Presents a selection of moisture problems encountered in the south eastern USA. Discusses moisture in attics, moisture in floor cavities, moisture inside the house, hardwood floors with moisture problems, and vented crawlspaces.
Documents what some builders have said about problems with moisture, soot and IAQ in relation to unvented gas fireplaces. Unvented gas fireplaces have become popular recently in the US due to their low cost and flexibility in installation. However many building scientists and indoor air quality professionals have warned against their use because discharging combustion by products into the home invites serious moisture and IAQ problems.
Part 1 of this feature discussed the particular moisture and air quality related problems of midrise housing, and took a close look at two cases. This article analyses issues unique to 'Veterans Era Housing' (US housing built for World War II veterans during the 40s and 50s) and presents three cases where moisture problems were successfully addressed.
Explores how water gets into a structure, why it doesn't leave, and how these architectural flaws become HVAC problems. States that mechanical engineers need to understand the roots of the problems in order to defend their work if IAQ becomes a problem once the building is occupied. The article reviews air control and pressurization, ventilation and humidity control and provides some resources to help expand the reader's knowledge of design and construction errors that lead to HVAC problems.
The project selected fifteen patients known to be allergic to house dust mites and living in homes with bad moisture damage. The aim was to study the effect on the indoor environment and medical parameters after adequate measures had been taken against moisture damage. Moisture and other technical parameters in the indoor environment and the damaged building components were measured prior to, and at least one year after, these measures. Questionnaire surveys and various medical examinations were made parallel with the measurements.
States that there is an evident relationship between the occurrence of mould indoors and medical conditions such as inflammation of the airways, and that glucans, found in active and inactive mould, can be used as a measure of the biomass of mould. Elevated quantities of glucans have been found in buildings where complaints had been made, but where there was no visible mould or mouldy smell. An investigation of an estate of terraced housed found that the quantity of airborne glucans was determined as an indication of the quantity of mould spores in the air in 70 houses.
Unexpectedly, the indoor-outdoor pressure difference did not affect significantly the moisture content in different layers of two outer walls but the moisture content depended more strongly on the moisture content in outdoor.
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