ABSTRACT
Movement of mold spores from the stud cavity to the living space is related to the capacity of the building envelope to prevent contaminants from penetrating into the indoor environment. As part of a larger collaborative research project with industry partners on experimental evaluation of hygrothermal performance of various building envelope systems, a testing program was undertaken on full-scale wood framed wall assemblies to monitor the transport, if any, of mold spores from within the stud cavity to the indoor environment. A series of tests were performed with variations of such parameters as rates or patterns of air leakage, presence or absence of insulation and vapor barrier. Experimental results for the first stage of the test runs are presented.
