The New Zealand government is to spend NZ$3.1m on ground-breaking research into what happens to water when it gets inside leaky buildings.
The Building Research Association (BRA) has been funded for six years to carry out the research, the first of its kind in the world.
The work will start with models developed in Germany and the US which show how much water gets through various materials in given conditions of heat and humidity.
The BRA will take the research a stage further to find out where the water goes once it has permeated through.
Dr John Duncan of the BRA said: “The fact that no one in the world has done it indicates what a challenge it might be.”
