Black Mold

Brad White_9

are everywhere. Like us they need a home, water and nourishment. Mold typically can live hygroscopically (drawing enough moisture to live on from ambient air) at RH's above 65 percent. Less than that, they need standing water or continuously dampened surfaces.

Your crawlspace sounds like a prime suspect. It may be "dry" between rainy spells but may harbor sufficient moisture to tide over the fuzzy little buggers until the next storm. You have to cut off the moisture source, simple as that.

Now if the mold grows in the shape of the Virgin Mary or Elvis, you may have a positive cash-cow on your hands....

B Johnson

Black Mold

I have a customer that called me and said they have black mold growing on the walls in the winter mainly but do have the same problem in the summer just not as bad. My question is this, she told me there is no humidifer in the house so where is the moisture coming from to grow the mold. Theere is a crawl space but remains dry unless it rains. Any input on this subject would be great!

JK_3

more information

More information may be helpful but with more information you may find the answer yourself. If it only happens in the winter one of the first things I would be looking for is a leaking condensate return(possibly underground).

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S Ebels

Brad

Your mind definitely runs off the beaten path....(Elvis and Mary........) but I like it.

I have seen many crawlspaces that provide excellent living conditions for mold even though they seem "dry". The RH is WAY up there. People don't understand that the cooler an area is, the less actual humidity it takes to produce good growing conditions for mold.

The number of new houses that I see with fuzzy stuff on the basement floor joists or on the rim board is staggering. Probably on the order of 20%. Treating the basement or crawl as part of the conditioned space and placing it on its own zone is mandatory IMHO. The builders and often the HO's don't see it that way. It costs to much money. Nothing will change until someone brings this little fact to the attention of the insurance companies writing homeowner policies for new construction. THEN the fuzzy will hit the fan.

jim lockard

They say

mold is gold and it maybe. I have seen mold growing on roof trusses at the truss plant and have been told that they spray a clorox mixture on the trusses to control the mold. So what good or ok mold and whats evil mold? Thanks J.Lockard

bob young

lawsuit

be careful of a lawsuit. once you touch mold you own it. some say mold will make the asbestos nightmare look like nothing.

Tony_23

What is she heating with ?

I've seen people use vent-free heaters as primary sources and cold walls love to act as a condensing surface. Are the walls insulated ?

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Anna Conda

This is gonna sound stupid, especially as it's a woman, but I've seen it three times now so here goes.... How's her ventilation? Esp. in winter, some people won't open windows, run fans, etc. in winter. You say its worse in winter, makes me think she's getting more air changes in summer, open windows and the like.

Seen that three times, though, people who don't ventilate their living space. One chap, old apartment with poor air change to begin with, never opened a window or ran an exhaust fan for seven years, showered every day, cooked a lot. We called it the "Polka-Dot Suite"............ @_@;;;;

Plumdog_2

crawlspaces should be outlawed

as a building practice in general.