Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Furnishing materials can be, in many cases, significant emission sources of
VOCs, semivolatile VOCs (SVOCs), and aldehydes such as HCHO. A variety
of concerns have been expressed relative to building furnishings, their emis-
sions and effects on air quality, and contributions to health complaints.
1.
Floor coverings
A number of investigators have implicated floor coverings as a potential
cause of health complaints in problem building environments or as a risk
factor for SBS symptoms in general. Floor coverings used to furnish office
and institutional buildings are of two major types, textile carpeting and vinyl
tile. Both (1) are used in large quantities and have large surface-to-volume
ratios; (2) are composite materials, i.e., they are made from a variety of
components or substances responsible for their physical properties; (3)
require use of a bonding agent to effect adhesion to a substrate surface; and
(4) require periodic cleaning. Because of these factors, floor coverings have
the potential to adversely affect air quality and potentially contribute to
building-related health complaints.
Effects may be direct or indirect. In the former case, floor coverings may
be the source of contaminants that affect air quality and the health of building
occupants. In the latter case, associated products may cause a variety of
contaminant problems. These include (1) emissions of irritant chemicals from
bonding agents used to apply floor covering, plasticizers, waxes/waxing
compounds, shampoos/cleaning agents and (2) reservoir effects involving
VOCs, SVOCs, and organic dust which, on exposure, elicit immunologi-
cal/allergic responses (see Chapter 9). Soiled carpeting may serve as a
medium for microbial growth and a potential source of air contamination
by mold, bacteria, and organic dust.
Wall-to-wall textile carpeting is widely used in North
American and European office, commercial, and institutional buildings. It is
attractive, conveys a sense of warmth, absorbs sound, and reduces undesir-
able reverberation.
Textile carpeting is produced in a large variety of types or grades
depending on desired applications. Commercial/industrial grades used in
nonresidential buildings are characterized by short piles, dense weaves,
soiling resistance, and durability. Textile fibers may be attached to backing
materials that are (1) woven natural or synthetic polyolefin fiber materials
or (2) rubber/latex. Carpets, as indicated previously, are “composite” prod-
ucts with various manufacturing requirements (e.g., fiber preparation and
weaving, dyes, solvents, mordants, biocides, bonding agents, and stain and
soil resistance). Consequently, textile carpeting can be expected to be a poten-
tially significant source of VOC (and possibly SVOC) emissions, particularly
when the product is new.
Emission studies have been conducted on carpet products as well as
adhesives in response to building occupant complaints that the installation
of new carpeting was responsible for health problems. Carpet emissions
a.
Carpeting.
