Dust in residential air consists of tiny particles ranging in sizes from 0.01 microns to 100 microns. They are so tiny and so light that almost never settle and can stay suspended in the air for days and weeks. When we inhale the dust our body adsorbs viruses, bacteria, mold spores, and various chemicals from the dust particles, making us sick or causing allergic reactions. The smallest particles are the most dangerous as they travel deep into lungs and rapidly absorbed by aveoles. Large particles of dust are less harmful mostly because they are trapped in a nasal cavity and naturally flashed out.
When scientists need to explain that they are testing “fine” dust with particles from 0 to 2.5 microns, they call this fraction PM2.5. The coarser fraction with particles from 0 to 10 microns is called PM10, and all particles from the smallest to largest is called “total dust” or “inhalable dust”. As we discussed earlier, it is important to know how much of Total Dust is in the air of your room, but even more important is to know how small or how big the particles are.
LCS Laboratory offers an air sampling kit for testing of concentration of Total Dust, PM10, and PM2.5 in residential air. If you think that your house is too dusty, you can easily check it using our professional-grade sampling kit.
Sampling Kit. Your sampling kit includes one air sampling pump, several cassettes to capture dust from the air (one cassette should be used to collect air dust from one room), sampling instruction, and a request form. The sampling procedure is quite straightforward and does not require previous training and can be seen here. We recommend 3-hour sampling to achieve the best sensitivity. The procedure is based on the methodology developed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, USA) #0500 and can detect as little as 30 μg/m³ of dust.
Laboratory Analysis. Our laboratory is specialized in professional air monitoring and laboratory services to the industry and the public. We are the first and only company in the US and Canada, who offers this test to homeowners to monitor the quality of residential air. The samples that you collect must be returned back to our laboratory for analysis. We analyze your samples and report you amount of dust found inside the cassette and the concentration of dust in the air of your house. The cost of laboratory analysis and report are included in the cost of the sampling kit.
Understand your Laboratory Report. Generally speaking, the concentration of dust inside the house should be as low as possible and lesser than the outdoor level. For the lack of better references, we believe that a standard for the ambient clean air of 120 μg/m³ – Ambient Air Quality Criteria (Ontario, 2012), can be used as a guide on what concentration of dust is acceptable in residential air. Acceptable limits for PM 10 and PM 2.5 can be found in LEED regulation. In other words, as long as the concentrations of dust fractions are below the following limits, it is unlikely that you will experience an adverse reaction on dust.
- Total Dust: 120 μg/m³ – Ambient Air Quality Criteria (Ontario, 2012)
- PM10: 50 μg/m³ – LEED standard for new buildings (2017)
- PM 2.5: 15 μg/m³ – LEED standard for new buildings (2017)
We’d like to assist you with testing the quality of air in your house. Please email us if you have any questions or would like to order the DIY kit. Estimated cost of testing of 3 rooms is $310 + taxes and shipping.
About our Laboratory. LCS Laboratory Inc. is a professional testing laboratory located in London, Ontario, Canada. We have been working in this area for 20+ years and deliver you only the best quality service. Many services, including this test Kit, are unique to our lab and cannot be found anywhere else.
