Indoor Environmental Quality Daydreams and Nightmares Building
performance renovation contractors and Weatherization Assistance
program workers daydream of making homes healthy, comfortable,
energy efficient, and durable. But sometimes when they are in
the middle of a project, they find their dreams have become
indoor environmental quality (IEQ) nightmares. Most contractors
are well prepared to deal with some potential IEQ nightmares,
such as CO poisoning and building materials that have lead-based
coatings. However, there are numerous other sources of IEQ
nightmares. These include asbestos; radon; volatile organic
compounds; sulfur-containing drywall—typically from China—and
even everyday construction dust, which many building performance
contractors take no notice of. The first potential IEQ nightmare
is one of the most overlooked, as well as one of the most
regulated, indoor environmental hazards: asbestos. Asbestos is
regulated at the local, state, and federal levels. All of these
laws are intended to pro