Mold in New Construction
New Construction and Mold
New construction might not be the place you’d expect a costly mold situation to occur- but as builders grow busier and busier and have to build through wet conditions, structures become more and more susceptible to mold damage. Your risk of footing an expensive remediation bill all depends on your ability to handle the situation properly and within the appropriate timeframes with the builder.
What is causing the mold to grow?
With new construction, there are typically 3 possible causes for mold to begin growing. Identifying the cause is essential to addressing the problem in the correct way to ensure that the mold does not reoccur.
1. Wet Lumber
This typically presents itself in isolated locations on the framing, roof sheeting, and subfloor. ‘Lumber mold’ often was wet when it was processed at the lumber mill and often is just staining deep in the wood structure. It typically is an aesthetic blemish only and is not indicative of a current moisture or microbial problem in the home. Lumber mold is typically oval shaped spots and affects primarily 2x4s and other framing materials.
2. Wet Building Conditions
When construction occurs during rain and snow storms, there’s a high chance that the construction materials will get wet. This is typically not a problem as long as everything gets dried out right away, but often the materials will remain wet for a long enough time to allow mold to grow. T
This will often affect roof sheeting, subfloor, and framing sill plates. Affected areas will need to be dried out completely and any mold growth treated and removed from the structure.
Wet building conditions can be even made worse with lack of proper ventilation.
3. Lack of Proper Ventilation
After a structure becomes wet, proper ventilation is essential to preventing mold growth from occurring. This is especially important in enclosed spaces like the crawlspace.
Often there will be standing water present in the crawlspace that will go unnoticed for a significant amount of time. As this moisture evaporates, it raises the humidity levels and condensates on the subfloor and rim joist, providing a perfect environment for mold to begin growing.
Is it Dangerous?
Mold affects individuals very differently, so it is hard to make cut and dry health recommendations. Indoor air quality should be within reasonable ranges of what is occurring naturally outside the home. There will always be mold spores floating through the air, but if you are exposed to concentrated amounts or toxigenic species, there can be significant health risks associated with the exposure.
Lumber mold typically is mainly staining and is not releasing spores into the air. It is an aesthetic blemish and normally has little to no impact on indoor living conditions.
If there are significant amounts of mold in the crawlspace, there is a chance that it can affect indoor air quality, although it depends primarily on crawlspace pressurization.
Crawlspace Pressure
Crawlspaces are typically isolated environments and crawlspace air shouldn’t be entering into the living space. This can quickly change however if the crawlspace is pressurized and creates a positive pressure that pushes air into the living space.
Positive pressure in the crawlspace occurs when there’s a significant temperature difference where warm air from the crawlspace rises and is forced into the rest of the building structure. This is commonly occurs if there has been a hot water leak, if heaters are being used to dry out the crawlspace, or HVAC ducting is not properly sealed or connected.
If there is a mold problem in the crawlspace, then it is best to place the crawlspace under negative pressure by setting up fans to pull air from the crawlspace to the exterior. This will prevent the crawlspace from being pressurized and cross-contaminating the living space above.
Testing
The only way to determine whether or not mold is affecting the indoor living conditions is to conduct air-sampling to evaluate airborne spore counts. A professional mold inspector will help evaluate the lab results and determine if indoor air quality is being affected by the mold growth below.
How Do I Protect Myself?
It can be a big deal if you discover mold in your new build, but it’s a problem that can be fixed! The home doesn’t need to be torn down or burned. Having the growth professionally remediated can return the home condition back to new.
To protect yourself from financial liability and potential health consequences follow these steps:
1. Communicate
Talk with your builder about your concerns, especially if building conditions have been wet. Visit the site if possible to look for signs of moisture intrusion.
2. Hire an inspector
A mold inspector can quickly tell if there is an issue present or conditions that will allow for problems to occur. Make sure the structure is inspected before signing and before insulation is installed!
Mold can be a scary topic to deal with and you certainly don’t want it in your brand new home! Follow these steps to walk through the process correctly and to ensure your peace of mind moving forward.
