Damp and Mould and the Word of God

The air in a sauna is hot and dry. But as air gets colder, the amount of water it can hold goes down, and so it effectively gets wetter. If warm moist air permeates through the wall or roof of a house towards the outside, it gradually cools down. If the temperature difference is large enough, the moisture in the air can condense. You then have water in your wall or roof. The water reduces the effectiveness of the insulation and creates a favorable environment for moulds, such as mildew. The state of the art in fighting mildew is set out in the word of God:

… If the mildew has spread on the walls, the priest is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.

If the mildew reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. It must be torn down – its stones, timbers and all the plaster – and taken out of the town to an unclean place. (Leviticus 14, 39-47)

So if you don’t protect it aginst damp, your house may go mouldy and have to be pulled down.

Back to the sauna…