Air quality

I am head of conservation at the Indiana Historical Society; we are
building a new facility to open in downtown Indianapolis in 1999. A
conservator, I have requested materials used in the building be as
low in toxicity as possible. Our storage vault is poured concrete
with tile flooring, no suspended ceiling. All shelving and map files
will be powder coated.  The HVAC system is separate from the
remainder of the building, but our exhibit area is not on this
system. *Any* laminate wood product in the building will be
laminated on all surfaces, and have a marine-grade Medix or Medite
II substrate, which is extremely low in formaldehyde. I have company
specs on all carpets, tiles, wall products, paints, concrete
sealers, adhesives, fire proofing, etc. In each case, reducing
potentially harmful outgassing was taken into consideration, but
naturally I am still concerned about the potential for long-term
outgassing as the materials breakdown.

I contacted a local environmental engineer about testing these
materials independently.  He indicated the standard (and simple)
Oddy test does not measure long-term outgassing products.  Our
building engineers have been made aware of the potential
environmental "load" the new materials will have on the new
filtration system, (beside various requirements for the exhibit and
lab areas)and have planned for this load in order to try and
adequately provide us with optimum conditions.

Because some initial outgassing will occur, I would like to test the
ambient air throughout the building prior to our move for
formaldehyde, sulphurs, and reactive gases. Because I want these
measurements to be meaningful, could anyone point me to a source that
might indicate when these products are too harmful for collections
(in parts per million)? We are currently 3 months behind schedule,
but our grand opening date does not move correspondingly--so our 3
month outgassing period is dwindling--and that worries me, the
director, and the curator of photographic collections especially.
Thanks for any info,

Ramona Duncan-Huse
Head of Conservation
Indiana Historical Society Library
315 W. Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-232-1879
Fax: 317-233-3109

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:53
                 Distributed: Friday, December 12, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-53-009
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