Reducing Housing Costs: Design and Construction to Prevent Home Moisture Damage

ABSTRACT Excessive levels of moisture in housing can lead to decay and related insect damage to the structure and home contents. The purposes of this study were to (1) learn the frequency with which moisture damage occurs in housing in one state with a warm, humid climate; and (2) identify the probable causes of that damage. Data were obtained from consumer complaints investigated and recorded by two state regulatory agencies in South Carolina (SC) USA for a 12 month period. Moisture-related problems occurred in 50.0 percent of the recorded complaint cases of one regulatory agency. From the second agency's 34 reported cases of home damage relating to moisture, 115 individual problems were identified. The main kinds of home moisturerelated problems are attributable to 16 causes, which may be grouped into five categories, as follows: (1) poor or inadequate design details and specifications and inadequate residential building codes; (2) violation of residential building codes; (3) poor workmanship by the builder; (4) inadequate standards of materials and components; (5) lack of maintenance of the home and poor use by the owner.