An initial evaluation of a biohygrothermal model for the purpose of assessing the risk mould growth in UK dwellings

Moulds are organisms that may be found in both the indoor and outdoor environment. Moulds play an important rolebreaking down and digesting organic material, but, if they are significantly present in the indoor environment they mayaffect the health of the occupants. A relative humidity of 80% at wall surfaces is frequently stated as the decisivecriterion for mould growth and methods used to assess the risk of mould growth are often based on steady stateconditions. However, considering the dynamic conditions typically found in the indoor environment, a betterunderstanding of the conditions required for mould to grow would seem desirable. This paper presents initialexploratory work to evaluate and assess ‘WUFI-bio’ - ‘biohygrothermal’ software that predicts the likelihood of mould growth under transient conditions. Model predictions are compared with large monitored data set from 1,388 UKdwellings before and after insulation and new heating systems are installed (‘Warm Front’), the suitability of thissoftware as a tool to predict mould growth will ultimately be assessed. This paper presents some initial, exploratorywork.