ᐅ Indoor Air Pollutants

Hello everyone,

can someone help me here?
Elevated levels of formaldehyde and VOCs have been detected in the future nursery.
I have read about a sheep wool fleece that is supposed to bind or reduce these pollutants. Does anyone know if this actually works? I have also heard that it might be contaminated with pesticides. Is there any truth to that?
Does anyone have other ideas or suggestions for what can be done? The room has hardwood flooring and some particleboard furniture, although some of it will be removed. The future nursery furniture is solid untreated wood with plywood back panels. I am quite concerned about our little daughter (1 year old).

Thank you & best regards
unser_schloss

Sheep wool fleece contaminated with pesticides?
Why was this detected in the first place?
Wood is often a source of formaldehyde, but that strong?

Wiki says that in the 1980s, chipboard panels emitted excessive gases – so removing those is probably a good idea (but I assume you are aware of that).

unser_schloss schrieb:
Does anyone else have ideas or suggestions on what can be done?

Identify and eliminate the source! VOCs can be absorbed with activated carbon, and this should also work for formaldehyde; however, in my opinion, this becomes unnecessary once the source is removed. After that, a thorough one-time ventilation is sufficient.

Out of curiosity: Who detected this, how, and why? What levels are considered elevated? Do you have any quantitative measurements?

Who determined that, how, and why?

I’m very interested in this as well!

Hello everyone,

thank you for all the responses.

Since I found the air quality at our place to be "poor," I ordered a test kit, took samples, sent them to the respective laboratory, and then received the results: 78 µg/m3 formaldehyde, 700 µg/m3 TVOC. Unfortunately, the latter were not broken down further, but they seem to be terpenes.

One more question: Are there any construction companies that contractually guarantee pollutant-free indoor environments? So far, I only know of one prefabricated house provider that performs pollutant measurements in the finished house. Are there others?

Thanks again for your ideas.

Best regards
unser_schloss

Interesting! I can’t answer your question. For further discussion here, it would definitely be helpful to learn more about the location of the find (year of construction, building method, interior design, flooring, furniture, etc.).

PS. Linking is not allowed here, but mentioning names is fine. Would you like to share the name of the kit (product name, supplier)? 🙂