IAQTexas

Improving indoor air quality, comfort and home efficiency using automated sealing technology for the building envelope and ductwork.

04/04/2025

There’s a small group of original AeroBarrier dealers who took a chance on a brand-new technology and helped kickstart an industry. We went through the ups and downs together—figuring things out as we went, making mistakes, learning fast, and pushing forward. That shared experience really brought us together and helped create strong businesses. I’m super grateful for the support, advice, and friendships that have come out of it.

Forever grateful to Ian .aerobarrier for his creative genius. His videos are the best.

05/07/2024

Attending (and sponsoring) the Humid Climate Conference this week. So many great speakers on so many different topics all centered around transitions in building in humid climates.

04/18/2024

This is grey Mylar flex, commonly installed in the 1980’s. Its R value is R3.2 (when new and installed well). This is less than half of current code (R-8) in hot humid climates, the reason for additional insulation is not for energy efficiency, it’s to prevent condensation on the ductwork in the attic. If the insulation were installed here, this would drip into the porous insulation and stay wet for a longer time. Note the darker staining where it is currently wet, and the black staining (mold) on the sheetrock from when the insulation was installed. Try as we might, it is very challenging to completely air seal an attic where that moldy air can’t get into the living space.

04/13/2024

We are sealing some ductwork in a government building over the weekend. This was a sign in the bathroom. So great to see that this educational message is being put out there in simple terms. These aerosols contain “Fragrance”. Which, for the manufacture can be any chemical they want and they don’t have to disclose what it is. Most of these fragrances are endocrine system disrupting chemicals. Your endocrine system controls a lot of your bodily functions: mood, energy, hormone regulation, etc. That means that these fragrances can have an impact health as well as quality of life. And what’s more, how would you ever know that it’s your air freshener causing your headaches, or contributing to weight gain, or your poor sleep, there are so many other valid reasons for those things. Smells should be removed, not disguised.

11/24/2023

I shot another video with and recently about the importance of ventilation. If you are on the fence about ERVs this video may be helpful. Link in bio.

09/20/2023

This ductwork is less than 18 months old and moldy, both on the inside and the outside. Building science is the study of the system of interrelated systems that make up a home/building. While you can optimize those systems to achieve great IAQ, those same systems can also work against you. In this case all the systems led to this mold: poorly installed spray foam, duct leakage, undersized ductwork, oversized A/C, zoned system with a bypass duct, and outdoor air ventilation into the return.

09/09/2023

Wrapping up some continuing education at the NADCA Fall Tech Conference. Lots of hands on classes on how to clean. For anyone who has ductless mini splits, as you can see from the picture, they need to be cleaned frequently, in part due to the lack of filtration they provide.

05/03/2023

This week is Indoor Air Quality Awareness Week and I wanted to post about some recent experiences with multiple clients lately. I have had multiple clients tell me that their HVAC company told them that if they added a “UV light” to their plenum and maybe replaced their supply plenum that the mold will “go away”. Two of these HVAC companies claim to be “indoor air quality experts”. It is important that consumers understand that HVAC companies are often times not IAQ experts and don’t really understand what is happening in your home and how electronic air purification really works. It is sad to see this information spread by “Trusted Experts”.

Fiberglass is a respiratory irritant that can be cancer causing. Leaving loose fiberglass in the airstream is bad for air quality as it can easily become airborne. The first picture is an example of this. Not only can the fiberglass become airborne, but also these extra porous chunks are more susceptible to holding moisture and getting moldy. Ductboard in general is a sponge for dirt and moisture, metal supply plenums are much better.

Electronic air purification isn’t going to fix the excessive moisture in the ductwork or in the home, so this is at best a band-aide solution, but rarely I see them have any impact at all. Most of the time I see UV lights in ductbaord, which degrade the binders in the fiberglass causing chemical offgasing and the fiberglass to become airborne. The second and third pictures are examples of this where the ductboard has turned white. Aside from that, electronic air purification is designed to alter the air chemistry in the home this inherently causing incomplete reactions and chemical byproducts. Loads of studies have been done on this to show the damage these devices can cause, I have studies for each technology: hydroxyl radical, ionization, bipolar ionization, UV, etc. so PM me if you would like those studies to read for yourself. Bottom line is: don’t do indoor air chemistry in your home and don’t use these electronic “Air Purification” technologies. Also, try to have a consultant in your home that cares about IAQ and doesn’t have some agenda like selling you a quick fix that suits them.

01/02/2023

Bill Gates recently mentioned Aeroseal and Aerobarrier in an article about planning for the future. In the clean energy section he spoke about how much energy is wasted in buildings, contributing to 14% of all greenhouse gasses. He said that Aeroseal and Aerobarrier are an ingenious solution to a mundane problem. I’m very grateful to be apart of the solution and we hope to really ramp up our seals in 2023. See the link tree in my bio for the link to the article.

11/04/2022

It took a while, but we just got our custom license plates for our work trucks. Next year is going to be really busy for both of them. Lots of multi-family Aerobarrier projects in the works.

While seems to be a lesser known acronym, I hope more people become aware of how important it really is.

08/29/2022

FACT or MYTH?
“The reason why there is mold growing in my ductwork is because my UV light stopped working.”

Answer: MYTH!
1) Ultra violet light works primarily through line-of-site. This means the UV-C light needs to shine on the surface in order to damage the DNA and RNA of microorganisms to prevent mold buildup. This means that even if your light was working, it is impossible to shine a light through the entire duct system. Another common misconception is that the UV light will clean the air passing by it. Often, that air is moving by too fast for the UV light to have enough time with the contaminant to deactivate it.

2) That same light can also degrade the binders in internally insulated ductwork, causing the fibers to come loose and chemical off-gassing.

3) In addition to that, mold is caused by surfaces being wet for too long and not being able to dry out. The dust or dirt in the air and in the duct system already, accelerate this process.

FACT: You have a mold issue due to a water issue. Either you need to warm up the surfaces, so that there is less condensation, or reduce the humidity, thus reducing the amount water in the air. In our hot/humid climate, we need to use a slower fan speed, so the coil gets and stays cold and can remove more moisture from the air. The problem is that with too much humidity in the air all of those surfaces stay wet making the perfect environment for mold growth, with or without a UV light. The answer to a mold problem isn’t a UV light, its often: source control, like duct sealing, enclsoure sealing, and also a dehumidifier.

Address

Austin, TX

Telephone

+15128504479

Website

http://www.iaqtexas.com/

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