I’m doing some work on my house this weekend, and opened up a 5-gal. bucket of +3 compound to find a layer of green mold on the top.
I bought the compound about a month ago, and used about 1/4 of it on a job. It’s been closed up tight since then.
This is the second bucket I’ve had go moldy. I used to leave partly used buckets laying around for months without a problem.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Is there anything I can do to prevent the mud from getting nasty? I was thinking about mixing in some bleach, but wasn’t sure how it would effect the compound.
Replies
I had the same thing happen recently. The bucket that was fine when it was used had a few different kinds of mold. It was last open in fall, when I would assume the rainfall had caused a mold "bloom" and it was flying around. I'm a little surprised that this stuff doesn't have some kind of inhibitor in it already.
If I have a partially used bucket of drywall compound, I smooth out the top and pour maybe a half inch of water over the surface.
When you want to use it, just pour off the water, mix it up, and you're good to go.
However, I've never had a mold problem -- and I don't know if the water would help or hinder in that regard.
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I do the same thing. It didn't help.
The USG website says to throw out any compound with mold. It doesn't say anything about preventing it.
abandoned DWM gets even by morphing into a petri dish..
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You dug out yet?
nope...
cover the DWM with a half inch of water to at least stay the developement of mold..
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Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Once it is open, any dust and spores from tools and air can get in and grow. I rarely plan to be able to keep it for more than a month. Not worth the trouble.
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It's been handy to have a part bucket around for some of the smaller jobs.
I guess I won't be doing that anymore. I'm not crazy about the 1-gal. buckets, or putzing with setting compound. But I like playing with mold less.
I'd still like to find out why this seems to be a recent development.
R U keeping it in a different location? Mold wants warmth to grow, in addition to O2 and food. maybe fill bucket to top with water you can drain off later to eliminate some of the oxygen and keep it in the coolest place you can without letting it freeze.Some guys add detergent to premix to make it trowel smoother/easier.
Some dish detergents are antibacterial so they might have some fungicide proerties, I suppose...but I don't know.
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ya know, it's a funny thing you just mentioned that as just last night I opened up a what? two month old 5gal pail that I'd left an inch or so in the bottom for for drywall screw fill kind of stuff, covered with the cellophane and the lid tight.
Never ever had a prob with mold on drywall mud before but there it was, little flecks and a slight odor.
I've opened stuff after 6 months before with no problems.
Being jaded I could say perhaps the manu's recently found a way to alter the ingredients with an organic something to save a few dollars on overhead but I'd never stoop so low as to accuse anyone of something like that.
heh heh Maybe they do it only for the Lowes/Depot as they won't buy unless the manufacturers lower their wholesale price.
Maybe it's time to be mixing our own. Try that special order 5 minute stuff. Run, rabbit. Run.
be seeyou invented bacterial fuzz
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Edited 1/1/2007 4:24 pm ET by rez
>>Try that special order 5 minute stuff. Run, rabbit. Run.
At my age 20 or 30 minutes setting compound is run, rabbit. Run. Other things take five minutes, that use to take 30 secs., but I blame that on the caffine..... :-)
dave
ya, never used it but just recall someone, I think Tim Mooney, mentioning it a long time ago in an old post.
Wouldn't want to buy a whole bag of it but would be fun to have a little just to play around with and try it out.
be covering a drywall screw
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I have used Durabond 20 a few time, and also Easysand 20. The EasySand is actually slower than the Durabond by a good margin, even though they are suppose to both be 20 miniute set times.
Using a whole bag is not a problem for me at those set rates. I rarley get my pan empty of the Durabond 20 before it sets up enough to make at least a third of it unussable. With EasySand 20 I can empty the pan, but seldom get to refill from a to large a mix batch. I just figure a whole bag in the cost of a small job. If I am lucky and good at the same time, I keep half a bag for the next small job to come along.
BTW it is best stored inside a conditioned space, or a tightly sealed bucket. A rolled up bag in a damp garage or shed gets lumpy or skunky enough to become an "awh shid" item when you need it the most.
Dave
Shep, have you really given the setting compounds a fair shot? I use the Easysand 20 all the time and it really works out well for me.
I use this bucket:
and these disposable liners:
The liners cost about $1.00 each, but if it saves me an extra trip (because the setting compound lets you put on more than 1 coat in a day), then it's well worth it.
I do a lot of repairs and another big advantage to the setting compound is the fact that it doesn't shrink. So, big gaps require fewer coats.
If I was taping a whole room, I would probably use the bucket compound, but for the stuff I usually take on, the setting compounds have become my favorite "cheat"
-Don
Oops!
These buckets:
View Image
These liners:
View Image
Edited 1/1/2007 6:33 pm ET by DonCanDo
Edited 1/1/2007 6:34 pm ET by DonCanDo
I never thought abnout liners, dhuh...That'll save lots of cleanup time on small jobs!
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Great idea.
Where do you find those buckets and liners?_______________________________________________________________
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I've seen them in any paint store, hardware store, and even HD around here.
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Thanks, I think I will give them a try next time._______________________________________________________________
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Don-
I'll probably try the setting compound ( again) on my next patch job. I'm usually on a job a few days if I'm patching something, so the regular joint compound has worked for me.
But if I've gotta deal with mold in every part bucket of mud, no thanks.
And the bucket with the liners is a great idea. One of my main dislikes with the setting mud is the clean-up. Thanks to you, problem solved.
I would scoop out the moldy stuff and throw it out. I stirred up a moldy batch once and used it for some patch work - then had to scrape it off after it dried. It smelled to high heaven.
For years I've kept a bucket of finish and multipurpose mud on hand for smaller projects and have never seen mold until this year.
Perhaps a capful of bleach would be enough to keep it mold free?
Along other lines, while in Fresno over the holidays I patched a ceiling for the hosts and the local HD carried a no-name hotmud simply labled "Smooth Set" in 5min, 20 min, 45 and 90. The 5-minute stuff was much smoother than anything I've used before, especially a fast setting hot mud. And it was cheap.
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