Materials inputs for WUFI mold index

[Michael Hurd]

Many of the product/material selections within the WUFI mold index tool are named for, what I assume, is the European market - for instance, what does the product "Pure gypsum or lime render" refer to? - what is the equivalent product in the USA? Would a gyp board product that has been treated to resist mold be the equivalent? Or, would "Gypsum render with organic compounds" more closely resemble a gyp board product?

There are other products such as "PUR products" and "PU insulation with aluminum foil" that from the USA standpoint are not known either. Any insight into what these products are would help utilize the VTT tool.

Thanks!

[Daniel]

Michael,

the VTT model comes originally from Finland! Of course investigations were performed with products typical or available in that country. However most of them can be exemplary for other buildings materials.

Most interior reanders are made of gypsum - however if they contain cellulose fibres they get more sensitive than pure gypsum. In old buildings you often find lime renders. The gypsum board offers a better nutrient qualitiy to to the paper / cardboard surface. If specially treated of course properties change!

PUR is insulation foam - should be available in the US also. Aluminium as vapor barrier film on the surface also...!?

But you're right, the difficulty is to decide which surface properties should be used. ASHRAE 160 containt some proposals. They will be implementened as default values in WUFI mold index soon!

best regards
Daniel

[Ned Lyon]

About the implementation of ASHRAE 160 into the mold index, it is certainly faster than our previous method of setting monitors, exporting run data, and importing into a spreadsheet. However, two awkward issues remain: 1) the drop down list of materials has no reference as to their respective sensitivity until you pick something; 2) when you select user input, you are still stuck with the last material name selected. This is generally confusing for our clients because the material name is not the model material. I suggest having the user input either select the layer name from the graph or allow the user to input the material name so we get results that are consistent with our models.

[Manfred Kehrer]

Yes Ned, I agree with you that the current implementation is confusing. I am working with my German colleagues to improve this.