ᐅ Excess Moisture in a Single-Family Home After Installing the Screed? Risk of Mold?
Created on: 1 Jan 2022 18:33
D
Der_Hansi1968
Hello dear forum members,
On December 13th/14th, the screed was installed in our detached house/KfW55/controlled ventilation/gas heating/1.5 stories/185sqm (1990 sqft). We have been ventilating as instructed until today. When I took a closer look today, I unfortunately noticed that
- there are water droplets on the ceiling of the ground floor at some spots,
- some wooden rafters are slowly absorbing moisture again,
- quite a few already dry wall surfaces appear wet or damp again, and
- the foil in the upper floor/attic is damp in most places.
The hygrometer has shown humidity levels between 85-95% in recent days, especially higher in the attic, of course.
On January 10th, the gas heating will be connected to start drying the screed. So far, we have not used any construction dryers or similar equipment.
Questions:
1.) Is this amount of moisture in the house normal at this stage of construction and at this time of year?
2.) If not, in your opinion, is there already a risk of mold? Or is it more likely that after the heating phase by the end of January everything will dry out and be resolved?
3.) Would you recommend setting up construction dryers temporarily as an additional measure?
I am a layperson and have no idea if this is "normal" or if we are heading toward a serious mold problem. My builder won’t be back from vacation until next week, and I want to be prepared with your assessments/comments. Otherwise, all the moisture might be sealed behind drywall quickly, and we could face big problems later. Attached are some photos. By the way, my builder is really great and very cooperative, but as mentioned not currently available.
Thank you for your input and Happy New Year 2022!
On December 13th/14th, the screed was installed in our detached house/KfW55/controlled ventilation/gas heating/1.5 stories/185sqm (1990 sqft). We have been ventilating as instructed until today. When I took a closer look today, I unfortunately noticed that
- there are water droplets on the ceiling of the ground floor at some spots,
- some wooden rafters are slowly absorbing moisture again,
- quite a few already dry wall surfaces appear wet or damp again, and
- the foil in the upper floor/attic is damp in most places.
The hygrometer has shown humidity levels between 85-95% in recent days, especially higher in the attic, of course.
On January 10th, the gas heating will be connected to start drying the screed. So far, we have not used any construction dryers or similar equipment.
Questions:
1.) Is this amount of moisture in the house normal at this stage of construction and at this time of year?
2.) If not, in your opinion, is there already a risk of mold? Or is it more likely that after the heating phase by the end of January everything will dry out and be resolved?
3.) Would you recommend setting up construction dryers temporarily as an additional measure?
I am a layperson and have no idea if this is "normal" or if we are heading toward a serious mold problem. My builder won’t be back from vacation until next week, and I want to be prepared with your assessments/comments. Otherwise, all the moisture might be sealed behind drywall quickly, and we could face big problems later. Attached are some photos. By the way, my builder is really great and very cooperative, but as mentioned not currently available.
Thank you for your input and Happy New Year 2022!
A
Alessandro24 Feb 2022 10:26WilderSueden schrieb:
The screed will probably be installed in summer, so I haven’t given it much thought yet. Until now, I was quite calm about it, but I’m surprised at how quickly mold can develop and definitely want to avoid that. I’ll wait until the screed installation is more certain before making further plans.
We are building with two full stories and an unheated attic above. So, there won’t be any skylights, but we will definitely keep the attic windows tilted open if moisture comes through the hatch.Make sure to close the hatch to the attic! Moist air collects there and can damage the roof beams.
HausiKlausi25 Feb 2022 21:42Prager91 schrieb:
Does anyone here have experience with mold? How is it usually removed? Sanding down and treating chemically, then it’s done? Could it come back after a few months because the mold might still be inside the wooden beam? How do you handle something like this? First, stay calm. Mold appears and can also disappear. It does not live INSIDE the wood like woodworm. The key is always to eliminate the causes, not just the black spots. Once a balanced temperature and humidity level is established, mold should no longer be an issue. Especially important is to regularly ventilate the damp air and not save on room heating.
Prager91 schrieb:
This probably happens more often nowadays... Sure, everything needs to be done quickly today. A house is built within weeks. The wood is only moderately well dried, and moisture is pushed out of the house with an incredible amount of energy as fast as possible. Just consider how many hundreds of liters (gallons) of water are stored in wall plaster or floors. Most of that moisture needs to be removed from the rooms again. Preferably sooner rather than later. Such unwanted side effects are therefore almost inevitable.
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