Source · material
Adhesives and sealants
Also: adhesive, sealant, glue, mastic, flooring adhesive, silicone sealant
The glues, mastics and joint fillers used to fix and seal building materials. They are applied in small quantities but sit in the joint for the life of the installation, and they often decide what a certified low-emission board actually releases once it is laid.
Where it comes from indoors
The quantity is small and the position is bad. An adhesive is spread as a thin layer under a floor covering or behind a panel, where it cannot dry freely and cannot later be ventilated; a sealant fills a joint and stays exposed at one face for years. Both are therefore slower and more persistent sources than their volume suggests.
Chemistry decides what is released. Solvent-borne adhesives give up their solvent over days. Water-borne dispersions release glycol ethers and residual monomer. Curing systems — polyurethane, silicone, epoxy — release what the curing reaction liberates, which can include amines, oximes or acetic acid, and which continues while the cure does.
Two interactions are specific to this group. An alkaline screed that is still damp can decompose the adhesive under a floor covering and turn a finished floor into a lasting source; and an adhesive chosen carelessly nullifies the certificate of the panel it fixes.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | prevalence 45.0 | children at the age of two · dwelling | birth cohort in Paris: the parents of the children reported the exposures of the dwelling at the age of two, among them environmental tobacco smoke, bleach, glue and alkyd or acrylic paints used for renovation | F-1370 Apel Home environment: respiratory and allergic phenotypes from b… (2019) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | mean 22.23 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1073 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | mean 21.47 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1074 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
| Benzene | mean 10.59 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1075 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | mean 10.36 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1076 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | mean 10.27 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1077 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
| Xylene | other 45.51 | — · test chamber | chamber study of 21 volatile pollutants emitted by white emulsion and silicone adhesives: chemical concentrations, odour contributions and cancer and non-cancer health risks of each compound | F-1078 Zhao et al. Characterizing Key Volatile Pollutants Emitted from Adhesive… (2022) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Adhesives and sealants. Coridum Knowledge G-0140, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0140/