Source · category
Renovation and redecoration
Also: redecoration, refurbishment, home renovation
Building work carried out in a home, school or office that is still in use — painting, laying new flooring, plasterboard, replacing furniture — together with the weeks afterwards during which the new surfaces release what they were made with.
Why it matters indoors
Renovation is a source category rather than a single product: what reaches the air comes from the paints, adhesives, boards and coverings used, and from the dust raised while they are installed. The distinguishing feature is timing. A room that was unremarkable last month can, for a period after the work, carry concentrations of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde that no measurement taken before the work would have predicted.
What has been measured
In a French study of children attending daycare, the investigators grouped the measured indoor compounds by statistical factor. The group they described as construction or painting emissions was associated with recurrent wheeze (odds ratio 1.31, 95 % CI 1.06–1.64) and with ever wheeze treated with inhaled corticosteroids (odds ratio 1.26, 95 % CI 1.02–1.55) (F-0033, F-0034).
That is one study, in one country, in one kind of building. It is enough to say the association was found; it is not enough to say what any particular renovation does to any particular room.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formaldehyde (CH₂O) | other 1.60 | — · renovated room (sealed) | laboratory and room experiments with a biofilter of sponge layers carrying the formaldehyde-degrading bacterium S-R1: sealed boxes, a prototype apparatus and a 31-day run in a renovated, closed room; co-authored by a biotechnology company | F-0323 Formaldehyde-Degrading Bacteria R1 Is Effective in Removing … (2024) | machine |
| Atopic dermatitis (eczema) | OR 1.54 (1.01–2.34) | preschool children · dwelling | descriptive cross-sectional online questionnaire study among parents of 964 preschool children in Hail City, Saudi Arabia (July-September 2022), self-administered pre-tested questionnaire distributed on social media, multivariate logistic regression of risk factors for parent-reported diagnosed eczema | F-0590 Prevalence and Influencing Risk Factors of Eczema Among Pres… (2022) | machine |
| Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) | OR 9.23 (1.17–73.00) · borderline | pregnant women and their newborns · home | case-control study in eastern China: indoor total volatile organic compounds, PM2.5 and PM10 measured in the homes of mothers of infants with congenital heart disease and of controls, with logistic regression adjusted for confounders and stratified by recent redecoration and by the use of a cooking smoke ventilator | F-1111 Association between maternal exposure to indoor air pollutio… (2022) | machine |
| Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) | the text layer garbles the unit as ug/rn' | — · living room | case study of one house in Japan: formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds measured in the living room and the bedroom before and after the house was remodelled, against the Japanese guideline values | F-1189 Case study of volatile organic compounds in indoor air of a … (2007) | machine |
| Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) | the text layer garbles the unit as ug/m' and ug/rn' | — · home (bedroom) | case study of one house in Japan: formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds measured in the living room and the bedroom before and after the house was remodelled, against the Japanese guideline values | F-1190 Case study of volatile organic compounds in indoor air of a … (2007) | machine |
| Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) | median 291 | — · living room | measurement study in seven newly built houses in Japan: 64 volatile organic compounds and two aldehydes sampled in the living room and the bedroom of each house one month after construction and again later, against the Japanese provisional target values | F-1200 Suzuki Changes in the concentration of volatile organic compounds a… (2019) | machine |
| Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) | median 189 | — · home (bedroom) | measurement study in seven newly built houses in Japan: 64 volatile organic compounds and two aldehydes sampled in the living room and the bedroom of each house one month after construction and again later, against the Japanese provisional target values | F-1201 Suzuki Changes in the concentration of volatile organic compounds a… (2019) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | OR 1.31 (1.06–1.64) | children · daycare | cross-sectional study, 532 children in 100 daycares (French CRESPI cohort, 2019-2022), generalized estimating equations | F-0033 Association between volatile organic compound concentrations… (2026) | machine |
| Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | OR 1.26 (1.02–1.55) | children · daycare | cross-sectional study, 532 children in 100 daycares (French CRESPI cohort, 2019-2022), generalized estimating equations | F-0034 Association between volatile organic compound concentrations… (2026) | 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.
How strong is the evidence
-
In children attending daycare, a single French study suggests that higher indoor concentrations of two solvents — methyl isobutyl ketone and 1-methoxy-2-propyl acetate — go together with recurrent wheeze; for two further compounds the association did not survive correction for multiple testing.
A Claim is Coridum reading the Findings together, not a quotation from one study — according to Coridum. The grade follows the study designs behind it: A is the strongest, D means a single study or a mechanism.
In the literature
- Association between volatile organic compound concentrations in daycares and child wheeze: the French CRESPI study (2026). Environ Health. doi:10.1186/s12940-026-01307-6 CKB 1230
Studies in the Coridum Knowledge Base in which this term is used. The definition follows standard usage in WHO, ISO and textbook sources; it is not quoted from these papers.
CKB = document number in the Coridum Knowledge Base, our curated library of peer-reviewed studies. Follow the DOI for the original paper.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Renovation and redecoration. Coridum Knowledge G-0100, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0100/