Indoor Air Quality

ProCon has extensive experience performing Indoor Air Quality Studies and engineering and design services in order to prevent any Indoor Air Quality problems from occurring in the first place and resolving Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Problems caused by others.

ProCon's engineering professionals are familiar with, and sensitive to, indoor air quality issues and the close connection between proper HVAC system design, energy-efficiency and building occupant satisfaction with their indoor environment.  We are knowledgeable with regard to common causal agents and system deficiencies, and keep abreast of the latest design standards and technologies to ensure optimum system performance.

ProCon advocates a proactive approach to our clients, due to the often volatile nature of indoor air quality issues and the increasingly real potential for associated financial liability.  IAQ crisis situations can often be avoided if building owners take steps to identify possible problem areas and correct obvious deficiencies before IAQ complaints occur.  Proactive building/HVAC system inspections are a relatively inexpensive step towards avoiding IAQ problems.

Experience demonstrates that, in many cases, building owners who experience IAQ problems “should have seen it coming”.  Major contributing factors relative to IAQ problems are obvious to the naked eye, if you know what to look for.  Obvious signs of dampness, visible mold or microbial growth, and dirty HVAC components are easy to spot.  Although HVAC-related deficiencies aren’t always the primary culprit, inadequately designed, improperly functioning, and/or poorly maintained HVAC systems are often a significant contributing factor when IAQ complaints arise.  It is clear that HVAC systems must be designed, constructed, and maintained with a conscious focus on IAQ impact.

In the event of an IAQ complaint, air sampling for contaminants is often considered the first course of action. ProCon suggests that air sampling at the outset of an indoor air quality investigation may not be necessary to identify major causal agents, and may only serve to document the extent of contamination at the worst possible moment.  With this in mind, an immediate round of environmental sampling may not be in the building owner’s best interest.  It is ProCon's position that obvious problem areas should be identified and remediate before any air sampling or microbial cultures are considered.  This approach is intended to document only the absence of significant contaminant concentrations.