moisture barrier requirements?

[Joanne Smith]

Are there codes regarding moisture barriers for living space below grade? I know humidity can be higher for space below grade, but there should be some moisture barrier requirements that prevent moisture/mold issue. Yes a dehumidifier can be run constantly but it wouldn't dry out what's below/behind the surface (at least that's my thinking).

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[Matt Fellman]

Likely different practices/methods based on region. Around here (Oregon) it is common to apply a damp proofing sealant (paint like) to the outside of a foundation wall. While moisture barriers and such are good it's been my experience that it's more important to setup grading and drainage around a structure properly. 100 buckets of goo painted on a foundation won't do the same amount of good as just building things correctly from the start. Unfortunately, this is a concept that flies far over the head of many contractors I've come behind.

[Michael P. O'Handley]

There are lots of requirements in the current code - sections R405 and R406 but in order to know what was required for your building you need to find and research the code that was in force in your town at the time the place was built. Google "Free Codes Online" and then do some research.

Once you have the information, what do you intend to do with it? Knowing what was supposed to be there without having the ability to determine exactly what's been used is basically knowing a lot of nothing. If you want to know how the foundation is waterproofed you'll need to hire someone locally to excavate along the foundation wall and figure it out for you. Even with that information, which you'll have had to pay to obtain (If the property owner even allows someone onto the property to excavate), it's a long way from there to a solution.

If you've got high humidity and you think you have mold, open the window more and air the place out to dry it and clean it really well. Go to the EPA's website. They have instructions there for how to clean your house. (Isn't it odd that we need the government to explain how to clean a house?)

There is mold there, there has always been mold there, there will always be mold there and there has always been mold in every other place you've lived your entire life and ALL of it was the same varieties that the media is always calling "toxic." You can pay someone to remove it all but next week it will be right back again so why bother?

You've been breathing the same spores the mold-is-golders call "toxic" your entire life but probably never even thought about it until idiots in the media began bleating about "toxic mold" after a lady won a lawsuit in Texas more than a decade ago - a verdict that was later amended and her award reduced by 87% after it was proven that there was no medical evidence that showed mold made her sick.

Air the place out and wipe it down once in a while.

There is no mold bogeyman.

Mike O'Handley
Kenmore, Washington

[Raymond Wand]

Concrete Vapor Barriers - The Concrete Network