| Title |
TVOC Concentrations and Residents' Responses on Sick House Syndrome of Newly-Built Apartments |
| Keywords |
TVOC(Total Volatile Organic Compounds) ; Resident's responses ; Sick house syndrome ; Newly built apartments ; |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of living factors on TVOC(Total Volatile Organic Compounds) concentrations and personal factors to reduce the Sick House Syndrome for newly-built apartments. The field measurements of TVOC concentrations were made totally 30 times(5 times per one subject house) in six apartment units in which residents recently moved. Those apartments authorized its business approval before May 2004, the Act of Indoor Air Quality Management for multi-use facilities. The Questionnaire surveys of residents' subjective responses on the Sick House Syndrome were carried out in 2nd measurement of each house. Respondents consisted of 20 residents living in the measured houses.
The findings were as follows: The TVOC concentrations of the measured subject apartments ranged from about 1/10 of the recommended standard for multi-use facilities(400 ㎍/㎥) to up to 90 times as high as the standard. Since then, the Recommended Standard of Indoor Air Quality Management for newly-built apartment house was announced in December 2005. In accordance with this standard(2390㎍/㎥) it ranged from about 1/100 to up to 15 times as high as the standard.
The subject house whose TVOC concentrations reduced below the recommendation standard in the shortest period had the largest amount of ventilation (all the windows were open for ventilation in the past three months) among all measured houses. The reason of another house whose TVOC concentrations were much higher than the rest was fronted with new furniture in the room. There turned out to be no apparent relations between the TVOC concentrations and the residents' individual responses of Sick House Syndrome. The responses were serious in those who stayed in their new houses for a long period or had disease like allergy. It's recommended that they should open all the windows for at least three months for ventilation in newly-built houses, and it would be better to avoid remodeling than needs be. |