Inadequate Ventilation Can
Cause Mold
Growth
Hire
mold
consultants Phillip Fry and Divine Montero to inspect and remove
air
conditioning mold,
workplace mold,
and mold hidden inside walls, ceilings, floors, crawl spaces, basements,
and attics. Phillip and Divine do
mold
inspection,
mold
testing, and
mold remediation worldwide.
Q.
Feb. 1, 2012. Phillip, thank you so much
for your excellent customer service! Yes, we have a mold problem. My
talented husband is remodeling our house and while he bumped out the
kitchen and added crawl space to the new part, he forgot to open the
existing basement windows that became the opening to the crawl space. Way
too many things going on here and he forgot to take out the windows
leaving moisture inside the crawl space....now all that pretty new lumbar
is covered with the greenish furry mold. Ugh! I am helping him out and
doing this job...want to do it right so we don't have any issues down the
road. I sprayed with bleach solution, completely covering every spot in
the crawl space today. Tomorrow I am going to use a bleach solution again
with rags and wipe as much away as I can. I tried to find some boric acid
after reading your website but wasn't able to find it anywhere locally. I
decided to attack the mold now to stop it in its tracks until the boric
acid arrives. Any advice? Thank you so much. I know that mold is very
serious and am very concerned about this remodeling roadblock.
A.
I’m sorry you are having this remodeling mold problem. Don’t bother to
use bleach. The greatest myth in treating mold is the use of bleach to
kill mold. Read why bleach does not kill mold effectively at the website
Bleach Mold Myth. You are wise to have purchased boric acid powder,
which is on its way to you after your purchase today from
Mold Mart. What you should do while you are waiting for the boric
shipment delivery is to get better ventilation into the crawl space.
Install vents on the outside of the crawl space and use a box fan inside
the crawl space to drive airborne mold spores to the outdoors from the
crawl space. Make sure all of your house windows are closed to keep the
mold spores from entering your house until after your mold remediation
effort is completed. Your husband and yourself need to protect yourself
against mold when you are working inside the crawl space. Always wear at
least a 3M brand N-95 breathing mask (low cost from hardware, home
improvement, and pharmacy stores), or better yet, a 3M full face breathing
respirator mask with organic vapor filters. Also wear Chem-Splash (no
holes) eye goggles to keep mold spores from entering your body through
your eyes. Wear disposable vinyl gloves. Wear paper painter’s disposable
cap and coveralls. When you have your boric, mix it 24 ounces per gallon
of hot water (for easy dissolving into a clear spray mix). Use a $40
hand-pumped garden sprayer to spray a wet coating of the boric mix on ALL
wood timbers and other wood components inside the crawl space, whether or
not a particular piece of lumber has mold growth on it. Let the boric
spray dry and work on the mold for about one day. Then use a Makita
grinder with wire brush attachment to remove physically all mold growth
from the timbers and other wood in the crawl space. You can also use a
hand-held wire brush to get areas that are hard for the grinder to access
(like inside a corner). Clean the wood to visibly mold-free. Then spray a
wet coating of boric mix on all cleaned surfaces and let it dry as a white
powdering coating to help prevent future mold growth. Please email me with
your followup mold remediation questions. Best wishes, Phillip Fry,
Certified Environmental Hygienist, Certified Mold Inspector, and Certified
Mold Remediator
Q.
We have a detached garage that was
probably never properly vented and as a result has some black mold forming on the
ceilings and walls. My husband plans to just bleach it - but I am curious to know if it is
toxic. Any suggestions? [Jan. 26, 2003]
A.
Improper or inadequate ventilation of the garage may have caused the humidity to get into
the dangerous 60 percent or higher humidity level that enables mold to grow. You
should be checking the humidity level with a digital hygrometer [buy from Lowe's, Home Depot
or hardware thermostat department]. But you should also check the roof and siding carefully
for any water leaks that have facilitated mold growth. Even though you are not living in the
garage, it is possible that dangerous mold spores may have traveled via air currents from
the detached garage into your home. For this reason, it would be advisable to
mold test your
garage
plus the rooms inside your home to determine if there are elevated levels of
mold spores.
If any wood has mold growing inside the wood, the wood should be replaced with mold-free
lumber.
Don't use bleach to kill mold because it doesn't. Visit
Bleach Mold Myth.
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