Housings with tar-containing parquet-adhesives - Model investigations for the evaluation of indoor PAH-contaminations

Public housings with tar-containing parquet adhesives, especially in former US-housing areas, are regarded as a serious problem. Health risks from pol ycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in house dust and indoor air are discus sed widely. The present paper shows data about the contamination of house d ust and indoor air in dwellings with tar-containing parquet adhesives and c ompares these charges with the situation in normal housings. In indoor air of objects with tar adhesives BaP-concentration up to 1 ng/m(3) could be fo und. The results of the present study point out, that no correlation betwee n the BaP-concentrations in the adhesive, the dust and the air are detectab le. In most housings with tar adhesives the concentrations for BaP in dust are comparable to those background concentrations in dust found in housings without tar adhesives. Normally the BaP concentrations in house dust are b elow I mg/kg. only in flats with a damaged parquet-floor surface an importa nt transfer path for BaP from tar adhesives exists. To estimate a possible contamination of BaP it is necessary to describe of the condition of the pa rquet-floor. For more volatile PAH like phenanthrene or fluoranthene an inf luence of tar seen in indoor air and house dust is traceable.