{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T18:01:41Z","timestamp":1754157701529,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,24]],"date-time":"2013-05-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1369353600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,24]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Crawl space ventilation became essential to avoid moisture damage. Historical houses with wood floor and crawl spaces unventilated correctly often face problems of biological degradation. This paper seeks to address these issues.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this work a case study of the Egas Moniz museum house, in Estarreja, Portugal, with different building pathologies, such as biological degradation and development of micro\u2010organisms and fungi, is presented. An experimental campaign was carried out with continuous monitoring of the relative humidity and temperature, to validate the real climatic conditions in the crawl spaces. Additionally, the authors analyse the treatment technologies used in the past and the characteristics of the rehabilitation solutions in order to control the hygrothermal behaviour. Simultaneously, numerical simulation was done using the software tool WUFI\u20102D to simulate the hygrothermal building behaviour and a sensitivity study of parameters used was done.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The in\u2010situ experimental results showed that high values of relative humidity imply biological degradation of the wood floor and the numerical and analytical models used showed the same tendency. The numerical results showed the importance of crawl spaces with a good ventilation to avoid mould growth and, also, suggested that controlled mechanical ventilation is preferable to strongly continuous mechanical ventilation in this type of spaces. The experimental study shows that the continuous functioning of a ventilation system may lead to the occurrence of interior condensation, so a hygro\u2010regulated system is thus essential to control unwanted condensation, with an appropriate functioning criterion.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>In accordance with the numerical and experimental results, the authors proceeded to the implementation of a hygro\u2010regulated system to ventilate the crawl spaces of the Egas Moniz museum house.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>This paper presents a new proposed intervention methodology, in crawl spaces, to avoid mould growth, based on an extraction controlled by a hygro\u2010regulated ventilator.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/02630801311317545","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,21]],"date-time":"2013-05-21T13:53:12Z","timestamp":1369144392000},"page":"139-156","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Controlled relative humidity in crawl spaces: a new treatment methodology"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"J.M.P.Q.","family":"Delgado","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"V.P.","family":"de Freitas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"A.S.","family":"Guimar\u00e3es","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"C.","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022012420352926000_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Block, S.S. (1953), \u201cHumidity requirements for mould growth\u201d, Applied Microbiology, Vol. 1 No. 6, pp. 287\u2010293.","DOI":"10.1128\/am.1.6.287-293.1953"},{"key":"key2022012420352926000_b2","unstructured":"Burke, S. (2005), \u201cAdvantages and risks associated with crawl space foundations\u201d, Proceedings of the 7th symposium on Building Physics in the Nordic Countries, Reykjav\u00edk Iceland, June 13\u201015."},{"key":"key2022012420352926000_b3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Burke, S. (2007), \u201cCrawl spaces in wood framed single family dwellings in Sweden: unwanted yet popular\u201d, Structural Survey, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 51\u201060.","DOI":"10.1108\/02630800710740976"},{"key":"key2022012420352926000_b4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cunningham, M.J., Roos, C., Gu, L. and Spolek, G. 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