Comparison of indoor moisture excess in three different terraced housing projects

In this study three neighbourhoods of terraced houses have been investigated. In 16 to 29 houses of each project, indoor temperature and indoor humidity have been measured, inhabitants have been interviewed and Blower-Door Tests have been performed. PSG is a project with 91 similar, very airtight detached houses. More than 29 of these houses have been investigated. TES is a low-rise high-density project with 46 single family houses built in 1974. The measuring results of 20 houses with very poor airtightness have been analysed. APW is a project with 26 terraced houses built in 2012, which have mechanical ventilation systems. From APW 16 houses have participated in the study. It will be illustrated that the airtight houses of PSG have the highest absolute indoor humidity, the TES houses with the poor airtightness have medium absolute indoor humidity and the APW with the mechanical ventilation systems have the lowest absolute indoor humidity. Box plots of the moisture excess in the diagram with the humidity classes from EN ISO 13788 [1] show that the boxes do not overlap.

A Simple Method To Valorize Silica Sludges Into Sustainable Coatings For Indoor Humidity Buffering

In this study, the production of indoor humidity-buffering coatings (IHC-s) from recycling waste silica sludges by using a room-temperature sol-gel method which is a simple and energy-efficient route is reported. The properties of these IHC-s coatings are identified by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, laser particle size analyzer, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). The moisture adsorption-desorption tests show that the IHC-s coatings have moisture buffering values of ca. 270-316 g m-2 and moisture contents of 24-27% in the range of 50-90% relative humidity (RH). Furthermore, the humidity buffering capacities, moisture adsorption-desorption rate and stability are significantly superior to commercially available coatings in the range of 50-75% RH. The enhancement may be due to the formation of porous structure in the coatings via the dispersed waste silica sludges and gypsum which transformed from bassanite by self-assembly process. Most importantly, the prepared IHC-s coatings show surpassing antimicrobial efficacy (> 99.99%) and no detectable leaching heavy metals based on TCLP tests, which provides an economic and environmental-friendly route for recovering and valorizing industrial wastes.

Development of methods to measure the potential of a plaster to regulate indoor humidity

Moisture buffering utilises hygroscopic construction materials as a more sustainable approach to passively moderate indoor humidity. This study seeks to develop a reproducible test method to obtain a moisture buffering value of common building materials under conditions that reflect typical indoor environmental conditions. Temperature and humidity variations in sinusoidal profiles for two different materials, typically used to finish internal surfaces, have been studied to identify their potential moisture regulation behaviour. Outcomes were then combined and ranked indicating the potential of materials to passively regulate the indoor humidity and the need for robust methods of investigation. Practical application: In response to current practice and materials’ testing procedures, a reproducible test method is considered to enable comprehensive understanding of a hydroscopic materials’ behaviour, where subsequent interpretation of their performance can be quantified. The practicality to consider the use of passive regulation using hygroscopic materials can then be justified to bring indoor RH closer to the optimal range without heavy reliance on mechanical solutions, achieving a more effective passive indoor climate monitoring. It is expected that the outcome of this investigation can potentially form the basis of further improvement on a standardised test method to obtain moisture buffering value of hygroscopic non-structural elements for pragmatic application during design integration process.