Objective To understand the pollution and attenuation trend over time of formaldehyde in residential houses with different types of decoration.
Methods Three groups of residential houses were divided by the count and type of woodbased plane (WBP) used: low decoration, high decoration, and furniture (WBP furniture were used besides low decoration) groups. Each group contained 12 households. Another 12 households without using any WBP or purchased furniture were set as the control group. Monitoring formaldehyde in indoor air of selected rooms with different types of decoration lasted for seven months. The first monitoring was conducted in one month after the decoration, and thereafter once a month. Determination of formaldehyde concentration was performed according to Standard method for hygienic examination of formaldehyde in air of residential areas-Spectrophotometric method (GB/T 16129-1995).
Results The concentrations of formaldehyde in the low and the high decoration groups were (0.084& #177;0.040) mg/m3 and (0.19& #177;0.28) mg/m3 (P<0.01), respectively, and that of the furniture group was (0.49& #177;0.56) mg/m3 which was significantly higher than that of the low and high decoration groups (Fs=5.15, 6.39, Ps<0.01). There was also a statistical difference between the three groups mentioned above and the control group (Fs=3.12, 6.67, 8.93, respectively, all Ps<0.05). After seven months, there was no statistical difference in the formaldehyde concentrations between the low decoration group (0.012& #177;0.028) mg/m3 and the control group (F=2.62, P > 0.05), but higher formaldehyde concentrations were found in the high decoration group (0.083& #177;0.041) mg/m3 and the furniture group (0.087& #177;0.30) mg/m3 when compared to the control group (F=7.25 and 7.22, P<0.05).
Conclusion The use of WBP and furniture may affect the pollution level of indoor formaldehyde. After seven months, the concentrations of indoor formaldehyde for the high decoration group and the furniture group are still at a high level.
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