Carbon Dioxide Home Monitoring

Carbon dioxide in-home monitoring is becoming a growing concern for many at home and the office. A carbon dioxide inspection conducted by a certified home inspector can lay your mind at ease or offer suggestions to lower the levels of carbon dioxide in the home.

What is carbon dioxide gas in the home?

Carbon dioxide in the home, or CO2, is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless gas that is naturally emitted by plants, animals and humans during respiration and fermentation. Unfortunately, it is also a "greenhouse" gas that is produced by many of the things humans due such as by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide in the home is considered very toxic at higher levels.

How would carbon dioxide get into my home or office?

Carbon dioxide in the home is a gas and can thus seep in through doors and windows. However, the CO2 levels outside are not actually considered to be dangerous to humans (yet) carbon dioxide in the home or office can often prove to be different. Once carbon dioxide in the home gets into such a sealed environment it becomes trapped and cannot dissipate. Therefore, the levels of carbon dioxide in the home or office are in much higher concentrations then they are outside. Another problem of carbon dioxide in the home or office is because it is manufactured there. One of the ways that carbon dioxide in the home gas comes into existence is by respiration. When humans and animals breathe out or exhale, they are releasing carbon dioxide into the air. An office building with several thousand employees and windows that do not open can build up problematic levels of carbon dioxide gas.

What are the risks of carbon dioxide gas in the home?

Too much carbon dioxide in the home or office can actually poison people and animals. The reactions to high levels of carbon dioxide gas can be a subtle as muscle twitching to death by asphyxiation. In a mild case of carbon dioxide poisoning, the symptoms may be dismissed as fatigue. Symptoms such as muscle twitching, flushed skin, reduced thought processes or neural activity and high blood pressure are all caused by carbon dioxide poisoning. But since the symptoms are so mild, it would take a blood test or a carbon dioxide inspection to look for it. Severe carbon dioxide poisoning start out with the above listed mild symptoms but escalate over time to kill you.

How do I guard against carbon dioxide in the home or office?

One way to guard against carbon dioxide in the home or office is to have a carbon dioxide inspection done. A carbon dioxide inspection consists of a home inspector taking readings of the levels of carbon dioxide in home or office to see if the levels are elevated. If levels are elevated, the home inspector will be able to tell you how, through a carbon dioxide inspection, to flush it out to bring the levels to a safe concentration.