Assessing physical conditions of indoor space enclosing elements in schools in relation to their indoor environmental quality

Field observations conducted during indoor environmental quality studies generally capture relevant building characteristics and occupants' discomfort coping strategies but do not capture the physical condition of indoor space enclosing elements including walls, floor, and windows despite their likelihood to influence indoor environmental quality. Hence, there is limited empirical evidence on the extent to which the conditions of building elements influence indoor environmental quality. This research investigated the usefulness of the newly developed space level condition assessment instrument for assessing the impact of building elements' physical conditions on indoor environmental quality particularly in schools. The research involved assessing the physical condition of building elements using the instrument and conducting field measurements of indoor environmental quality parameters in 52 classrooms in new, renovated, and non-renovated schools. Variance analyses of the space level condition assessment data found the most number of statistically significant differences between new and non-renovated schools, and the least between renovated and non-renovated schools. Association analyses found theoretically relevant associations between space level condition assessment scores and indoor environmental quality field measurements, the most significant association being between the main envelope space level condition assessment score and relative humidity in non-renovated schools. Findings of this research should be of interest school divisions looking to improve the indoor environmental quality of their existing schools.