Higher measured moisture in California homes with qualitative evidence of dampness |
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Authors: | J M Macher M J Mendell K Kumagai N T Holland J M Camacho K G Harley B Eskenazi A Bradman |
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Affiliation: | 1. Environmental Health Laboratory Branch, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, USA;2. Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA;3. Natividad Medical Center, Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), Salinas, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | Relationships between measured moisture and qualitative dampness indicators (mold odor, visible mold, visible water damage, or peeling paint) were evaluated using data collected from California homes in a prospective birth cohort study when the infants were 6 or 12 months of age (737 home visits). For repeated visits, agreement between observation of the presence/absence of each qualitative indicator at both visits was high (71–87%, P < 0.0001). Among individual indicators, musty odor and visible mold were most strongly correlated with elevated moisture readings. Measured moisture differed significantly between repeated visits in opposite seasons (P < 0.0001), and dampness increased with the number of indicators in a home. Linear mixed‐effect models showed that 10‐unit increases in maximum measured moisture were associated with the presence of 0.5 additional dampness indicators (P < 0.001). Bedroom (BR) walls were damper than living room (LR) walls in the same homes (P < 0.0001), although both average and maximum readings were positively correlated across room type (r = 0.75 and 0.67, respectively, both P < 0.0001). Exterior walls were significantly damper than interior walls (P < 0.0001 in both LRs and BRs), but no differences were observed between maximum wall readings and measurements at either window corners or sites of suspected dampness. |
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Keywords: | Measured moisture Dampness Dampness indicators Moisture location Mold odor Visible mold |
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