The Incredible Predictability of Building Moisture Problems

ORLANDO, Fla. - Feb. 2, 2018 - PRLog -- Suppose there was a tool that could predict the likelihood of whether your building would fail. What if this tool could also provide you with information to dramatically decrease risk factors?

At the risk of oversimplifying a complex process, we believe we have created such a tool. Our moisture prediction charts have been adapted from a mold and moisture manual Liberty Building Forensics Group (LBFG) developed for Disney Corporation in the early 1990s. Since then, they have been beta tested on literally thousands of hotels, and have proven repeatedly to be as true today as they were 20 years ago.

Although the charts were created with hotel guest rooms and wall cavities in mind, the general principles hold true for most buildings. Hotels just happen to be a simpler commercial building structure, so they were easier to beta test.

The charts reflect institutional knowledge gleaned after the building boom cycle of the mid 1980s, when industry experts investigated a prolific number of hotel failures. Thousands of "quality" hotels had been constructed, but many of them were quickly failing – often catastrophically. While many theories abounded, the number of variables made it difficult to get to the root of the issue. Failures were often attributed to the wrong party, such as blaming the contractor rather than the designer.

Ultimately, designers and contractors figured out that if they took certain steps, their building would almost certainly be a success. Other decisions seemed to lead unequivocally to failure. But they weren't sure why. In the absence of any building science knowledge, they could only follow observable patterns.

"The fundamental problem was that building scientists (who understand moisture migration) and building owners, architects, and product manufacturers (who care mostly about outward appearance) didn't collaborate throughout the construction process," explained LBFG President George DuBose. "Once the two camps got together and compared notes, cause and effect began to make sense."

The predictability in moisture is staggering - but leaves little room for forgiveness. While one bad decision may lead to a moisture problem, two or three can end up being catastrophic.

To learn more about our moisture prediction charts, contact us at g.dubose@libertybuilding.com or at (407) 467-5518. Attend our free webinar (https://lx375-884d2d.pages.infusionsoft.net/) on February 15, 2018 to learn how construction materials and methods have evolved towards mold and moisture disasters.