House building materials

We have selected 10 houses for measurement. Parameters such as house age, house building material, and radon in water levels were considered. 

Erionite is not known to be currently mined or marketed for commercial purposes. Natural erionite has been replaced by synthetic nonfibrous zeolites. However, erionite was used as a noble metal impregnated catalyst in a hydrocarbon-cracking process, and erionite-rich blocks was also used for house building materials. Its use to increase soil fertility and to control odors in livestock production has been studied. 

A small percentage of the buildings in the United States with indoor radon concentrations in excess of 4 pCi/L can be attributed to building materials. Most of the building material problems have arisen from the use of known radium- or uranium-rich wastes such as aggregate in block or as backfill around houses. None of the houses studied in the U.S. EPA Radon Reduction Demonstration program have had any identifiable problem associated with radon from building materials. 

Davey, N. (1961), A History of Building Materials, Phoenix House, London. 

This corresponds to a dose reduction in the house of more than a factor of 2. It also shows that more than half of the household radon is caused by the radon from water. The 0.76 pCi/1 is the radon caused by soil gas and building materials. These results are summarized in Table IV. 

These averages are weighted for the proportion of houses built of different building materials in the whole country, not for the four municipalities. There are differences in these proportions between parts of the country. 

When we build a house, we only require a certain number of building materials say, bricks, tubes and window panes. The quantity surveyor in charge of the building project decides which materials are needed, and writes a quantity beside each on his order form 10000 bricks, 20 window panes, etc. Similarly, when we have a velocity, we have the units of m and s-1 , and then quantify it, saying something like, The man ran fast, covering a distance of 10 metres per second . By this means, any parameter is defined both qualitatively (in terms of its units) and quantitatively (in terms of a number). With symbols, we would write v = 10 ms-1. 

Several possible applications of concrete-polymer material includes sewer and pressure pipe, building material for housing, underwater structures, railroad ties, and chemically resistant material of construction for large desalination plants. The incorporation of colored dyes with the monomer allows concrete-polymer material to be considered for various esthetic applications, such as in decorative wall and floor tile. 

Many things that are required to build a house rely on chemical reactions. Concrete, for example, is a mixture of cement, sand, and gravel or crushed stone. When water is added to this mixture, a chemical reaction called hydration takes place. During hydration, the compounds in the cement form chemical connections with the surrounding water molecules. Concrete is a popular building material because it is resistant to wind, water, rodents, and insects. It is also non-combustible, which means it will not catch fire. 

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (1995) Building Materials for the... 

Typical activities of building materials, such as bricks and concrete, in the UK and USA are in a similar range (20 to 50 Bq kg-1) (Nero, 1983), but granite used in older houses in Cornwall has about 100 Bq kg -1 of radium (O Riordan et al., 1982). In Sweden, Hultqvist (1956) found about 1000 Bq kg-1 radium equivalent gamma activity in lightweight concrete made from alum shale. 

Rockwool is made in several forms Figure 15-1 gives an impression of types used in traditional house building. Most of the Rockwool materials are weak and not suited for loading mechanically. However, Rockwool has developed treadable insulation panels for flat... 

Today plastics are part of everyday life. They are used for such diverse items as children s toys, food packaging, and building materials for houses, aeroplanes, ships and cars. They are very varied, both in their composition, and in their use. The total world sales of plastics is greater than that of metal. Few totally new plastics are nowadays developed, but existing plastics are becoming much more sophisticated, and new uses are found for them. The world of plastics is an ever-changing one. 

Radon exhalation is the flux of Rn from surfaces of U-containing materials. In many instances, it is necessary to measure this flux to determine the source term of radon represented by the material (e.g. radon exhaled from tailings dams as a radiological impact on the public or from building materials used for houses, to determine the potential radiation hazard). There are various ways to measure this parameter. 

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