Moisture & Mold

What this domain covers

This is a mitigation domain, and the firm's argument in it rests on dampness rather than on testing for mold. It covers the drainage layer behind the cladding, the flashing at every opening and transition, and cladding that drains and stays ventilated behind. It covers keeping surfaces in the house and inside its assemblies above the temperature at which water condenses on them.

It also covers the moisture the building takes on while it is being built — how materials are protected, how wet framing is handled, and what is recorded before anything is closed up — along with exhaust at moisture sources, the chemistry used for air sealing, and leak detection in the finished house.

It holds one further power: a standing veto. Any decision, in any domain, that increases wetting or reduces the building's ability to dry is redesigned until it does not.

Why it matters in Central Texas

High outdoor humidity for much of the year means an assembly here dries slowly, and a tighter, better-insulated assembly dries more slowly still.

Rain arrives hard and quickly, and a house under construction takes on more water than at any other point in its life. What decides the outcome is how fast the building dries, how fast a problem is found, and how fast it is fixed.

How depth is chosen

Depth is elected per domain, and each domain offers only the rungs it honestly has.

Here, almost everything is on the floor, because the moisture veto reaches all of it: a choice that increases wetting or reduces drying is not available at any depth or any price. One addition sits above the floor as a client election — extending leak detection so that it also reaches the occupant when they are away and closes the supply automatically. Declining it does not increase wetting relative to the floor, which is why it can be optional at all.

What we document

The Record carries moisture readings taken before anything is enclosed, each with its instrument, location and date — failures included, never overwritten. It carries dated photographs of the drainage layer, the flashing and the ventilated cavity; the delivery and storage record for materials; and, for any wetting event during construction, the date, the area, the materials affected and the drying path relied on.

An independent third party confirms this domain as mitigation by design. No numeric clearance sampling and no airborne spore sampling is used at any point, at any depth.