Indoor air quality field survey strategies

Indoor air quality sampling strategies and analytical techniques have changed significantly in the past ten years. The changes reflect both the shifts in study objectives and the development of new forms of instrumentation. Toillustrate these trends, this paper describes early field techniques for measuring indoor air quality using a heavily instrumented mobile laboratory that is suitable for measuring one building intensively for up to four weeks.The style of measurement now is complemented by large field survey projects using passive samplers as the dominant instrumentation. Examples of the use of each type of field research are discussed. These include 1. the Medford weatherisation retrofit study in which air quality of 8 houses occupied by smokers was evaluated before and after sealing ductwork and 2 a passive radon sample of 270 houses.