mold!
looks like we have nasty black mold in the basement. wondering if anyone could recommend testers/abaters. thanks!
looks like we have nasty black mold in the basement. wondering if anyone could recommend testers/abaters.
thanks!
Be careful using drylok cement in the foundation of an older house. If your home has a brick or stone foundation (instead of concrete block), do NOT use drylok, as it contains portland cement which is way too hard for these older, fragile materials. Over time, portland cement will cause the bricks to crumble. You have to use lime mortar (the original material used) to repair and maintain the integrity of old foundations.
Be careful checking for black mold. Wear protective gear or call in a professional. That stuff can be really toxic.
1:50 —
1:20 had some good advcie, but read it carefully. You have to locate and stop the source of moisture first. Until you know you’ve stopped the moisture, all of the scraping/cleaning/bleaching etc. won’t solve the problem. You may need to cut open a small hole where the mold is and look behind the wall to see where the moisture is coming from.
mpcmpc… I’m not OP, but we have a patch of mold on our cellar wall – right near the boiler (always hot, very inefficient). It’s in the center of the partition between us and our neighbors, though. Would that be the result of a leak in their place? Or just a moldy ol’ brink spot? I have tried bleaching it repeatedly, but never seems to do much. If it isn’t spreading, will scraping and painting as you suggest do the trick?
Thanks!
Your problem is not mold, but rather moisture.
The key to dealing with moisture is to kill the source – often poor drainage outside the home. Make sure you have a good path to the sewers for your rain runnoff outside.
Fix any leaks in the foundation with a chisel and drylock cement. Look for leaks during the next big rain. This is classic how-to knowledge.
Clean the walls with a fungacide, and prime the basement walls with a antifungal paint. I forgot which produt we used, but they are easy to google.
Be sure to use wonderboard (not greenboard) for the bottom three feet of the new sheetrock walls to deal with any future floods. Key sockets high up as well.
Finally, install a dehumidifyer and tap into the plumbing to send out the water. You don’t want to be dumping buckets all the time.
This can all be done by a regular contractor.
If this is to be a loving space – radient floor heating can help but it’s not at all necessary. If you’re boiler is in the basement that might generate plenty of warmth for the winter. You might not even need that many radiators.