Patterns of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions in Building Structures.

A new method for detecting hidden moisture damage was tested in a pilot study. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were sampled from within different building structures and the emission profiles were compared using principal component analysis (PCA). When all 60 samples were examined at the chemical group level (i.e. aldehydes, ketones, etc.), the samples separated into two major groups, representing concrete and wooden structures. Alcohols, terpenes, ketones, hydrocarbons, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and a group of unidentified compounds were more strongly associated with structures in which the predominant construction material was concrete, than in structures mainly made of wood. For the 20 samples from wooden structures, 8 chemical groups were more abundant in those sampled in moisture-damaged buildings than in those sampled in the building with no known damage. These were terpenes, phenols, ketones, aldehydes, alcohols, furans, PAH and carboxylic acids. Emissions from moisture-damaged concrete structures were higher than from wooden ones but more chemical groups were emitted from moisture-damaged wooden structures. The results indicate that sampling and analyses of VOCs inside building structures, and using PCA for data analysis, are useful for finding chemical fingerprints for moisture damages but more data are needed to substantiate this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]