In new unoccupied houses, the concentrations of formaldehyde and other VOCs of concern with respect to human health and comfort can be elevated relative to toxicity guidelines and odor thresholds (Hodgson et al., 2000). These gaseous pollutants derive from materials that are widely used to construct and to finish the interiors of houses (Hodgson et al., 2002). Efforts to improve indoor air quality in new houses likely can benefit from further investigation of the sources of VOC contamination and of the dynamic behavior of individual compounds of concern over both relatively short and long time periods. .
