Finished basements in twenty-seven Ottawa houses were investigated to determine if the basement assemblies could contribute to poor indoor air quality due to molds. The wall cavities were inspected with optical fibrescopes to determine the composition and note the conditions. Visible mold colonies were sampled to identify mold species. The presence of molds correlated with the presence of chronic wetting events rather than any particular basement finishing techniques. Molds were analyzed from 16 (59%) of the houses and toxigenic molds were found in all houses except one.

Data on moisture sources, winter condensation potential, C02 levels, levels of biological contamination and blood lymphocytes from fifty nine houses subjected to detailed testing and inspection in a previous phase of the Wallaceburg study were subject to more detailed statistical evaluation to determine the relationships between moisture sources, fungal growth and objective measures of health.

Remedial measures to prevent soil gas infiltration have been implemented on many buildings affected by intrusion of radon, water vapour, methane and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs ). The success of these measures has been well documented for gases such as radon; however similar detailed documentation was not readily available for methane or other vocs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of four different remedial solutions installed on houses. All houses tested in this study had the potential of methane intrusion.

Jacques Whitford Environment Limited (JWEL) and Morrison Hershfield Limited (MH) have completed a research project investigating the level of risk associated with soil gases and dust in high-rise apartment buildings. The research was conducted in response to a request for proposals issued by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC). The study investigated the hypothesis that the risk associated with gas and dust from contaminated lands can be reduced for residents of high-rise apartment buildings compared to residents of single-unit or low-rise residential structures .