One of my clients living in the central London areas has ordered and installed large in build wardrobes in his apartment. The unit were manufactures abroad in a third world country and therefore the therefore the manufacturing process and more specifically the wood treatment process was likely to be poorly controlled. My client has become concerned about the possible formaldehyde levels in his apartment affecting the overall indoor air quality and his health.
I have carried out the apparent inspection and measurements of formaldehyde gas and total volatile organic compounds in order to measure the exact levels of these common indoor air contaminants. The measurement were carried out in accordance with established scientific methods and the samples were analysed by a third party accredited laboratory to maintain my independence and impartiality.
My assessment and measurements of Formaldehyde gas confirmed that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limit of 100 µg/m3 was not exceeded. The Formaldehyde gas was present at a concentration below of 61 µg/m3, 0.05 ppm which was also lower than the Formaldehyde odour threshold limit of 0.83 ppm. The most likely sources of formaldehyde in the indoor environment are construction materials, home furnishing and less frequently smoking.
My measurements also showed that the indoor concentration of volatile organic compounds exceeded the recommended level of 300 µg/m3 which is generally considered significant for indoor air quality purposes. The average concentration of volatile organic compounds ranged between 440 and 720 µg/m3. Total volatile organic compounds are a sum of all the individual volatile organic compounds present in the environment. None of the individual volatile compounds were present in high enough quantities to allow identification. The most likely sources of volatile organic compounds are decorative products, adhesive but also cleaning products and air fresheners.
Although the level of Volatile organic compounds were slightly elevated in the property I would not considered this as an indoor air quality problem. The most likely sources of VOC’s in this case were the personal care products, washing powders and perfumes.
I have concluded that the formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds in the apartment do not represent a risk to health or an indoor air quality problem for the occupants.
