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mold on basement walls..what to do?
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blue collar
Posted 5/19/2012 23:41 (#2389489)
Subject: mold on basement walls..what to do?


Manitoba
we have a house we've acquired that has some mold on the drywall and foundation (drywall has now been cut out and removed) and have had three contractors tell us to spray peroxide on it. some people spray javex but apparently that only kills some kinds of mold but peroxide kills them all. we have now been told by another fellow that peroxide isn't good enuf and we need to get in a specialist with some special spray to do a proper job. have others tried peroxide with success? want to do a good job but don't want to spend a fortune.
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7150
Posted 5/19/2012 23:50 (#2389507 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: RE: mold on basement walls..what to do?



Perhaps someone will chime in as to what an ozone generator would do. . .
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glensts
Posted 5/19/2012 23:53 (#2389514 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?



We bought a mold killer which prevented mold from building again on the same surface, it was in spray bottles and we got it from Rona. Used about 4 bottles on our whole basement so cost about 35 bucks, worked fine. The specialist stuff I think is a money grab from 'fears' of mold. I don't see why peroxide wouldn't work either though.
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blue collar
Posted 5/20/2012 00:06 (#2389533 - in reply to #2389514)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


Manitoba
thats what i thought. they supposedly use this special stuff on a lot of insurance claims. well of course they do...every contractor sticks it to the insurance company as hard as they can, why wouldn't they. so if they can do insurance claims all day long, why would we get treated any different. i'm thining peroxide and maybe a jug of something else bought over the counter at hardware store will be fine. one of the two should work. we have had couple smaller dehumidifiers running for a few weeks which has helped too.
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Gro-Mor Farms
Posted 5/20/2012 10:37 (#2389965 - in reply to #2389514)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


Western Ky.
Seal up house, apply NH3, everything in house dead. Mice bedbugs mold whatever dead!
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bobcan
Posted 5/20/2012 00:38 (#2389561 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


SK.. in Frozen Cold Western Canada
First and Foremost, I believe moving a LOT of Air through the space is important.. as big a fans as you can stand for many days.. I believe the 'mold killer' form a local building supplier would be the answer, generally..

** Any idea Why and How the original problem occurred..?? Of course repairing that issue is important as well.. Generally Air Flow again will help.. Hope it goes well there!!

Edited by bobcan 5/20/2012 00:39
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Thud
Posted 5/20/2012 06:50 (#2389659 - in reply to #2389561)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


Near-north Ontario, French River
Do it properly and have someone that deals with mold come in and clean it. I had a basement flood last year, had mold from floor to the ceiling, nasty stuff. They brought in big air dryers to dry every thing up then they ran air cleaners for a solid 2 weeks ( should have seen my Electric bill lol).. anyway these cleaners suck air ( and all the airborne mold spores up) and vent it outside the house through long flexible tubes. I agree that air movement is very important but just running large fans will only spread the spores throughout the house( and your lungs ) Mine was so bad that if you tapped the wall with you knuckles a cloud of spores fell to the floor. When they were removing the drywall and treating the ceiling they all wore respirators and throw away coveralls.
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Gerald J.
Posted 5/20/2012 00:43 (#2389566 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?



A chlorine based household cleaner cleans up mold in my experience.

Gerald J.
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JohnW
Posted 5/20/2012 02:40 (#2389620 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: RE: mold on basement walls..what to do?


NW Washington
Google it. http://www.ehow.com/how_7717683_kill-mold-basement-walls.html

The bigger problem is going to be figuring out why mold is growing and then how to prevent it from happening again. Sounds like you may have a leak or excessive condensation on the walls.
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iseedit
Posted 5/20/2012 08:27 (#2389749 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: RE: ** DANGER ** - be aware ~



central - east central Minnesota -

Be aware, mold is dangerious stuff . . . .  
As posted, it's not all that hard to clean up - but please use lung/breathing protection. Longer term health affects can happen, long after you've cleaned up the mold.
Use proper masks and breathing apperatise - that is what the experts should have and know which molds they are dealing with.
Cleaning dead mold with dry ice is one method - its a sand blasting method, but ice is used to knock the residue off the wall and then pkged up.
Clorine kills it, but still need to remove all the spores -
Running humidifiers to dry out the basement is KEY -
Moving air with fans could and willl move loose dead and live mold spores around the whole house, so be carefull using fans. Curtian off and seal the basement when working it, so it doesn't spread spores to the rest of the home.
Dead spores can cause health problems later if breathed in, so don't spread them around the house . . . .
Mold is funny stuff - it can save your life and it can kill you
Do some more studing to ensure you don't let it kill you - now or later ~



Edited by iseedit 5/20/2012 09:33
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redgreenandrust
Posted 5/20/2012 08:59 (#2389802 - in reply to #2389749)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


thumb of michigan
This stuff works fantastic.

http://www.concrobium.com/
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smilin jack
Posted 5/20/2012 10:29 (#2389954 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


SW North Dakota
i have mixed hilex and water 6:1 .... put it in a hand sparayer and sprayed the walls and floor... was told the vapors will kill the airborn spores as well... havent had a problem since
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Philbert
Posted 5/20/2012 15:27 (#2390340 - in reply to #2389954)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?



BENTON, MO

What is Hilex?

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farmboy99
Posted 5/20/2012 17:10 (#2390434 - in reply to #2390340)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


SE South Dakota
Clorine bleach
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bobcan
Posted 5/20/2012 22:03 (#2390877 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold on basement walls..what to do?


SK.. in Frozen Cold Western Canada
That is ALL very true about Spreading Spores if it is that bad.. I should have added that you should Place the Fans in Basement Windows blowing OUT and Open WIDE the Highest Windows in the House to let air flow easily (the exact opposite of effectively cooling a house) >> and YES, better yet having Exhaust Fans with large 'output tubing' to take AWAY from the house would certainly be better yet.. Hopefully you are NOT living in it as we speak!!

I would think ultimately someone like Got-Mold http://www.gotmold.ca/services/air-sampling/ (if you have them anywhere around) would be worth calling IF you think there is quite a serious case.. Different folks will react MUCH more adversely as well, so be careful indeed!!

** If you know, is this a former Grow-Op house, or something crazy as such.. Cheap Purchase, but with 'issues' if so..?? :-/
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Gerald J.
Posted 5/20/2012 23:31 (#2391065 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: Re: mold



Go look at the second half of Ask This Old House, episode 1007 on line at:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2168859633

Gerald J.
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Hayburner
Posted 5/21/2012 03:41 (#2391248 - in reply to #2389489)
Subject: RE: mold on basement walls..what to do?



blue collar - 5/19/2012 22:41 we have a house we've acquired that has some mold on the drywall and foundation (drywall has now been cut out and removed) and have had three contractors tell us to spray peroxide on it. some people spray javex but apparently that only kills some kinds of mold but peroxide kills them all. we have now been told by another fellow that peroxide isn't good enuf and we need to get in a specialist with some special spray to do a proper job. have others tried peroxide with success? want to do a good job but don't want to spend a fortune.

Notwithstanding the other posts here....Last year my house required an inspection prior to sale to a third company because I was relocating. One part of that required inspection for mold. The inspection company came in and performed air sampling, along with tape sampling where they put tape on surfaces, then count the spores removed with the tape.

This was in the attic, and there was NO VISIBLE PRESENCE of mold. Even with no visible presence, the company doing the inspection (an 8 hour on line training certificate was all the credentials required) claimed there was too much mold in the attic, and it had to be remediated. Never mind it was a naturally occuring mold present in the outside air, and the attic was vented to the outside. Sampling required testing the outside air as well to determine if the inside air was similar....but this did not seem to matter.

I had to have contractors come in and give bids on remediation for something that was not even visible, yet was naturally occuring in the outside air.

Anyway, I had three contractors come in ranging from about $1000 to over $12,000. The expensive one said they would remove everything, fumigate the entire attic and replace everything after spraying all surfaces with chemicals. The expense included hazmat suits, screening off parts of the house and HEPA vacuums.

In the end, I hired a separate biological consultant for $300 who wrote a report stating the level of mold present was not a hazard. This after researching mold hazards on the internet and finding there is NO standard level considered to be a hazard, depending on the type of mold found.

There was no agreeable limit between several states that would be considered hazardous, and no agreeable limit known that would be considered to cause health hazards.

My point is, if you have mold, there are a lot of "companies" out there looking to make a huge profit off of it. Spraying bleach, removing some material, cleaning the area etc., is likely to save you a huge amount of money from this scam. Can it cause problems for those allergic? Probably. Can you get ripped off from companies claiming to remediate a non-hazardous problem? Likely.

In the end, I would do my own cleaning with bleach, fix whatever moisture sources there may be, and see if it is resolved. In my case, a bathroom flexible vent tube going to the roof came off, and was enough to cause an issue. Fixing the tube and cleaning the sheeting was enough to fix the problem.

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