Posted on 11/29/2002 1:20:38 PM PST by Jean S
A modern, tight, steel-frame home can store about 5 gallons before reaching the same point.
Given the inevitability of leaks at some point, which home do you think is more likely to develop a mold problem?
It doesn't seem to make any difference as far as I can see; what counts is the excess moisture.
The less moisture a substance can absorb, the faster it will dry; what counts is finding infiltrated moisture and abating it before the insidious mold occurs (grows).
First you say that a 1900 era home holds the most moisture. Then you say a metal home holds 5% moisture. You say it is unfortunate that metal does not hold moisture. I thought the crux of the conversation was the reason there is mold is because of moisture??%&$#!
SR
If you have a radius, say 24", that must be boarded, how do you do it? Soak several layers of 1/4" for a few days in water then slap it up? How do you get rid of the moisture before mold growth occurs?
SR
It sounds like it.
Get yourself a hygrometer ($30), and monitor the relative humidity in your home. Keep it between 40 and 60% if you can.
Until recently, I was working as an electrician on million dollar homes up in the Highlands/Cashiers area. The contractors installed the crappiest, cheapest systems in those homes that I had ever seen. The rich saps paying for those fancy lake homes will be uncomfortable forever in them.
I saw one unit that was installed in an almost-inaccessible attic space above a bedroom. There was just no way that anybody was ever going to get up there and clean the coils or change the filter.
That's been my experience, too. That's why I now build only my own houses for my own self.
True, but there is another subtle motive behind the cluster f**k scenario. The guy I used to work for (as an electrician) purposely sent out his most incompetent crew to rough in a house. It would take them literally weeks to complete, and it was done wrong.
Six months later, when the trim-out crew came back and tried to make things work, they would have to pull new home runs (a real problem in a log house), and rewire half the house.
The boss got paid extra to fix the problems that he himself had created.
When did my first rough-in for this bozo, I took photographs of the whole inststallation before the wall-covering went on. The boss wouldn't pay me to get the film developed, because he wanted the trim-out crew to spend as much time as possible figuring out what the rough-in crew had done.
My rough-ins always worked perfectly the first time. They worked so well that the boss fired me. He couldn't charge the customers extra because there was nothing to fix on the houses I wired.
It's a real problem. It takes years of being around home and lots of reading to develop an understanding of some of the problems. It's better to find people that already know this stuff and pay them to do the job right - but such people are becoming very rare these days.
Even conctractors who do know how to do a sound job find that there is no market for it, and end up doing it "quick and dirty".
Home inspectors walk a fine line. Even if they do know that they are looking at what could be a serious problem, they don't always mention it. They have to be political, too. And neither do they have X-ray vision.
I have nothing but contempt for Architects. They learn how to make "pretty" houses, but know absolutely nothing about the systems inside, or construction methods. They don't leave room in their cutsey structures for heating ducts, electrical equipment, or access to the HVAC system. All that stuff is just an afterthought to them.
The low flow in your kitchen could be due to one of the new "AlGore" faucets, which have flow restrictors in them. I accidentally bought one of those, and I can read a chapter in a book while waiting for a spagetti pot to fill up.
Sounds like the lack of a monthly bath.
The sensible/total ratio is a measure of how much humidity the unit will remove during the cooling season. It's a really important number in humid climates like we have here in the South. You want the ratio to be less than 75%, which means that at least 25% of the of the cooling power of the unit is going toward removing moisture. The new variable speed air handlers tend to have better numbers.
The air changes per hour ACH is a room-by-room calculation. First, you calculate the volume of the room. Then you figure how much air you need to pump into that room to entirely change out that much volume several times per hour. It's the starting point for duct sizing to each room, and when you have done this for all spaces in the house, then you know how much air flow you need from your air-handler.
You want about 3-5 ACH for most rooms, and about 10 for kitchens and bathrooms. But of course you have to calculate how much heat you need to add/remove from each room as well.
My bet is that it is the air infiltration requirements on windows coupled with the use of vapor that is causing the moisture buildup. It's like living in a big white trash bag. Rx from Dr. Nitti: expensive fresh air exchangers or in warmer climes open the windows and turn off the AC.
But your point is well taken.
Yes, its all about perceptions. Whenever the media and trial lawyers get together, I get nervous. They nearly destroyed the nuclear power industry, mostly through fear-mongering. They really know how to whip up public opinion (look at the global-warming and Kyoto fiascos, not to mention NBC blowing up Chevy trucks) with scant scientific evidence. The best way to pretrain a jury is to saturate the news with a "problem" prior to any trials.
My goal here is to temper the argument - to make sure that freepers know that while the mold issue is a real problem, it isn't nearly as widespread as the media in some areas make it out to be. (Strangely, the media here has never jumped on the mold bandwagon - the only mold mentioned here is the jello-mold in the food section).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.