Practical suggestions on preventing, identifying, and resolving indoor air quality (IAQ) problems in public and commercial buildings can be found in Building Air Quality, a guide for building owners and facility managers. The guide provides information on factors affecting indoor air quality; describes how to develop an IAQ profile of building conditions and create an IAQ management plan; describes investigative strategies to identify causes of IAQ problems. It also provides criteria for assessing alternative mitigation strategies, determining whether a problem has been resolved, and deciding whether to consult outside technical specialists. Other topics in the guide are key problem-causing factors; air quality sampling; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; moisture problems. Additional sources of information are also given.
The text of Building Air Quality is available on the EPA site as a series of PDF files, which can be downloaded to view or print. The entire PDF version of the guide can be downloaded as a ZIPPED file to view or print, or only specific sections can be selected. Needed will be the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view files and a utility to unzip the file. Both are provided along with directions.
Building Air Quality is available at www.epa.gov/iaq/base/index.html.
