FREE RESOURCES FROM ASHRAE

Damp Buildings, Human Health, and HVAC Design

This report summarizes dampness-related health risks in buildings as understood within ASHRAE. It provides simple-to-recognize symptoms of dampness, describes its capacity to increase the probability of negative health effects and provides suggestions that HVAC system designers can apply to minimize such risks. The text also suggests monitoring instruments and threshold values that can provide early warning of trends that, if allowed to continue, could eventually result in health-relevant dampness.