Wall Moisture Management Principles
Work with the system – not against it
The Step Up Philosophy is informed through its understanding of the 5 Wall Moisture Management Principles (WMMPs). The WMMPs are unbreakable principles that are a starting point for understanding and dealing with moisture in buildings.
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Most Building elements contain and transport moisture to varying degrees
Moisture plays an integral and important part of a building’s makeup. The role of weathertightness in buildings is to not eliminate it, but to simply manage it alongside temperature and other variabes to ensure it helps and does not adversely affect the building’s ability to perform its functional requirements. A ‘completely dry’ house will never be a reality, in fact it would be a very deadly place.
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Moisture in Building Elements has an effect on their properties
It is important to integrate moisture as part of our understanding of the building as its presence has an effect on the various materials’ properties.
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Gravity and forseeable temperature and changes in temperature affect the distribution of moisture in and between building elements.
If you want to know where mositure sits in buildings, you must take into account both gravity and temperature.
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Moisture will move in, out and through the building envelope
For most situations, moisture will come and go from a building – following its natural flow patterns – and it will have no large effect on the habitat at all. It is when this natural flow is enhanced or blocked that problems develop.
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A safety factor is required
When managing moisture in a building it is not a good idea to have a very delicate situation that could easily be disrupted at any stage. A good solution would include allowances and tolerances for marginal problems without having catastrophic consequences.
