Indoor Air Quality Problems After New Construction or Renovation
New roofing, flooring, cabinetry, insulation, coatings, adhesives, sealants and other construction materials can introduce new indoor contaminants. At the same time, tighter construction and inadequate ventilation can allow pollutants to accumulate.
The investigation isn't about measuring total VOCs. The useful questions are:
What compounds are present? What materials could produce them? How are they entering or accumulating in the occupied space? What can realistically be fixed or changed? What are the potential and practical solutions?
Case Studies
Roofing VOCs — source comparison involving the roofing assembly.
Freon associated with sub-slab insulation — an unusual compound pointed toward a material used only beneath the slab, with ventilation becoming the practical solution.
Panasonic green home — the house failed twice before you identified two separate problems.
Panasonic gives outside documentation for the last one. Its published case study ultimately reported total VOCs dropping from 7,600 to 610 ng/L after the ventilation problems were addressed.