Cornerstone provides essential insights that must be acknowledged to avoid recurring errors and uphold Awaab’s Law
Analysing the data from a significant number of independent expert surveys conducted for reported damp and mould, Cornerstone continues to witness repeat defects that all require one solution…knowledge!
This new legal introduction demands more than operational adjustments; it requires a fundamental shift in culture, competency, systems and supply-chain alignment.
The change provides a unique opportunity to ‘reset’ our approach with key expert trades recognising the impacts of each task and their expected outcomes.
SMART knowledge
Cornerstone recognises all repairs and remediations are designed to maintain the health of a structure and its occupants; however, experience suggests this has not always been successful due in the main to…impact knowledge.
SMART Knowledge can replace ‘blame’ with the dissemination of key understandings for daily outcomes alongside reasons in a recognisable format.
For example, mould can take a number of days to develop; hence, opening the windows for a short period once the rooms are empty can serve to ‘change the atmosphere’ with drier air we experience in the northern hemisphere during the winter.
Two windows and/or doors serve to provide a cross flow of the new air, whereby a single unit inside a closed classroom will not suffice.
Once this has been undertaken, the heating required to reheat dry cold air takes less energy than maintaining heat in warm, moist air.
This recognised aspect serves to break the cycle required for mould development and, if this was indeed a consideration, align it with dealing effectively with any current mould in the building.
Why?
Because active mould releases spores into the atmosphere, increasing the everyday airborne quantity we would experience in normal conditions. And, did you know, removing mould should not involve bleach products because they do not readily deal with the mycelium (root system).
Plus, Cornerstone recommends that a cloth be sprayed or soaked with the recognised product and not sprayed directly onto the outbreak, since this can serve to release a significant number of airborne spores that will circulate the building, increasing the risk for secondary related issues.
Promoting wellbeing serves to underpin landlord- tenant relations with a greater understanding of what, where and why, commencing with recognising that damp and mould are two separate issues.
Damp is generally associated with a physical problem, such as a leak, water ingress, or rising damp, whereby mould is a symptom that requires an understanding of the resultant pattern and its location in order to determine the root cause accurately.
Our task has been to share such knowledge with uniform deliverables of immediately recognisable knowledge for immediate undertakings by residents before a problem is escalated.
Property Health Framework
A recognised uniform Framework – a key recommendation by the Housing Ombudsman for dealing with these annual issues – serves to uphold noteworthy knowledge for all who embrace it with a “did you know?” service that, once understood, has shown to improve internal atmospheres and everyday living activities with recognisable traits, for example:
Did you know…
- All atmospheres contain a certain amount of moisture, both internal and external.
- Relative humidity alone does not indicate the level of dampness in an environment.
- High internal vapour pressure moves to areas of low vapour pressure, such that moisture generation in kitchens and bathrooms is redistributed to other areas of the building through open doors.
- Four to five people asleep for approximately eight hours generate between 1.3-1.6 litres of atmospheric moisture. Cooking can produce between 2.3 and 2.8 litres, and drying clothes can produce between four and five litres.
- Surface condensation is the most common cause of mould in the UK. However, it can grow on moisture-sensitive materials without condensation, i.e., leather, clothes, paper, etc.
- A musty or damp odour in a property suggests that mould is currently active and needs to be located.
- One cubic inch of mould can contain up to 10m spores.
- A condensation season is widely known as being between September and April, and roughly aligns with closed windows and heating requirements.
- Most moulds require between five and 12 days to proliferate under constant conditions.
- Removing mould with bleach does not remove the mycelium (root system), and it can regrow in a reduced amount of time.
There is no “safe” level of mould spores in the atmosphere. These are a selection of key recognitions that, alongside deliverables for each, uphold a common theme we hear of “I didn’t know that” from residents that can, and have, led to their own undertakings to aid the situation.
