10th Annual Pennsylvania Housing Conference

Dates held:  February 20, February 28 and March 7, 2002

Conference Brochure            Conference Agenda

Program

The 10th Annual Pennsylvania Housing Conference focused on understanding and solving technical issues currently facing the housing industry in PA.

Mold in Houses

Moisture related problems continue to affect houses, homeowners, builders, and insurance companies in Pennsylvania as well as other parts of the country. Mold in houses is not a new problem, but recent lawsuits against insurance companies and builders have attracted much attention from national and local media.

This portion of the program reviewed mold in houses from a legal and a technical standpoint and covered such issues as how mold affects people and how to avoid the problem.

Statewide Building Code Update

The new PA Uniform Construction Code (UCC) will create the single biggest change ever in the way we design and build houses in PA. Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry provided an update on the UCC implementation and what it means for you.

Basements

Under the new building code more basements will have to be insulated. We focused on approaches to building dry, energy efficient basements. A review of moisture and the thermal performance of basement walls was be coupled with available technologies and innovative construction approaches.

Crawlspaces

Moisture problems and crawlspaces usually go hand in hand. New approaches to the design and building of crawlspaces that help avoid moisture problems were covered.