mold

One of the most renowned German research center, the 'Fraunhofer Institute', has carried a number of studies on the subject of mold. And they are still doing research on the topic. They found out that in most cases, more than one factor is responsible for the development of mold. By the way, there is different types of molds and they all grow under slightly different conditions. However, it is usually a combination between insufficient ventilation and cold operative temperatures. In newly built buildings they also found that sometimes inhabitants move in too early, not allowing the building materials to dry out properly. Other common factors that benefit mold development are thermal bridges that cause interior surface temperatures to drop locally (and as a result cause operative temperatures to drop locally). So do defects in the insulation. And finally the obvious one, damages to water-bearing pipes. As it should become apparent by now, the insulation and the detail design to minimize thermal bridges not only has a major impact on our thermal comfort but also on mold growth or mold growht prevention. 

 

One of the studies the 'Fraunhofer Institute' carried out was a comparison between several countries in Europe. They found that in each country a certain percentage of the population is living in buildings that suffer from mold. As we can see, Portugal is on the far right, on top of the list with about 33% of the population living under such circumstances. In other words, if you buy a house in Portugal your chance of ending up with mold issues is 1 in 3. Quite high considering certain health problems such as Asthma, just to name one, can relate directly to mold. Along the coast the likelyhood is probalby even higher as the air tend to get drier towards the inland, reducing this problem by default. This is why SHB-Houses is very sensitive towards insulation details and pays a lot more attention to such during the planning process already.