Diagnostics · Layer ii · Physicochemical

Air Quality Testing

What is in the air you breathe, in numbers, against a named guideline. One visit, one signed report, each parameter read against a named guideline: Dubai Municipality's where it sets one, and marked inside or outside it.

Request an air quality test Which test do I need?

Every visitNine parameters

Temperature and humiditythe dew point, room by room
Air pressurewhich way air moves
Particulates (PM2.5)fine dust
TVOCgases from paints and furnishings
Carbon dioxidefresh air, or not enough
CO, NO₂ and ozonecombustion and purifiers

Read against Dubai Municipality TG 119 and TG 142. Report within 72 hours of the data being collected.Measure · Compare · Explain

What to expect from air quality testing.

What you get

Each parameter with its reading, the guideline it is read against and whether it is inside or outside it; a plain-language note on what an exceedance means and what usually causes it.

How long

The visit is typically two to four hours for one layer in a home of ordinary size. The report follows within 72 hours of the data being collected.

Where

On site, room by room, with calibrated instruments. The readings are taken in the building; nothing goes to a laboratory unless you add the mold air sample.

Is this the test you need?

What this test answers, and what it does not.

This test answers

What chemicals and particles are in the air? Is the CO₂ too high?

A new fit-out that smells; headaches in a meeting room by mid-morning; a tenant or a school asking for a documented air-quality record. From the sofa these feel identical. Too little fresh air, something giving off gas, and humidity produce the same complaint: only the numbers tell them apart.

This is a diagnostic record: each reading against the Dubai Municipality guideline, signed by the scientist who took it. Where a reading must be submitted to the Municipality for a permit or a certificate, TG 119 requires it to come from an EIAC-accredited testing body; tell us, and we arrange that route through our EIAC-accredited (ISO/IEC 17025) partner laboratory.

A different test answers

Is there mold, where is it, and why?

A smell, a stain, a damp wall, a leak

Mold Inspection

Can the air-conditioning hold the room dry?

Diagnostics, layer iv

Not sure? Start from the question, not from the instrument: the Diagnostics chooser.

Explore Diagnostics

What we measure

Nine parameters on every visit. Four more when the question needs them.

Read down the first column and this is the scope of the service. Read across and it is the science: why each reading matters, how it is taken, and what it is judged against. Your report carries the same nine, each with its reading, its limit and the room it was taken in. Most guideline values are 8-hour or 24-hour averages; a visit reads the building at one moment. The report says which, and where a reading sits close to its line we say so rather than call it a pass, and we can leave a recording instrument in the room, usually for three days and nights, so the report shows the whole day and night, not one moment. Below, tap any parameter for what it is, where it comes from in a Dubai home, the number the guideline sets, what you would notice, and what changes it. A newly built or newly fitted-out space is read against Dubai Municipality's stricter new-building table.

The instrument

The instrument is where the conclusion begins. Two monitors can sit side by side in the same room and disagree: one reports 62% relative humidity, the other 74%, and only one of them is a number you can build a decision on. Every recommendation we make rests on what our instruments record, so we treat the choice of monitor as a professional decision rather than a purchase. The monitor we deploy is specified to keep measuring in the conditions we are actually called to diagnose: damp rooms above 85% relative humidity, where several widely sold devices stop reporting or carry a manufacturer's warning of permanent damage; it draws air across its sensors rather than waiting for the room to reach them, and its performance has been tested and accredited by bodies other than its maker. Why that matters, and what else separates a decision-grade monitor from a display, is set out in Research Note 02.

Two instruments, one table. Every visit reads the nine parameters in the first column. Where the question needs more, a new fit-out, a dusty site, a complaint that comes and goes, we use an extended monitor as well: it repeats the core readings, several of them to a finer tolerance, adds the four at the foot of the table, and is the instrument we leave recording for days.

Parameter	Why it matters	Every visit	Extended monitor	Read against
Temperature	With humidity it sets the dew point, the temperature at which air gives up its water. Anything colder than that, a duct, a diffuser, a wall next to a humid room, gets wet.	−40 to 85 °C · resolution 0.1 °C · accuracy ±0.5 °C	As every visit	ASHRAE 55-2023
What it is How warm the air is, read in the middle of the room, away from the diffuser. Where it comes from here The thermostat setting, and how evenly it reaches each room. Rooms held at 20–22 °C under a humid ceiling void are common in Dubai villas. The line ASHRAE 55-2023 comfort range; our reports print 26 °C as the upper line. What you'd notice A room that feels cold and clammy at once; a bedroom that is comfortable at midnight and damp at 6 a.m. What moves it Temperature by itself is rarely the problem. It matters for what it does to the dew point, the next row, and for any surface colder than that: a duct, a diffuser, the back of a wardrobe on an outside wall. Anything below the dew point is wet.
Relative humidity	Held above 60% for long, ordinary surfaces grow mold with no leak at all. In a Gulf home it is the one number most worth watching.	0 to 100% · resolution 0.1% · accuracy ±3%	As every visit	DM TG 142 (below 60%)
What it is How close the air is to holding all the water it can. 100% is fog. Read with temperature, it gives the dew point. Where it comes from here Outdoors, first: on the Gulf coast the outdoor dew point sits above 22 °C for a quarter of the year, and every open door, extract fan and gap in the walls and ceilings brings that air in. Then showers, cooking, and an air-conditioner that cools the room faster than it dries it. Source and method: Research Note 01 The line Below 60%, ideally 30–50% (DM TG 142; TG 119 says the same). What you'd notice Nothing, at first: that is the point. 65% feels fine. Then a musty smell in a wardrobe, spotting behind a headboard, towels that never dry. What moves it Mold needs water, not a leak: above 60% for long enough, the water in the air is enough. Fixes are about drying the air (longer cooling run-time, dehumidification) and stopping the humid air getting in, which is what layer iv measures.
Air pressure	Which way air moves through the walls. A room at lower pressure than outside, every extract fan running, no fresh air coming in, pulls humid outdoor air in through every gap.	Differential manometer, one tube in the room and one outside it · 0 to 10,000 Pa · resolution 1 Pa · accuracy ±3 Pa up to 30 Pa	Barometric pressure only (300 to 1,100 hPa · ±1 hPa), for context; does not read room-to-room differences	practice criterion, direction only
What it is Whether the room is pushing air out or pulling it in, relative to outdoors and to the rooms next to it. We report the direction, not a limit; no guideline sets one, and we say so. Where it comes from here Every extract fan (bathroom, kitchen hood, dryer) pulls air out. If no fresh air is supplied to replace it, the whole flat goes negative and draws air in through every gap: from the corridor, the shaft, the outside. The line Practice criterion: direction only. A room pulling in humid outdoor air is the finding; the number is context. What you'd notice A door that slams or won't close; a draft at the skirting; a musty smell that arrives when the bathroom fan runs; dust lines at the edge of a door. What moves it Fresh-air supply matched to extract; sealing the paths air uses. This is the reading that most often explains why humidity is high in a room that has no leak.
Particulate matter (PM2.5)	Fine particles small enough to reach deep into the lungs: dust, traffic, construction, cooking.	1 to 200 µg/m³ · resolution 1 µg/m³ · accuracy ±15 µg/m³ or ±10% of reading	0 to 1,000 µg/m³ · ±5 µg/m³ up to 50, ±10% above	DM TG 119: 35 µg/m³ over 24 hours; 100 µg/m³ in any hour
What it is Particles smaller than 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter, small enough to pass the nose and throat and reach deep into the lungs. Counted by mass in the air. Where it comes from here Outdoors: dust, construction, traffic, the haze on a still day, brought in through the fresh-air intake and every gap. Indoors: cooking is the largest single source in most homes, and gas cooking more so; candles and incense follow. The line 35 µg/m³ over 24 hours; 100 µg/m³ in any hour (DM TG 119 Table 2). What you'd notice Mostly nothing: the particles that matter are invisible. Grey dust on the supply grilles and a film on dark furniture within a day of cleaning point to it. What moves it Filtration, in the right place: the filter grade in the air-handling unit, how well the fresh-air intake is filtered, a hood that actually vents outside. A portable purifier helps one room; the intake filter helps every room.
Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC)	The gases given off by paints, furnishings, cleaning products and fuels.	0 to 30,000 ppb · resolution 1 ppb · accuracy ±20 ppb or ±15% of reading	0 to 60,000 ppb · ±15% of reading	DM TG 119: 0.6 mg/m³ over 8 hours (0.3 for a new building)
What it is The sum of the gases given off by materials and products: hundreds of different compounds read as one number. Total, not identified: a high TVOC says something is off-gassing, not what. Where the what matters, a laboratory sample is the next step. Where it comes from here New paint, new joinery, new furniture and flooring: a fresh fit-out is a TVOC event that fades over weeks to months. Cleaning products, air fresheners, fuels stored in the garage. Heat and humidity both speed the release. The line 0.6 mg/m³ (600 µg/m³) over 8 hours for an existing building; 300 µg/m³ for a new one (DM TG 119 Tables 2 and 1). What you'd notice "New" smell that does not fade; headache or eye and throat irritation that lifts when you leave the building. What moves it Time and ventilation for a new fit-out; removing or containing the source otherwise. A TVOC reading is the one number on this page most changed by simply opening the space up for an hour before we arrive, which is why we ask you not to.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂)	The simplest measure of fresh air: people breathe it out, ventilation carries it away. Rising CO₂ means the room is not exchanging enough air for the people in it.	400 to 10,000 ppm · resolution 1 ppm · accuracy ±50 ppm plus ±3% of reading	400 to 10,000 ppm · ±30 ppm plus 3% of reading · dual-channel infrared (NDIR)	DM TG 119 (800 ppm, 8-hour; or 700 ppm above outdoor)
What it is The gas everyone in the room breathes out. Outdoors it is about 420 ppm; indoors it climbs with people and falls with fresh air. It is the simplest measure of how much outdoor air a room is getting. Where it comes from here People, in rooms that recirculate air without bringing fresh air in, which describes most Dubai bedrooms with the door shut and most meeting rooms by 11 a.m. The line 800 ppm over 8 hours, or 700 ppm above the outdoor level (DM TG 119 Table 2). What you'd notice Stuffiness; the mid-morning meeting-room headache; a bedroom that smells of sleep in the morning. What moves it Fresh air, full stop. At these levels CO₂ itself is not what harms you; it is a marker for everything else that builds up when a room is not ventilated: moisture, odors, the gases in the rows above. A high CO₂ reading sends the question to layer iv: is fresh air being supplied at all, and how much.
Carbon monoxide (CO)	An odorless combustion gas: generators, gas appliances, an attached garage.	0 to 1,000 ppm · resolution 0.1 ppm · accuracy ±2 ppm or ±5% of reading	0 to 1,000 ppm · ±1 ppm up to 20, ±5% above	DM TG 119: 9 ppm over 8 hours; 25 ppm in any hour
What it is A gas with no smell, produced whenever something burns without enough air. Small amounts feel like flu; more is dangerous. Where it comes from here A generator running near an intake; a gas water heater or cooker with a blocked flue; a car left running in an attached garage; a shisha or charcoal indoors. The line 9 ppm over 8 hours; 25 ppm in any hour (DM TG 119 Table 2). What you'd notice Headache, tiredness and nausea that several people share and that clear outdoors. Or nothing, which is why it is on the list. What moves it Finding and fixing the appliance, and venting it outside. A reading above the line is the one result on this page we telephone the same day.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)	A combustion by-product: gas cooking, and traffic entering through the fresh-air intake.	1 to 1,000 ppb · resolution 1 ppb · accuracy ±20 ppb or ±10% of reading	Not read by this monitor; taken with the visit instrument	DM TG 119: 0.1 ppm (200 µg/m³) in any hour; the annual 40 µg/m³ line cannot be read by a visit
What it is A sharp-smelling gas produced when fuel burns at high temperature: in a gas flame, or in a car engine. Where it comes from here Gas cooking without a hood that vents outside: a gas hob raises NO₂ in the kitchen within minutes and it spreads through the flat and lingers for hours. Outdoors, traffic, entering through a fresh-air intake that faces the road or the car park. The line 40 µg/m³ as a yearly average; 200 µg/m³ in any hour (DM TG 119 Table 2). A visit reads the hour. What you'd notice Irritated airways; asthma that is worse at home than elsewhere, or worse in the kitchen. What moves it A hood that vents outside (not a recirculating one), used every time the hob is lit; or moving from gas to induction. For an intake facing traffic, relocating or filtering it.
Ozone (O₃)	A reactive gas that irritates the airways, from some air purifiers and office machines, and from outdoors on hot, still days.	1 to 1,000 ppb · resolution 1 ppb · accuracy ±20 ppb or ±10% of reading	Not read by this monitor; taken with the visit instrument	DM TG 119: 0.06 ppm over 8 hours; 0.12 ppm in any hour
What it is A reactive form of oxygen that irritates the airways. Useful high in the atmosphere; unwelcome at breathing height. Where it comes from here Indoors, some "ionising" or "ozone" air purifiers and older printers and copiers make it deliberately or as a by-product, and ozone then reacts with the gases in the TVOC row to make new compounds, some worse than what it started with. Outdoors, it forms in sunlight on hot, still days and comes in with the fresh air. The line 0.06 ppm (100 µg/m³) over 8 hours (DM TG 119 Table 2). What you'd notice A sharp "clean" or "electrical" smell near a device; a cough or chest tightness in the room where the purifier runs. What moves it Switching the device off is usually the whole fix. An air purifier that produces ozone is not cleaning your air; a good filter does not need to.
Added by the extended monitor
Particulates by size (PM1, PM4, PM10)	PM2.5 says how much fine dust; the other sizes say what kind. Coarse PM10 is tracked-in and construction dust; PM1 is smoke and combustion. The split points to the source.	Extended monitor only	0 to 1,000 µg/m³ each · ±5 µg/m³ up to 50, ±10% above	PM10: DM TG 119, 150 µg/m³ over 24 hours; 100 µg/m³ over 8 hours. PM1 and PM4: no guideline sets a line; reported for the pattern.
Formaldehyde	A gas given off by pressed-wood furniture, joinery, some flooring and finishes; strongest in a new fit-out, and faster in heat and humidity.	Extended monitor only	0 to 2,000 ppb · ±30 ppb up to 300, ±10% above	DM TG 119 short-term line, 0.08 ppm over 30 minutes, indicative: the sensor's ±30 ppb cannot resolve the 8-hour line of 0.01 ppm
Light	Not an air reading. Recorded because it shows when a room is in use, which is what gives the air readings their context.	Extended monitor only	0 to 40,000 lux · ±20 lux or ±5%	no guideline applied; context only
Sound	Recorded for the same reason, and because a noisy air-conditioning unit that is switched off at night is often the beginning of a humidity problem.	Extended monitor only	30 to 120 dBA · ±3 dB	no guideline applied; context only

Optional · add a mold air sample

The nine parameters say nothing about what is alive in the air. If you want that answered on the same visit, we add air sampling for mold spores in the rooms you choose: cultured in the Saniservice Department of Microbiology and read against the Dubai Municipality guideline of 500 CFU/m³ (TG 119), a count of living mold per cubic meter of air. It is the one part of this test that goes to a laboratory, and culture needs several days of incubation, so that page of the report follows the rest. If there is a smell, a stain or a damp wall, you need more than an air sample: that is a Mold Inspection.

Every reading is reported against a guideline or standard cited by document and version; where the criterion is the practice's own, it says so.

How it is done

From the phone call to the signed report.

You describe the building

A building scientist responds within one business day. You tell us the rooms, the symptoms and what has already been tried; we tell you whether this is the right test.

The visit

Each room is measured in turn with calibrated instruments; temperature and humidity are logged alongside every reading so that each number has its context.

The report

Nothing in the nine parameters waits for a laboratory. The readings exist the moment they are taken; the report, each reading against its guideline, in plain language, follows within 72 hours of the data being collected. Every report is signed by the scientist accountable for it.

Reading it with you

A call to walk through the results: which readings are outside their guideline, what usually causes that, and what to do next, or that nothing needs doing.

What you receive

A report you can hand to a landlord, a school board or an engineer.

Anonymized specimen cover of an Indoor Sciences diagnostic report — Anonymized specimen cover

Every reading is reported against a guideline or standard cited by document and version; where the criterion is the practice's own, it says so.

Measuring instruments used in Indoor Sciences assessments are maintained under Saniservice's ISO 9001 management system. Each instrument is individually identified, with its calibration or verification schedule, history and certificates recorded and reviewed. Instruments are calibrated or verified at manufacturer-recommended intervals, in-house by the laboratory and engineering functions or by external calibration providers where required. Calibration and verification records for the instruments used in a specific assessment are available to clients on request.

Every air reading in this report was taken in your building, by the person who signs it. Only the optional mold air sample goes to a laboratory, and its page is marked as such.

Where something could not be measured on the visit, the report says so; nothing modeled is stated as measured.

Every report is signed by the scientist accountable for it, in the Indoor Sciences report format.

Then what

A reading outside its guideline is the start of a sequence, not the end of one.

A longer look

Where a reading is near its guideline, or the complaint comes and goes, a recording instrument stays in the room, usually for three days and nights; a busy corporate office can need seven to ten days. The 72 hours then run from the day it is collected. It shows whether the number crosses its line at 3 a.m. or 3 p.m., and that is usually the cause showing itself.

Interpretation

A plain-language note on what an exceedance means and what usually causes it.

The cause

When the question becomes the cause, the four layers taken together are the whole-building baseline. Nothing already measured is repeated.

Advisory

The fix

High CO₂ is a ventilation fix; TVOC and NO₂ are a source to remove or an intake to move; PM2.5 is filtration. Where the cause is mold, remediation is by the Saniservice mold remediation team, to ANSI/IICRC S520-2024, and verified afterwards by the Indoor Sciences team.

Mold Remediation

Verification

The same instruments, the same guidelines, after the work: reported separately from the work, whoever did it.

Questions

What people ask before they book.

Is Indoor Sciences the same company as Saniservice?

Yes. One company. Indoor Sciences is the building-science consultancy that investigates, tests, prescribes and verifies; the Saniservice mold remediation team and the air-conditioning teams do the work. Same front desk, same laboratory, same address.

Can I order just one test?

Yes. Each layer is ordered on its own and reported on its own.

I only want to know what chemicals are in the air. Is this it?

Yes. This is layer ii: the air measured parameter by parameter, read against Dubai Municipality TG 119, each one marked inside or outside its guideline.

How long does it take?

Two to four hours on site for a home of ordinary size, room by room. No laboratory step: the report follows within 72 hours of the data being collected. If you want the whole building read, air, surfaces, mold, air-conditioning, that is the baseline, at least half a day for a three-bedroom home.

How much does it cost?

Priced by the number of rooms or areas tested, so a studio and a whole-building baseline aren't charged the same. Tell us the scope on the call and we'll confirm the price before booking: no surprises after the visit.

Do I need to leave the building?

No. The test measures the building as it is used; we ask you to keep it that way for the visit, and to run the air-conditioning as you normally would.

Is one room enough?

Often, if the question is about one room. If the question is about the building, the readings need to be taken room by room, because that is where the pattern shows.

Can you measure over a day, not just a visit?

Yes. For humidity, CO₂ and temperature we leave a recording instrument in the room, usually for three days and nights, and collect it afterwards; some buildings, a busy corporate office for one, need seven to ten days; the report then shows the pattern, not a snapshot. It is priced with the visit, not as a separate service.

If I add the mold air sample, will it find the mold?

No. A cultured air sample is a snapshot of what was alive in the air of that room at that moment; it does not locate a source. Finding where it grows, and why, is what a Mold Inspection is for.

How do I choose an air quality testing service?

Ask five things: which guideline each reading is compared with; whether every room is measured, not one spot; whether the results distinguish a reading near the limit from one clearly over it; how long the report takes; and who signs it. Our answers: Dubai Municipality Technical Guideline 119; every room; yes; 72 hours from the data being collected; the scientist who took the readings.

Should I test the air first, or just buy an air purifier?

Test first. A purifier filters the air of one room; it does not lower carbon dioxide or humidity, most do little for the gases coming off a new fit-out, and it cannot tell you which of those is the problem. Some purifiers make ozone. One visit tells you what the air actually contains, and whether a purifier is the answer or a distraction.

Does an air quality test detect mold and allergens?

The nine parameters do not; they are physical and chemical. Add the mold air sample and we culture the air of the rooms you choose in the Saniservice Department of Microbiology and read it against the Dubai Municipality limit of 500 CFU/m³ (Technical Guideline 119). Allergen testing for dust mites, pollen or pet dander is not part of the test.

Do you offer continuous or real-time monitoring?

Yes, in two forms. For a question that needs more than one moment, the extended monitor stays in the room and records once a minute, usually for three days and nights, seven to ten for a busy office, and the report shows the pattern rather than a snapshot. Permanent monitoring, with readings you can see as they happen, is set up under Advisory.

Do you test offices and commercial buildings?

Yes. Offices are where carbon dioxide and ventilation questions usually start, and a busy office needs seven to ten days of recording rather than three, because its pattern is weekly. The report is written to be handed to a facilities manager or an engineer.

Do you work outside Dubai, in Abu Dhabi and the other emirates?

Yes, across all seven emirates, from the laboratory and front desk in Al Quoz, Dubai. Outside Dubai, the report states which authority's guideline each reading is compared with.

Go deeper: why 60% feels fine and still grows mold · why mold comes back · Research Note 01, the control volume