I've been a homeowner for about two years now. I resisted it for awhile because shows like Holmes Inspection and horror stories from friends who had joined the club made me very reluctant to hop on the homeowner train. Friends would get a "great deal" on a home only to be forced to drop thousands of dollars in the first few months on leaky basements, broken furnaces, roof repairs and hot water tanks. But when we saw our home, after over a year of looking, it had everything we were looking for.

Sure, there were some red flags. The roof is flat which is prone to standing water. Most of the wiring was knob and tube and would need to be replaced. But we were as responsible as one could possibly be when buying a home and did everything we could (short of opening up the walls) to ensure we knew exactly what we were getting into.

We were lucky. We'd been in our 100+ year old house for over a year and no problems had popped up. We grew very attached to our house which was now becoming a home. But, like a relationship, you have to live with your home for a while to discover the truth. Less than two years of being in our home I started to get severe allergies, waking up several times every night sneezing and congested and having trouble breathing. Allergy meds weren't enough and I resorted to sleeping on our couch where I could, for some reason, breathe a bit easier. We tried everything; removed our duvet because I was allergic to down, removed the plants in the bedroom, cleaned like mad and bought a portable HEPA air filter. Each step lessened my reactions but my allergies weren't going away.

As the lack of sleep and frustration took its toll, moving started to look like the only option. But I wasn't willing to give up on our beloved home without doing everything I could to fix the issue. An indoor air quality inspection was step one to isolating the problem and, as I learned from the experience, something every homeowner should do.

The key to having an indoor air quality inspection is to find a service that does it for free. Sears Home Services was our choice. Like doctors for your home, their technicians came in and did a series of tests and left us with some recommendations.

The most common problem Sears Home Services technicians see is dirty duct work and having them cleaned is the first, and often only, recommendation they will make. They were very pleased to see that ours were clean. Many homeowners will install humidifiers and filters or even new furnaces without having their ducts properly cleaned. The technicians describe this as having bad arteries and replacing your heart. They were also happy to hear that we change our furnace filter every three months. So far, so good.

The second thing they looked at was the humidity level in the home. The ideal humidity level is around 35 per cent in the winter and 50 per cent in the summer. This plays a big part in the type and number of particles thriving in the house including viruses, dust mites and mold and can be controlled by installing a humidifier and/or high efficiency fan blower in the furnace.

The last thing they assessed was the comfort level of the home, including the temperature in each room as well as particle count. A room that is significantly colder or warmer than the rest can tell the technicians a lot about how the arteries of the home are working. But it was the particle count test that blew my mind.

Since my allergies are worst at night, we ran a particle test in my bedroom. A fancy little device that reminded me of the tool they used to detect ghosts in Ghost Busters ran as we watched the particle count rise and rise and rise...until it hit 260,000 particles per square inch! This number, measured in fractions of microns in size, essentially tells you the number of allergens that are present. While the count in my room was high, it's also very typical. I wasn't surprised to find out that our particle count is high. What did surprise me was when they brought in a HEPA air filter – The Air Medic Whisper – and placed the particle reader at the clean air output. We watched in awe as the particle level dropped from 260,000 to 3,275 in a matter of minutes.

Diagnosis

We are taking it one step at a time – trying to isolate and determine the issue. Our ducts are clean. We've also serviced the humidifier on our furnace as well as the fan coil (around $100 with Sears) and we change our furnace filter regularly. Next step is to clean our carpets. Sears recommends cleaning them every six months to help prevent the spread of dirt and germs. According to Philip Tierno Jr., Ph.D. and author of The Secret Life of Germs, the average carpet contains 200,000 bacteria per square inch, making it 4,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat. I may opt to rip the little bit of carpet we have out. We've since gone a step further with another air test that specifically ruled out elevated mold levels through a company called Canada Restoration Services. Even further steps could include the installation of an ultraviolet light (around $600) on our furnace which kills the smallest particles that manage to pass through the furnace filter (viruses and mold spores) and install The Air Medic Whisper (around $1500 installed). Friends had it installed to help their asthmatic daughter breathe easier and they say it has changed their lives.

My one regret is waiting until I was sick to have an indoor air quality test done. The lost sleep and stress this has put on my body could have been avoided if I had called Sears for a free assessment when we moved into the house. We watch what we eat, exercise and try as best we can to be healthy, but for some reason we don't think twice about the air in our homes. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency the levels of air pollutants have been found to be two to five times higher, and occasionally more than 100 times higher, inside homes than outside. And there are so many things we can do to improve our indoor air quality. My hope is that one day soon, indoor air quality tests are as common as home inspections when buying and selling a house.