Characterization of Emissions from Building Products: Selection Criteria, Storage and Handling of Indoor Materials for Experiments

In research projects it is usually impossible to study more than a very limited aount of different products. Care and consideration must therefore be taken in the selection. The following criteria were used to select five products for chemical and sensory emission testing: The products should be indoor climate relevant, meaning that they should be in direct contact with indoor air when used in buildings, and their emission should contribute significantly to the indoor air concentrations for instance due to a large surface area.

They should be representative in terms of being widely used, now and in the future, in a broad range of buildings with different purposes. They should also be representative of different mass transfer mechanisms. Finally, they should be suitable for experiments in terms of having measurable chemical and sensory emissions, and being stable under the experimental conditions so that the emission mechanisms do not change as a consequence of physical processes or chemical reactions.

The five products selected were PVC flooring, waterborne varnish on beechwood parquet, carpet, sealant, and waterborne paint on gypsum board. The products were brought to the laboratory immediately after manufacture, wrapped, and stored under controlled conditions until they were needed. Procedures for the preparation of specimen were worked out and followed by the five laboratories involved in the study.