VOCs, mold, asbestos, radon, carbon monoxide, and lead can pose serious health threats

Americans spend a lot of our time indoors—up to 90 percent of it, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

But while the quality of our outdoor air has improved over the past few decades, thanks to environmental legislation, indoor air quality hasn’t received the same attention and, arguably, has become worse over the same time, experts say. In fact, the concentration of air pollutants in your home can be two to five times higher than what’s typically found outdoors, according to the EPA.

That’s partly because advancements in the ways homes are constructed have made them better sealed than they were just a few decades ago. As a result, less fresh air seeps in from outside, making indoor air concerns—from long-known issues such as radon, asbestos, and carbon monoxide—potentially even more problematic. In addition, more frequent environmental disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, mean more people are confronting the dangers of mold, which lurks in moist places and can spread through a home’s air ducts.

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