Mould in Laminate Flooring
HAS ANYBODY EVER EXPERIENCED A SIMILAR SITUATION? we have just built and finished a villa for a client of ours. This morning the owner called me to check out the laminate skirting she has in a couple of rooms. For some reason mold seems to be coming out of the skirting, these rooms are situated…
HAS ANYBODY EVER EXPERIENCED A SIMILAR SITUATION?
we have just built and finished a villa for a client of ours. This morning the owner called me to check out the laminate skirting she has in a couple of rooms. For some reason mold seems to be coming out of the skirting, these rooms are situated on first floor level and in the areas were this is manifesting there are no water pipes or drains. To be honest in 10 years i have never come across a similar situation could somebody give me an insight on what this could be? could it be coming from the skirting itself.
Cheers
Yes, I have seen this before. This usually happens on the first floor. This will occur when you have a warm room and a cooler room a floor below installation. I bet you that the matting under the laminate was placed upside down. The side with the moisture barrier always needs to be towards the warm side installation. You can get moisture when cold meets hot. It is also for this reason that you always install fiberglass batting with the film side towards warm. Do I get a cookie?
HDF is very, VERY porous. ALL *DF’s are porous when compared to other hardwood flooring.
Wiping the floor with a face towel would make HDF start to bubble.
from the photo it looks like it is emanating from the wood itself and not the wall in which case try removing the skirting and see what happens. I would think that mold would attack easier surfaces like drywall first as opposed to the wood. If there was that much standing water you would probably see evidence of that in the way the flooring behaved.
Well I am sure Joe would be willing to go to Malta, but I guess the testing cost would be excessive!
do they have kids? maybe the kids are wiping their boogers on the floor? i know as a kid i used to always wipe my boogers under tables and stuff. granted that looks like a LOT tho.
*rob*
I suspected that “villa” meant we weren’t Kansas (or Brooklyn) any more.
Hi Guys, thanks for comments and help, to answer your questions:
Mat
1. No standing water after installation, in fact it’s the first thing i asked the owner, if she washed the floors with lots of water? and she said no, she only uses damp floor cloths
2. To date no mold on the walls at higher areas, the mold is actually coming through the skirting not walls.
Mopar
1. I agree some type of water formation is happening, now if it’s condensation under the laminate and coming out from skirting im not sure. The walls are all divider walls with other rooms touching these 2 rooms.
Brownstonerlogin
Exactly……..
Invisible
No what i mean for 1st floor is the floor above ground floor.
Jock deBoer
Jock, thanks for contact, however this problem is in Malta, Europe 🙂 however yes what i will do is contact the suppliers / installers and get them to test it
Thanks everyone, keep them coming as this helps me eliminate various options
Thanks again
Get it tested and contact the company that manufacturered it. Joe at onlymatch@aol.com can test it for you. He has a testing company in Brooklyn.
Jock deBoer, AIA
deBoer Architects
by first floor you mean basement correct? the floor at the ground level?
yeah, get that tested for Aspergillus asap. mold experts. all it needs is moisture, something in rich abundance this year.