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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

Continuing Education Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month’s ARCHITECTURAL RECORD / AIA Continuing Education article. Learning Objective: After reading this article, you will be able to: 1. Describe problems associated with moisture in buildings. 2. Explain how mold spreads and grows in buildings. 3. Evaluate proper placement of moisture-inhibiting materials in buildings.

The images are haunting: greenish-black fuzz advancing across ceilings and pink splotches blooming on vinyl wall coverings. Hotels close for months at a time to remove unsightly and destructive invasions, juries award hundreds of thousands of dollars to plaintiffs who believe toxins from such growth have seriously compromised their health, and property insurers have begun inserting language into owners’ policies to spell out what, if any, mold damage they cover. Has mold become the asbestos of our generation?

In the sense that it has the power to generate insurance claims, fuel lawsuits, and whip up general hysteria, perhaps yes. According to Robert P. Hartwig, senior vice president of the Insurance Information Institute in New York, “U.S. insurers paid out at least $3 billion in mold-related claims in 2002, more than double the $1.3 billion paid the previous year.” Although no building type is immune from mold, single and multi-unit residential structures, hotels, and schools seem to be of greatest concern.

According to Gita Dev, FAIA, an architect in San Francisco and chair of the AIA Housing Committee, members of the industry have become increasingly worried about mold, because its presence in a building could potentially make them liable for health-related problems. “That type of exposure is almost unlimited in dollars,” says Dev, “as opposed to construction defects, for which you can figure out how much it will cost to fix.”

 

Mold flourishes on wallboard behind impermeable vinyl wall covering in a Florida hotel. Condensation forms when moist warm air from outdoors meets cooler spaces indoors. The vinyl traps the water, which is key to mold growth. Photography: Courtesy Dave Odom/CH2M Hill

Yet Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, the Chevy Chase, Maryland–based firm that underwrites professional liability insurance for architects and engineers nationwide, hasn’t seen an explosion of mold-related claims directed at these design professionals. Vice President Lorna Parsons reports that “over time, 3 percent of our claims have involved water intrusion, which is where you get mold from, and they are still running the same to date. So mold is not handicapping the A&E profession as it goes about getting insurance and pursuing business.”