If this sounds unbelievable, look at the ingredients in some of the most common construction and cleaning materials.  You will find that a typical project involves the release of hundreds of pounds of toxic materials into the air that we breathe in our offices, schools ... even our homes.

The fix for the new construction indoor air quality blues is to attack on three fronts:

1. Materials Screening
2. HVAC System Analysis
3. Building Bake-Out

Chemical Sensitivity
People sensitized to certain chemicals can become chronically ill for life.  Ask any one of the thousands of people in the US with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCSS). Even low level exposure to toxic chemicals causes MCSS.  MCSS is recognized as a disability by the Social Security Administration.

Be Construction Smart
You do not want a project that meets your construction budget, but is uninhabitable because of odors.  Being construction-smart in today's litigious Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) world means the following:

1. Screen Materials and Techniques
Make indoor air quality part of a specification issue.  Make all contractors submit significant IAQ-related data with their bids, or ask this of the apparent low bidders.  Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are a good start.  These contain a wealth of information that can be analyzed for potentials to emit harmful pollutants.  Things like carpet glues, wallpaper adhesives, and concrete sealers are especially important to analyze because of the large amount of your building's area they will cover.

CEC just completed a project where we reviewed materials used in a $10,000,000 high school renovation project.  We received MSDS sheets from eight subcontractors.  We then sent letters to manufacturers of more than 30 products to request more IAQ-friendly products in place of those initially submitted.  Some of these suppliers had substitute IAQ-friendly, water based materials to offer.

2. HVAC System Scrutiny
Many architects, designers, and contractors are still in the dark on indoor air quality and are still driven by old rules of thumb.  Ask your HVAC designer to provide you with the calculations on the load modeling when they designed your system, to ensure its compliance with latest industry guidelines and codes.  This will most likely cause a lot of jaws to drop, and you will probably hear something like, "We are at 10 or 15% minimum outside air" or "It passed the city's inspection." These old lines are not good enough to protect you from liability in today's litigious society.

If you cannot get an understanding that every occupant can be assured proper ventilation, what are you paying for?  Proper HVAC system IAQ design today means some of the following:

A. VAV (Variable Air Volume) systems need to have special controls to make fresh air intake consistent and in compliance, even though supply air volumes change.

B. Duct linings should be avoided.  Some fiberglass linings can support microbiological growth.  Glues are typically used to hold liners in place.  Some of these take weeks to totally dry.  We have had better success with externally wrapping ducts.

C. Consider Carbon Dioxide (CO2) ventilation controllers.  They can open dampers to let air in when CO2 levels get high.  CO2 builds up in rooms as a result of human occupants exhaling.  It's a surrogate of oxygen and fresh air deficiency.

D. Remember to not return air from contaminated areas.  Try to keep areas with contaminants negative with respect to other areas so contaminated air does not want to escape.

3. Building Bake-outs
Once you have done all you can, you still should consider a proper "bake out". Baking out a building is the process of accelerating the release and removal of volatile contaminants before occupancy.  Bake outs need to be well-planned and specific to each new building and HVAC system.  In most cases, it will involve a 24-48 hour period of elevated temperatures, lots of outside supply air, and exhaust through an auxiliary system.  Be careful when you bake out.  If you do it wrong, you can load absorptive materials (like ceiling tiles) with VOC's.

No one likes change.  Bringing people into newly renovated environments involves lots of stress.  Do not start off with nice new space that is barely habitable.  Much of your careful planning and effort could be destroyed if the newly created space makes people sick

Home | About CEC | Energy Conservation | Ventilation Systems
Performance Contracting | Forensic Investigation & Root Cause Analysis
Resources/Tools | Other Product Services | Contact Us

2004 © Copyright CEC Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.