The number of people of getting allergic symptoms is increasing and the reasons are considered to be many. The human have changed their habits and spend more time indoor. In combination with new building technologies where denser housing constructions and new materials this causes bad indoor climate contributes to a higher occurrence of allergies There are several courses of action to deal with this problem. One action is by choosing allergy-free interior surface materials. An allergy-free material emits low concentrations of harmful substances resulting in a great indoor air quality. An allergy-free living demands a frequently cleaning and resistant material are required. As a consumer today, it is difficult to assess how allergy-friendly building materials are and the national requirements. The report summarizes the most common types of surface materials and their properties of functioning and emissions. Emissions are releases of harmful substances from the material. The harmful substances studied are VOC's, formaldehyde and phthalates. The studies have shown that there is small amount of available information about allergy-friendly materials. There are general guidelines in "Svenska miljömålen", "Boverkets byggregeler" and "Kemikalieinspektionens föreskrifter". The guidelines are difficult to apply when there is no information about specific properties of materials. It is possible to note how suitable different types of materials are relative to each other. The materials considered appropriate in an allergy-free living are a base of gypsum board and finishes of tiles and plain wallpaper. When selecting materials, it is important to consider in what environment material is used and what factors might affect it. Some materials may degrade properties while get in contact with moisture. Increased moisture increase emission of harmful substances and therefore sensitive materials should be avoided in environments with high moisture. For consumers to make informed choices of allergy-friendly surface materials a classification system is needed. For this to be applicable building materials should be labeled by this classification system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-102389 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Karlsdotter, Ellen, Wallin, Emilia |
| Publisher | KTH, Byggvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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