Figuratively speaking, it’s good to “make the dust fly” during an interior renovation—clients want their work done with energy and speed—but the real dust and odors that are produced during construction are not so good for people.
To ensure the comfort and well-being of workers and building occupants, Chapman follows the guidelines of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association for good indoor air quality during construction.

Here are some of the measures that we employ:

• To protect running HVAC equipment, we always install filters on return air ducts so we don’t suck dust into the system. If the HVAC system has been shut down, we seal the supply and return openings with plastic.
• To control pollutant sources, our supervisors exhaust dust and fumes to the outside and away from building air intakes.
• To prevent contaminants from migrating into occupied spaces, we erect barriers to contain pollution and depressurize the work area with portable fans.
• To prevent the growth of mold, we protect porous materials from moisture by covering them with plastic sheeting. We also are careful to sequence our operations properly. For example, we make the building weather-tight, pressure test water lines, and fill and test waste and vent lines before we install insulation, GWB, ACT, or carpet.
• Additionally, we schedule construction activities with high pollution potential, such as sand blasting and spray painting, outside of regular work hours.

Coupled with daily sweeping or vacuuming after finishes are applied, these measures help maintain indoor air quality during construction and pave the way for a healthy indoor environment after we’re gone.

Maintenance of indoor air quality then falls to the building operators who can couple air quality monitoring systems with HVAC controls to provide proper ventilation for good health and worker productivity while controlling costs.

published 04.08.2010