Managing moisture in your building is potentially the most important investment you can make.

Consider This...

Moisture, in all its physical forms, is commonly regarded as the single greatest threat to durability and long-term performance of the housing stock. Excessive exposure to moisture is not only a common cause of significant damage to many types of building components and materials, it also can lead to unhealthy indoor living environments.

Some of the more serious effects resulting from moisture problems in houses include:

•decay of wood and corrosion of metals
•infestation by termites, carpenter ants and other insects
•negative impacts on indoor air quality
•the growth of mold, mildew and other biological contaminants
•reduced strength in building materials
•expansion/contraction damage to materials
•reduced thermal resistance of wet insulation
•premature failures of paints and coatings
•damage to building contents
•negative effects on building aesthetics

There is wide agreement that successful management of moisture in its various forms is essential for houses to be durable, safe, and energy efficient.

(Source: HUD)

Although the PATH program and HUD discusses only the residential sector, the same is true of all buildings in the U.S. We have evaluated serious moisture related building problems in church buildings, healthcare facilities, schools, hospitals, offices, warehouses and hotel buildings.

Commercial Building Moisture

Commercial buildings are typically much more difficult to properly diagnose when moisture issues are suspect. There are many factors which affect many commercial buildings to a greater degree than residential dwellings. These factors include multiple zones, stack effect, wind, pressure issues and claddings which are much more complicated. There are many recently studied phenomena which experiments have shown can fuel moisture in envelopes which are relatively unknown to industry professionals. This makes designing a successful repair a challenge.   

C.L.I. Croup, LLC can provide services developed to help building owners manage building moisture issues before they have the chance to become major liabilities. Our services include:

• Environmental monitoring in buildings
• Condensation risk assessment and diagnosis
• Monitoring the drying rates of damp walls and floors in new constructions
• Flood damage management

A proactive approach to moisture is always the least costly to the building owner. Choosing to ignore a moisture issue in your building in today's litigious society could end up being a costly mistake. It can also take a small problem and elevate it into a major building degradation issue.

The Humilog System, pictured is used to monitor moisture conditions and perform condensation risk assessments. Many of the moisture related problems which are occurring in buildings are happening in interstitial spaces and are not discovered until long after a significant amount of damage has been done. By performing condensation risk assessments, some of these risks can be reduced and/or eliminated.

In addition to condensation risk assessments, C.L.I. Group also utilizes modeling software to evaluate building condensation and moisture potentials during the design phase. This is always the best way to address moisture, but of course is not available to pre-existing buildings. In those cases where moisture is suspected in interstitial spaces, we utilize today's most modern technologies in not only locating moisture with these spaces, but to determine the causes of such conditions.

Our evaluations may include the use of infrared thermography to aid in our investigations. The use of thermography allows our technicians to spot thermal anomalies, which are typically found to be areas of elevated moisture using electronic moisture detection equipment.

The infrared image above shows anomalies which were late found to be high levels of moisture in wall cavity of this building. There were very limited signs of any problems on the building interior or exterior. However, a poor thin stone veneer application had caused the O.S.B. sheathing to completely deteriorate. In addition, the wall cavity had significant fungal growth which began to cause odors on the building interior.

The images above show the need for proactive moisture management from the design phase through building occupancy and on through the operation & maintenance of the building. Architects must include all elements of a carefully thought out moisture management system on the drawings. This includes all flashings, drainage planes, drip edges, etc. and all should be carefully dimensioned. Careful consideration to materials and exposures must also be given.

C.L.I. Group, LLC uses modeling to predict potential problems or define areas requiring special attention to specific details or materials. Although not quantitatively accurate, modeling can be successfully used to assess the relative performance of various design strategies. This can help to minimize the potential for problems later on.

Sample Model of Wall Condensation

Building enclosure design usually involves the assessment of relative performance, pass-fail assessments or the ranking of competing design choices, not absolute values and there is rarely a need for precision. (Straube, Burnett 2005)

Understanding how your building enclosure is performing is the key to understanding why buildings fail. Many think that if you can't see it, it's not a problem. That is obviously not true. If you suspect there is a problem, you may be right and it would be wise to have it evaluated. Unfortunately, by the time we become involved with many building owners, the symptoms have been denied or ignored for a long period of time and what was once a small issue has now become a critical and expensive building failure. Is this truly a wise financial decision? Absolutely not! The fix is now more expensive, your liabilities have increased, there may now be mistrust among employees and your building has lost value. If the building is your home, you may be taking away from the value of your largest asset.

 Modeling is an important investigation tool. It can allow our investigators to locate areas where problems may be most likely. These areas can then be specifically evaluated which reduces costs, limits the amount of destructive methodologies which must be utilized and aids the investigator is locating hidden conditions which may be damaging your building or may be related to performance issues which there has been little success in correcting.

The photo on the left shows a condensation problem in interstitial (wall cavity) space. This condition could have been detected long ago using condensation modeling and modern investigative techniques. We could have then increased surface temperatures or reduced air leakage to correct the problem before serious damage occurred. In this particular case, as well as many others shown on our website, we were contacted when the damage had already occurred. When dealing with such issues, it is important to understand, that the problem will not fix itself. The value of using well qualified third-party specialists to evaluate such issues is that they will evaluate the problem "holistically" and in an un-biased manner. This may not be true with specialty contractors that may have a financial interest in selling a specific "fix" or system.  

Member: Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC)