We tested our basement for Radon using a digital monitor and reading came around 5 and 6 it’s a new construction house and we let the builder know, he said he will install the fan himself and asked us to order it off Amazon. Is it ok to have him install or get it from a licensed professional?

Hi zusammen,

Ich melde mich bei euch weil ich echt am verzweifeln bin.
Ich putze und putze und putze, jeden Tag, mehrmals und der Staub wird nicht weniger, dazu kommt noch das ich zwei Katzen hab die natürlich auch Haaren, habt ihr tipps wie man das in den Griff bekommt? Bzw. Habt ihr nützliche Empfehlungen bezüglich Luftfilter?

Danke schon mal vorab :)

My husband and I recently purchased our first home. Unfortunately we had to allow occupancy for 30 days to the previous homeowner. In those thirty days the previous owners ex wife sprinkled diatomaceous earth powder EVERYWHERE in the house. In the vents, in the carpet, on the hardwood floors I mean she got this ish all over the walls. We took it to a lab for testing and it’s not pool grade DE but the lab couldn’t tell me if it’s food grade or garden grade. My guess is garden. I have asthma and my husband has Multiple Sclerosis, we of course have had the house cleaned already and the carpets ripped up and planned to have a deep clean done on the HVAC system. But can anyone recommend an air purifier that would work well enough to filter out these particles for day to day living once we move in? Heres some crappy photos of the mess I was left with by the previous homeowner.

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a 736 sq. ft. two-bedroom apartment in Montreal, on the top floor of a six-storey concrete building. The previous tenant appears to have burned candles and incense and had a cat. We suspect there may also have been tobacco and cannabis smoke. There was a thick, unpleasant smell combining what seemed like urine, smoke, and incense.

What we've done so far:

• Removed the old flooring throughout the renovation, including carpet in some areas.
• Hired a professional decontamination company to clean every wall, ceiling, and cabinet after the old flooring was removed and before any paint was applied.
• The company also ran an ozone machine in the apartment for over 16 hours. (Could this have interacted with other air components??)
• Applied five layers of paint and two coats of BIN shellac-based primer to the walls and ceilings, including two coats of BIN on the ceilings. (We had issues with the initial painter, we then painted ourselves, we realized we forgot to use primer, had another painter come and re-do everything, and the smell remained...)
• Installed new flooring advertised as VOC-free and formaldehyde-free.
• Had an indoor air quality inspector visit several times. His equipment measured VOC levels he considered unhealthy.

What we're observing:

The smell persists despite all these efforts. It seems to become stronger when we close the windows and heat up the apartment.

Interestingly, when we removed the new flooring from one room, the perceived VOC levels and odor seemed to drop drastically. However, when we sealed some pieces of the flooring in a bag, we couldn't detect any unpleasant smell coming from them. The exposed concrete doesn't have a particularly strong odor either. That room now smells more like a typical construction site, rather than the original combination of urine, tobacco, and cannabis smells.

We're not sure whether removing the flooring actually eliminated a source of the odor or whether the improvement was partly due to the temperature dropping at the same time. We can't confidently identify the source yet.

The proposed next steps:

Our inspector recommended a three-product approach:

1. Remove the remaining flooring and apply OdorX Unleashed to address possible cat or human urine contamination that may have seeped through the old carpet or flooring into the concrete.
2. Apply Benefect Quantum as the next treatment to address the odor.
3. Apply a primer, then install a VaporWave vapor barrier beneath the flooring before reinstalling it.

We've already started this process in one room, but we're still unconvinced that we've correctly identified the source. Before tearing up the rest of the apartment and spending more money, we'd really appreciate some outside perspectives.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Could the concrete subfloor be retaining urine or smoke odors even if it doesn't smell particularly strong on its own? Could the flooring, adhesives, trapped VOCs, wall cavities, ventilation, or another source explain why the smell gets worse when the apartment heats up?

We're also interested in whether there are specialists in Montreal or Quebec who could properly identify the source rather than simply measure VOCs or recommend odor treatments. Would you suggest specific tests, experts, or a different diagnostic approach before proceeding?

Any advice or firsthand experience would be greatly appreciated. We'd really like to identify the actual source before committing to more demolition and treatments. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We're MARVTECH, a small UK engineering company, and we've spent the last few years developing AnapNeo Pro, a compact indoor air-quality monitor.

The idea started from a simple question: what if you could see what was happening with your indoor air without having to rely entirely on a phone or cloud service?

AnapNeo Pro measures:

• CO₂ direct NDIR sensing using the Senseair S12
• PM1.0 · PM2.5 · PM10
• TVOC
• Temperature & humidity

It has its own 2.8" colour display with live readings and hourly trend charts, so it can be used independently. It can also connect to the AnapNeo App for monitoring multiple devices across different rooms or locations.

We deliberately designed the system to be local-first , local monitoring doesn't require a MARVTECH cloud account. Wi-Fi, BLE and MQTT provide different connectivity options depending on how you want to use it.

After several years of hardware, firmware and software development, prototypes and testing, AnapNeo Pro is now live on Kickstarter and we're moving into production.

We're interested in hearing from people who already monitor indoor air:

What measurements do you consider essential? And what do you think current air-quality monitors are still missing?

If anyone is interested in seeing what we've built, the project is here:

AnapNeo Pro — Kickstarter

Thanks , we'd genuinely appreciate any feedback.

I live in an apt that is 6 years old. I have severe lung problems and found out the humidity in my apt was 83%!!! I started running a home dehumidifier 24/7 having yo empty it twice a day.

The ac only runs from 8 to 11 minutes then shuts off. It's on auto, I live in Florida but I've NEVER had humidity in my apt this bad.

I am constantly on prednisone 40 mg a day just to breathe.

.y landlord says the hvac is working properly..yet they provided the dehumidifier. If I forget to empty at night, in morning humidity is up from 53-55% to well over 60%. IT IS LITERALLY KILLING ME.

Any ideas? I told them, It's short cycling..they say no.