Re: Re: basement bathroom- safe walls and flooring

[Guest guest]

Wallboard doesn't contain formaldehyde, as far as I know-

This is a very interesting paper that shows that mold growth can be

predicted by *relative humidity inside the wall cavity*.

Indoor Air. 2004 Jun;14(3):196-9.

Wall relative humidity: a simple and reliable index for predicting

Stachybotrys chartarum infestation in dwellings.

Boutin-Forzano S, Charpin-Kadouch C, Chabbi S, Bennedjai N, Dumon

H, Charpin D.

Department of Chest Diseases and Allergy, Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France.

Because the indoor mold Stachybotrys chartarum has been considered

as potentially responsible for serious health effects, its

identification in dwellings with water damages is of utmost

importance. As such dwellings are many, it would be of great value to

have a simple and reliable index for predicting its presence. The aim

of the study was to compare measurements of wall relative humidity

(RH) to mold identification in 458 samples from 100 dwellings. Mold

identification was performed by direct microscopic examination of a

sample collected on the wall by the gummed paper technique. Mean (+/-

s.d.) wall RH (%) was much higher (97.0 +/- 6.1) on the 30 samples

where S. chartarum was identified compared with the 291 samples where

other molds were identified (41.8 +/- 36.9) and to the 137 samples

where no molds were identified (38.9 +/- 34.8). There was no

straightforward relationship between wall and room RH. In conclusion,

this study clearly demonstrate that the simple measurement of wall RH

can be used as a reliable index for discarding and suspecting S.

chartarum infestation in dwellings.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper suggests that very high relative

humidity (RH) within walls is a strong risk factor for their

infestation with the 'toxic mold' Stachybotrys chartarum. Besides,

data from the literature demonstrate that other molds are able to

produce mycotoxins when RH is very high. Thus, measurement of wall RH,

which is easy to perform and very cheap, could be used as a screening

tool to select those dwellings where mold identification should be

performed and remediation should be promptly carried out.

PMID: 15104787 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 10:02 AM, cathy desmond <cahydesmond@...> wrote:

> THanks. I thought of that too but then I thought the grout would collect

> mold. Also I was reading that sheet rock has formaldehyde in it. Is this a

> different kind of sheet rock? I appreciate your ideas. cathy

>

>