ᐅ Is mold growth possible?

Hello everyone,

we have the following issue with our new build currently under construction, where our builder wants us to confirm that potential mold growth is possible:

we have a storage room of about 3m² (32 sq ft), adjacent to the kitchen. This room is located at a corner of the house, so it has two exterior walls. The room also contains an exhaust duct for our mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system; our house will be an energy-efficient house standard 40.

We did not want underfloor heating in this storage room because we also wanted to store food there. However, during the plumbing installation, two loops from the kitchen were accidentally extended into this room.

The reasoning now is that due to the two exterior walls, the room cools down enough for condensation to form, which could promote mold growth.

I find this hard to believe because, as mentioned, the exterior walls are well insulated, and the other two walls bordering the room are uninsulated interior walls (kitchen and guest bathroom).

Is there really such an issue here?

Thank you in advance :o)

We also have a pantry of about 2.5 x 1.8m (8.2 x 5.9 feet) in the corner of the exterior wall, where I have turned off the underfloor heating. The room temperature feels to be around 18°C (64°F). Without heating, mold could definitely become a problem. Have the pipes installed and turn the heating down, so if mold ever appears, you still have some heat available. P.S. What surprises me is how well the doors insulate against heat.

The problem is that the utility room cannot be controlled separately from the kitchen; the kitchen and utility room form a single circuit...

Ah, okay, in our case, it is controllable separately! What I’m wondering, though, is whether it is even allowed to operate a room within a thermal envelope without heating.

Regarding your highly insulated exterior walls, why do you think there are no water pipes running inside the exterior wall? Because it would be too cold.

What would it cost to install another heating circuit? Or to separate the heating circuit from the kitchen with a valve?

The next issue is that the screed has already been installed by now, which makes everything a bit more complicated. But perhaps the valve would really be a practical compromise... 🙂

I think that’s well done. We have a similar corner used as a laundry room next to the bathroom, without any heating. I installed a convection heater separately, because otherwise it gets quite cold.