With increasing public awareness regarding radon, this study has been conducted with the aim of providing more accurate information about radon to the public. We investigated the radon emissions from gypsum boards, which are known to emit relatively higher levels of radon among the building materials available on the market. Radon emissions were measured over three weeks using the closed chamber method with nuclear track detectors. For ceiling materials, the arithmetic mean of the radon emissions was 43.8 ± 42.2 Bq/m3 (geometric mean: 28.9 ± 5.6), 156.2 ± 150.5 mBq/m2/h per unit area (geometric mean, 103.1 ± 2.7) and 21.1 ± 19.9 mBq/kg/h per unit mass (geometric mean: 14.4 ± 2.6). Regarding the wall materials, the arithmetic mean of radon emissions was 24.1 ± 24.0 Bq/m3 (geometric mean: 15.6 ± 2.6), 133.3 ± 143.4 mBq/m2/h per unit area (geometric mean, 76.8 ± 3.0) and 13.0 ± 10.4 mBq/kg/h per unit mass (geometric mean, 9.5 ± 2.3). According to the results of this study, higher radon concentrations and emissions were detected in the ceiling materials than in the wall materials, but these values were lower than those previously measured in building materials.

Recently, functional building materials have been developed and introduced to the market. Many building materials emit volatile organic compounds(VOCs) which have the potential to affect health and comfort, and moisture problem has a major role also being established in indoor air quality (1AQ) problems. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of reduction of HCHO using the gupsum board and water vapour adsorption/desorption property for ceiling board for mock-up test room and test house. The mock-up test is conducted according environmental standard method for indoor air quality of the ministry of environment. The results of this study are as follows, the reduction of HCHO gypsum boards are showed an effect to reduce the formaldehyde(HCHO) concentration of mock-up test room and test house. The indoor humidity is also showed to be lower than the general ceiling materials, since there is increased in the absorbed indoor humidity by using a humidifier with moisture adsorption/desorption ceiling materials. In natural conditions, moisture adsorption/desorption ceiling materials is showed a higher humidity than general ceiling materials constructed in the mock-up test room. However It changes of moisture adsorption/desorption is not appeared in test house. Therefore, in case of decreasing and increasing in humidity, these materials can be offset by reduction of HCHO using the gypsum board.

140 buildings of Korean major cities were investigated for the presence of asbestos and man made mineral fibers (MMMF) in their construction materials. 73 (52%) and 84 (60%) buildings contained asbestos and MMMF in their construction materials, respectively, and 17 (12%) buildings contained both asbestos and MMMF. 75% of the asbestos containing buildings were mostly constructed during 1970's. 100% of underground shopping arcades, 90% of manufacturing workplaces, 84% of train and bus terminals had the asbestos containing construction materials. The manufacturing workplaces of Daejeon (89%) and Daegu (89%), which mostly had been built in the past, used asbestos containing building materials, while the building in Seoul, Busan and Jinju, which were constructed recently, used relatively lower asbestos containing building materials with 46%, 28%, and 33%, respectively. 9 building materials that have been widely used in Korea were analyzed using a transmission electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (TEM-EDX) for their mineral contents. All asbestos fibers showed typical characteristics of chrysotile fibers with hollow tube structure. The average diameter ranged from 0.03㎛ to 0.05㎛, and the average length were ranged from 7.5㎛ to 12.0㎛. Atomic percentages of asbestos fibers were 51.9∼55.9% of Mg, 41.3∼44.3% for Si, and 2.7∼4.8% for Fe.