold growth is present
• Why mold growth is present
• The best course of action to tackle the problem and mitigate future growth

So, are you ready to breathe a healthy sigh of relief? If so, it’s time to schedule with Luce Air Quality! Contact your local indoor environmental experts today by calling 904-803-1014.