New Report on Pollutant Emissions in New Houses

At the recent Affordable Comfort Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) indoor air quality presentation delivered some surprising new information on building material emissions, ventilation rates, and the impacts of occupant activities. While quite a bit of information has been gathered on building material emission rates of formaldehyde and total volatile organic content (TVOC) in laboratory settings, very little work has been done on how those numbers relate to indoor air quality measurements under actual living conditions in new housing.

CMHC conducted two field studies involving six single-family houses and three apartments in a multifamily building. The studies included full documentation of dwelling unit characteristics and materials selections; laboratory chamber testing of selected materials and finishes; and indoor air quality monitoring and measurements for three periods: immediately after completion of construction, one month into occupancy, and six months into occupancy.

Keeping in mind that only a total of nine dwellings were studied, the results are rather stunning: