List of indoor air contaminants & hazards frequently found in buildings:

Here we provide a table listing common indoor air quality contaminants, their sources, effects, typical levels, and steps to reduce exposure.

Guide to Finding & Reducing Common Indoor Air Pollutants & Contamination Sources

This article series includes excerpts from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) , by Steven Bliss, courtesy of Wiley & Sons. According to Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) :

Public health officials have focused their efforts on outside air pollution for decades, establishing laws and guidelines for what is acceptable air to breath. As it turns out, however, people spend a lot more time indoors than out and, on average, the air is far dirtier indoors. Pollutants range from the merely unpleasant to the potentially deadly. The health effects of low exposures to many of these substances over long time periods is not well understood.

Yet, it seems prudent to have a working knowledge of what’s in the air you’re breathing and to take commonsense steps to eliminate or minimize materials that, in larger doses, make most people sick.

A summary of common indoor pollutants is shown in

• Table 7-5, Table of Common Indoor Air Hazards is at INDOOR AIR HAZARDS TABLE provided just below in this document
• Table 7-9, Table of Combustion Products and Indoor Air Quality is at INDOOR COMBUSTION PRODUCTS & IAQ

For a full discussion of these indoor air hazards see pages 282 and 294 in Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) , by Steven Bliss, Wiley & Sons.

Table of Common Indoor Air Hazards, Contaminants, Pollutants

The following table, issued in three sections, lists common indoor air hazards and contaminants, providing for each contaminant the name, description, primary household sources, health effects, typical exposure levels, and steps to reduce exposure.

Below on this page we add corrosive sulphur outgassing from Chinese drywall and a link to odor detection help in buildings.

-- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) .

-- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) .

-- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) .

Update: to the indoor air quality hazards listed in these tables we add

• CHINESE DRYWALL HAZARDS discusses Chinese drywall odors, sulphur smells, and corrosive outgassing hazards in buildings. Major costs to remove this product, repair or replace electrical wiring, plumbing, and HVAC components may be involved, and there may be immediate safety hazards due to damaged smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors in buildings where Chinese drywall outgassing has caused damage.
• ODORS GASES SMELLS, DIAGNOSIS & CURE - how to identify and remove all kinds of odors in buildings

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Continue reading at INDOOR COMBUSTION PRODUCTS & IAQ or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see

INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, KEY STEPS

Suggested citation for this web page

INDOOR AIR HAZARDS TABLE at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING INDOOR AIR QUALITY IAQ

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

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