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- Title
Risk factors for moisture damage presence and severity in Finnish homes.
- Authors
TAYLOR, JONATHON; SALMELA, ANNIINA; TÄUBEL, MARTIN; HEIMLANDER, ANTTI; KARVONEN, ANNE M.; PAKKALA, TONI; LAHDENSIVU, JUKKA; PEKKANEN, JUHA
- Abstract
Moisture-damaged buildings are a prominent issue in Finland, but with limited information on damage prevalence, degree of severity and risk factors. This paper analyses 14,996 Finnish detached and semidetached houses that have undergone a standardised moisture assessment of interior spaces and at-risk structures inside the building envelope. Confirmed damage (a binary indicator of damage presence) and a damage index (an ordinal indicator of severity) were calculated for each home and their association with different building and area characteristics estimated. Frequently damaged structures include pre-1950s log walls, walls contacting soil, wooden ground floors and false plinths. Around 15% of surveyed houses had risk structure damage, 19% had at least one confirmed damage anywhere in the house and 49% had either confirmed, likely or possible damage. The greatest risk factor for confirmed damage was house age (odds ratio = 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.45-1.51) for each decade since construction), with nearly half of all houses built pre-1939 damaged. Other risk factors explained a third of the effect of building age, and included log external walls, fibreboard roofs, absence of mechanical ventilation, detached properties and wind-driven rain precipitation. Results can support targeted remediation efforts, protect health and estimate exposure-response relationships for moisture damage.
- Subjects
DAMPNESS in buildings; RISK assessment; METEOROLOGICAL precipitation; VENTILATION; ARCHITECTURAL engineering
- Publication
Buildings & Cities, 2023, Vol 4, Issue 1, p708
- ISSN
2632-6655
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5334/bc.366