#air quality

Airthings inside, IQAir and AirNow outside. Windows stay open until AQI crosses moderate — with extra caution when PM2.5 rather than PM10 is what's driving the number.

Continuous monitoring rather than a one-time test kit. The current reading is 1.3 pCi/L — well under the EPA action level, so no mitigation is warranted here.

A mold-resistant humidifier for the winter dry-air stretch. High desert winters pull indoor humidity well below comfortable, and the humidifier itself is the thing most likely to cause a problem.

The furnace fan run deliberately rather than only when it heats or cools, with a MERV 13 filter in the return. It is the one thing in the house that touches every cubic foot of air.

Open the house wide for 15+ minutes a day, every day, summer and winter, to flush stale air, drop CO2, and keep humidity below the line where mold starts. Measured before and after with an Airthings monitor.

The little device that showed me my bedroom air was wrecking my sleep. Now I won't sleep without checking it.

I used to wake up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck.