The first month in a new home is unusually high-signal. Off-gassing from new furniture, freshly painted walls, recently shampooed carpets, and any renovation done before move-in produces VOC index levels (200 to 400 sustained) that would be alarming in a stable home and are normal here. The dashboard knows to expect this and re-baselines accordingly.
PM2.5 and PM10 rise during unpacking (dust on box contents, settled particulate disturbed during furniture placement) and decay over the first week as the new arrangement stabilizes. Humidity often runs high for the first 2 weeks (cleaning, opened-up materials releasing absorbed water) before settling to the home's steady-state pattern. CO2 patterns appear once occupancy stabilizes; the AI cannot characterize your sleep CO2 curve until you have slept there for several nights.
Practical guidance for the first month: ventilate aggressively (open windows whenever outdoor air permits), run HEPA filtration continuously, delay placing new furniture in bedrooms (give it 2-3 weeks to off-gas in a less-occupied room first), and avoid additional cleaning-product VOC pulses on top of the existing load. New mattresses are notable; vinyl flooring is notable; any wood product with CARB Phase 2 or TSCA Title VI labels is significantly less notable than the same product without those labels.
After the first month, the dashboard's baseline stabilizes. The 30-day median by parameter is a reliable representation of your steady-state home, and notifications return to their normal sensitivity. If a parameter is still notably elevated at the 30-day mark, that is your structural baseline, not the move-in effect: time to investigate sources rather than wait.
References
- California ARB - Composite Wood Products ATCM ww2.arb.ca.gov
- EPA - Volatile organic compounds and indoor air www.epa.gov
- EPA - Improving indoor air quality www.epa.gov
- EPA - Mold course: water & moisture www.epa.gov
