Moisture barrier - retrofit

A friend of mine in Colombia, SA, has mold along the walls of her relatively newly built apartment. Is there any way to retrofit a moisture barrier w/o major demolition of walls &/or floors?

Arkady

in General Discussion 2 years and 10 months ago

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Arkady | 2 years and 10 months ago

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Thanks very much, Steve. I’ll see what I can find out.

andriywww1990 | 2 years and 10 months ago

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I would not try to guess about the causes of this in an unknown climate with unknown construction. How do we know there is no barrier in place? Usually, barriers are installed in kitchens and bathrooms before the finish wall or celing is installed to keep moisture from bathing and showering from passing through to the insulation. There is also house wrap that goes under the finish siding on the exterior.

None of what i mention above will help if the climate is very humid or the moisture is coming from someplace else. Plenty of house wrapped houses that sit unoccupied with the windows closed while vacant and unheated will develop mold if they are say on the carolina coast or the very south shore of LI, near the water table. We needed a dehumidifier in the house i grew up in on the south shore. My grandparents, smack in the center of long island, needed a humidifier because the air was so dry. They never spoke of mold.

Btw, paint is considered an acceptable exterior barrier over wood.

I would talk to your friend about general humidity in the air where they live. People like 50% humidity. 75% is too much and if the house has that inside for long their will be issues. Btw, wood, the wood i use for my work, likes 50% this is something i follow because i do not want to use wood that has been sitting in my shop at 75% humidity in my work. So i have a dehumidifier and most of the time i attempt to keep it just under 50%. They now make these cheap battery operated meters that have a digital read out for humidity. Perhaps you can ask your friend to get one and take some readings inside and think about what is going on outside.

Also. If that apt is air conditioned and the unit is to big, it may be cooling the air too fast, before it as had a chance to dehumidify it. The are will feel cool and damp and musty. I had a through wall unit in a room i rented in college and the musty odor never went away no matter how cool i set the ac. The place never dried out. This was why.

Ask some questions and come back on here with them.

Steve