Guidelines to avoid mould growth in buildings

There is now widespread acceptance that mould growth in buildings should be avoided as it may lead to adverse health effects. Consequently, it is critically important to have appropriate guidelines that address this issue. As well as reviewing the existing literature with regard to the state of the art of relevant mould-related research, this chapter reports on work aimed at developing mould-related Building Regulation guidance for dwellings in England and Wales. The major findings are, first, that although the factors that influence mould growth are well known, in buildings the variation and interrelationships of and between those are complex and, second, to deal with this complexity there is a fundamental choice between setting specific moisture performance criteria or using a 'mould model' to demonstrate compliance with regulations. At present, for England and Wales, the setting of moisture criteria is preferable and this chapter makes relevant suggestions for such criteria. © 2009 Earthscan.