avoiding mold

[Mia]

Looks like we will be building in the wet season before we are done.   :-/   (Of course, the wet season can be any time here in the Pacific NW.)  I understand that ventilation is crucial for minimizing mold but need more specific information.  Any suggestions and/or links will be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Amanda_931]

Three things:

Keeping the air moving.

Keeping the relative humidity down.

Possibly doing some air cleaning, through filters if there can be powered air movement.

Mold in the house needs mold spores, time for them to develop, humidity so they don't dry up and die.

Guy on another list had fresh air coming in through his closets!  I'm putting at least one closet on a south window so I can use a funky little no-power solar chimney to ventilate out of the closet through the solar chimney.  Path will be room air into closet, through a low vent into insulated, solar heated duct, ending up outside high on the wall. Mildewy shoes on the closet floor are disgusting.

In places like Florida they also try to pressurize the house a little bit, to keep the very humid, and presumably mold-laden stuff out of the house.  This may sound a bit "anti-natural" and counter-intuitive, but I'm told it works in thousands of subdivisions around the country.

It may well mean no carpets, (rugs can be taken out and beaten), no dust ruffles around the beds to hold dust and moisture down there.  And furniture in general easy-clean, with good air movement around and under.

I could probably send out the instructions for a home built air-to-air heat exchanger.  The nice thing about them is that the incoming air comes close to the temperature of the outgoing--heated in winter, cooled in summer.  From a very old Popular Mechanics or something.  Store-bought versions are very very expensive.  Doesn't help the humidity problem much, though.  Can in the winter.