I am building a house in Northern California where it rains a lot in the winter and is dry all summer. There were delays during framing, and the house was COMPLETELY SOAKED several times during the winter. It has not rained for some time now, and everything appears to be dry.
The house is dried-in and ready for insulation, but I see what I am sure is mold growing on some of the wood. In most places it shows up as blotches of dark lines inlaid with the grain. In a few areas it is thick enough to scrape with your fingernail and have it come off as a black powder. This is not the discoloration near nails that got wet.
How worried should I be about this? The house will be finished with two layers of paper and traditional three-coat stucco. Will the walls dry out completely and stop the mold, or is there some chance the mold will keep growing? I have a compromised immune system, chemical sensitivities, food allergies, etc., so I am very concerned about the health affects of mold. Should I take firm steps now to kill the mold, or will it be fine as long as no water can collect in the walls?
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Mark
Replies
If dry now and you can keep it dry, theere is little to worry about.
But for insurance, if it were mine, I would spray everything down with a 10% chlorine to kill the mildsw or otjher spores, and them spray again with borates to prevent future spread
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Worried? Want a little piece of mind?
Go buy a few bottle of houshold bleach (yeh the stuff your wife buys at the grocery store) and a hudson sprayer. that's the sprayer that you pump up and it sprays out a mist.(ask at your hadware store). I promise you that you'll use the hudson sprayer a lot once you own your house..
Cover all the wood with the bleach and make sure everything gets wet.. the bleach will kill any growth of mold and everything is OK
Do it yourself and that way you'll know that nothing was missed.. For information most homeowners policies nowdays exclude damage done by mold..
It is not unusual to get a little mold growing during the rainy season.. it's part of life.. either tell God to stop it raining during construction or simply deal with it. Think of the adventure, You're having your own house built!!!!
I've got the same problem..........I'm going to borrow a friends airless paint sprayer to blast the bleach solution on with.
I think I'll go a 1-2 ratio........
:o) sam
Bleach and borax will kill active mold growth, they will not kill the spores.
The latest views of the experts seems to be that you have to physically clean (scrub) the areas.
Most of the experts are moving away from recommending household bleach because of possible adverse health effects from breathing the mist. (If you use it, you only need a couple of tablespoons per gallon, per the latest seminar I attended a couple of months ago.)
Check these sites for expert info: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/
http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/mold/default.htm
Probably the two most important things you can do is (i) clean the effected areas and (ii) be completely sure that the flashing and other water penetration detailing is scrupulously done.
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