[Greenbuilding] off-gassing and what if anything to do about it?

[John Salmen]

A long time ago there was quite a bit of discussion about baking out
buildings. Part of the IAQ issue is the compounds formed by the mixing of
the various chemicals off gassing and how that can be exacerbated by heat
and also the stability of the materials with added heat and that resulting
in more compounds becoming less stable 

 

I would look at pressured ventilation strategies (exhaust ducts near larger
soft furnishings, carpets, etc with fresh air intakes near areas that are
occupied. This can be accomplished as a temporary strategy with flexible
ducts with inline fans stuck out windows. The idea is to increase
ventilation but also target areas or objects for exhaust (rather than just
mixing the air up). The other strategy is gaseous filtration and there are
residential oxidant added active carbon type filters available that can be
effective with formaldehyde.

 

From: Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org]
On Behalf Of Bill Kingsbury
Sent: July-22-15 2:51 PM
To: Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] off-gassing and what if anything to do about
it?

 


To speed up the off-gassing, "bake-out" the building.

Some companies specialize in heating older buildings to "higher"
temperatures (140 - 160 degrees Fahrenheit, for several hours) to resolve
problems with mold and insects, etc.

A similar process, that includes contaminated air removal (with the correct
ventilation rate), will speed up removal of the volatile chemicals --
however, it might require several days of heat treatment for good results.

Best done before moving things into the new building -- unless they'd
benefit from a "free" heat treatment (that would "cure" any included mold,
insects, or chemical fumes).

https://www.google.com/search?q=building+bake-out+off-gassing


Bill


--- At 10:54 PM 2015-07-21, Reuben Deumling wrote:
>



A friend just bought a brand new house. Very efficient and also very full of
nasty smells. 

Here is her question:

We're dealing with a house with all new everything. Ick. It's green meaning
super energy efficient - insulation etc. but I don't think that extends to
the toxic ness of the things they use to make stuff. It smells awful when
you walk in. So I'm trying to figure out what to do to reduce it. Do you
know much about these matters or know anyone that does? For example, I'm
thinking of using this Carpet sealer, but I'm not sure how to assess if it
actually makes a difference. Flooring and paint are the other major things-
I think.


Any thoughts? I have no experience whatsoever with this sort of thing. An
unexpected advantage of sourcing everything from the dumpster, I guess. 

Thanks!

> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20150722/003b594f/attachment.html>