MC024-6.1 Condensation Risk and Mould Growth Analysis: Terminology, Methodology, Thermal Bridges, and Calculation Software
The Same Wall, a Second Question — A Complete Framework for Finding Where a Building Gets Cold and Wet
About This CPD
Join us for a foundational technical CPD on condensation risk and mould growth. This session opens with a wall that has done everything right — thick insulation, a heat-loss number the energy assessor signs off without a second look — and still grows a dark bloom of mould at the window reveal.
Presented by Eugene Korch (IAST), this course shows why energy compliance and moisture safety are two separate questions, and gives you the complete framework — terminology, method, and tools — for finding where a wall gets cold and wet.
This course covers:
What condensation analysis delivers: the other question — why a wall that passes on energy can still fail on damp, and the two places water actually forms — surface and interstitial
Terminology: the language of damp — relative humidity and dew point in plain terms, surface versus interstitial condensation, vapour resistance, and why mould begins before visible water does
Methodology: how the checks are done — finding and scoring the coldest surface with a surface temperature factor, following vapour through a whole year month by month, and why there is no single universal pass mark
Thermal bridges and the cold spots — why every bridge found for heat loss is also a condensation risk, why a point bridge can hide from a plain-section check, and why bridges are judged by their single worst spot here, not a running total
An overview of the tools — reusing the heat-loss models to read a new number, the one genuinely new tool for interstitial risk, and the essential divide between the tool’s output and the engineer’s judgement
Using one real, unsettling image throughout — a wall that passes and still grows mould — this CPD gives you the map every later calculation lecture on condensation and moisture in this course builds on.
What You'll Learn
Explain why a wall that passes its heat-loss check can still grow mould, and why energy compliance and moisture safety are two separate questions
Distinguish surface condensation from interstitial condensation, and explain why the hidden, interstitial kind is more dangerous
Explain the physics of relative humidity and dew point, and why warm air holds more water vapour than cold air
Explain why a condensation and mould risk check tests against the point where mould begins, not the point where liquid water appears, and why that earlier line is the stricter test
Describe the surface temperature factor as the single score a surface condensation check hangs on, and explain what a high versus a low factor means
Explain why the monthly condensation method follows moisture as a diffusing gas averaged over months, and describe its real limits against a heavier, dynamic hygrothermal simulation
Explain why boundary conditions for a condensation check reuse the same climate data as heat loss, with the indoor humidity dial turned fully on
Explain why there is no single universal pass mark for the surface temperature factor, and why the acceptable minimum depends on how a building is used
Explain why every thermal bridge identified for heat loss is also a condensation risk, and why the same cold spot causes both problems at once
Explain why a point thermal bridge can hide from a standard plain-section check, and why it needs its own three-dimensional assessment
Explain why bridges are judged differently for condensation than for heat loss: hunting for the single worst spot, not adding up a total
Identify which modelling tools carry over directly from heat-loss work, and which one genuinely new tool this work requires
Describe what the monthly moisture-analysis tool actually calculates, and when a heavier, hour-by-hour dynamic simulation is needed instead
Explain the essential divide between a modelling tool and the engineer using it, and why mould is the real test a tool cannot judge for you
Trace every quantity and method used in a condensation and mould risk check back to its named standard, distinguishing UK, European, US, and Australian sources
Who Should Attend
Architects, Architectural Technologists, Junior Façade Engineers, Envelope Designers, Façade Specialist Contractors, Building Envelope Consultants, Project Managers, and Design Managers.
This session is designed for anyone who needs a complete map of condensation and mould risk before working through the detailed calculation methods, and assumes only the earlier heat-loss overview course as prior knowledge.
Speakers
Eugene Korch
Programme Director, IASTEugene is a façade engineer and educator who leads educational initiatives through the Institute for Architectural Science and Technology (IAST) and Facade Intelligence, delivering training to construction professionals.
Course Schedule
Format: Online
CPD Points: 2 hours structured CPD / 2 Learning Units
Certificate: CPD certificate provided upon completion
MC024-6.1
Condensation Risk and Mould Growth Analysis: Terminology, Methodology, Thermal Bridges, and Calculation Software
The Same Wall, a Second Question — A Complete Framework for Finding Where a Building Gets Cold and Wet
Course Fee £120
Free for FI Pro Members
