Humidity Trapped in 150-Year-Old Construction
The building boom that followed Urbana's 1871 fire left the city with a dense core of late-1800s and early-1900s commercial and residential construction, built long before vapor barriers or mechanical ventilation were standard. That age is exactly what creates ongoing moisture and mold risk in Urbana's oldest neighborhoods.
Where Old Framing Meets Illinois Humidity
Central Illinois's humid summers work on wall cavities and crawl spaces that were never designed to manage moisture, and a building over a century old has had a lot of time to accumulate hidden damp spots. Mold assessment in Urbana's historic core has to look past the visible age of a house to the moisture history inside its walls.