Does anyone have tips for cleaning up mold problems?
Any environmentally-safe solutions?
Mold on ceilings & walls, in air conditioners... or worse?
I've seen mold problems in a couple of hostels...
15 years
That makes sense, cheers for that! :) But I guess we have to go for the air duct system then... :(
It sounds worse than it is. You can get all you´ll need at a hardware store and do it yourself. I figure you have an Obi in Budapest and you´re not that busy now in winter anyway, right?
15 years
Is that shower has an outdoor wall right next to it? It' possible you may have a heat bridge and that particular part is colder than the rest of the shower, so the heat difference will aggregate the moisture = always wet surface is perfect soil for mold...
We have exactly that problem in two of our rooms in Vienna. It´s an outside wall to the neighbour building - a firewall. At that particular spot, the neighbor building has a little courtyard, so this part of the wall is not in contact with another wall, but in the plain cold air. Apparently, the entire firewall has no insulation, but at this spot it should, because it´s exposed. Now it is aways cold and gets moldy. It did not yet get moldy in the first winter, only in the second. Apparently it took a year until the wall got wet enough to grow mold.
15 years
Here are a couple of photos from a hostel with a mold problem:
The bathroom ceiling:
The inside of a locker. On the other side of the wall is the shower. The locker smelled like a dungeon and the whole room smelled like mold:
15 years
Wow. That looks horrible. Something serious should have been done years before it looked like that. Such amounts of mold can be a severe health hazard. Doing nothing in such a case is criminal.
15 years
The bathroom ceiling...
This could be easily fixed with some quick masonry.
You have to remove the plaster until the bricks, then re-plaster it.
When it's done, then you should make a mixture of paint and anti mold aggregate (which is still cheap and you can buy it in any hardware store) and do some paint work.
In order to prevent such thing happen, it would be recommended to re-paint the bathroom with the recommended mixture once every year or so. It depends on the humidity of the bathroom, so if you have good ventilation as Klaus mentioned before, you won't need to do it often.
The inside of a locker. On the other side of the wall is the shower.
There are several problems with this scene.
First of all, those who build this shower were complete idiots. Those masons should be fired and should eat their certificates or sued for the damage they caused, because that shower has to be completely destroyed and then restored from the very beginning and it won't be two pennies.
The main problem was before they layered the tiles, they should add an insulation mixture (also very cheap and you get it in hardware stores ) to the cement, which will make sure there will be no water leaking through the tiles.
It is a common misbelief but the tiles are not waterproof. Neither the grout in between. Both have micro pipes where the water can get through, especially if there is constant resupply of water.
The locker has two problems. It is nitrous and moldy as well.
Nitrous walls are a result when there is water in the walls for a while and it extracts some chemicals to the surface. The wall has to be dried out first, which could take up to few years(!), then re-plastered. The main problem is you need to leave the surface open until it dries, so you either can't use the area or you need to put there a heater to fasten the process, but it will be still ugly meanwhile.
We had a serious nitrous problem before, due to some plumbing problems which has been fixed since. We decided to replace the complete wall, which wasn't easy or cheap. Since that we don't have any nitre on that part, however recently we've got some nitre somewhere else due the winter. There is an air shaft of the building behind and the bricks can't be removed as it's a holding wall, so we will fix the plastering in the shaft as soon as it's possible... We have to wait until March approximately, when it will be constantly above 0-5°C even during the nights, so the fresh work won't fall apart during an outdoor frost.
There are also nitre remover sprays available, but it will show up again until the wall is completely dry.
To solve a mold problem we have to think about the physiology of mold: It needs humidity, which can be found on cold surfaces and where is no air.
Think about relative humidity: a higher temperature bears more humidity than a lower one. The rest extracts. This is how rain falls, or when you see your own breath outside during a cold night. Heat bridges are perfect for mold because where there is a cold surface in a hot area, it will be always wet.
This locker is a perfect substrate for mold: no air, cold and wet wall...
How come this hostel is still operational? Or there is no Health and Safety authority in the US, who would take care of such businesses? :confused:
15 years
Such amounts of mold can be a severe health hazard.
Dangerous?
It's too bad because other than this it's an excellent hostel. I think it's only this one room. I was using a different bathroom that was fine.
...how come this hostel is still operational? Or there is no Health and Safety authority in the US, who would take care of such businesses?
The one in the photos isn't in the US -- though there are hostels in the US with serious problems like this. I've seen black mold problems in air conditioners. I've heard of heath inspectors being bribed even in the US.
15 years
Dangerous?
Mold can cause lung infection, allergic reaction or toxin poisoning which could even lead to death. They should fix it immediately.
You can get more info about mold health issues on the wikipedia...
It's too bad because other than this it's an excellent hostel. I think it's only this one room. I was using a different bathroom that was fine.
There are two types of people who don't fix problems: Those who are ignorant, cynical and/or lazy, won't care. The other kind, who don't know how to fix it, should be attracted to your site. IMHO, if this hostel runs otherwise an excellent service, this mold is a big headache for them. Let them know about this thread and they will put your name in their prayers...
15 years
Mold can cause lung infection, allergic reaction or toxin poisoning which could even lead to death. They should fix it immediately.
You can get more info about mold health issues on the wikipedia...
Thanks for that info, I will let them know.
15 years
I just found this page on Wikipedia that has some tips on cleaning up mold problems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold_assessment_and_remediation
15 years
Dangerous?
I guess you are a young man in good health and you didn´t sleep in that bathroom for a few weeks. So don´t worry.
But yes, dangerous. Or at least I have been told so. We had to sue our construction company because the showers leaked and there was mold (nothing like on those pics though). We hired an expert to testify for us, he seemed to know quite a lot. He told me you wouldn´t want to have mold in a nursing home (unless you have a second business as undertaker).
Most molds do not harm healthy people. But people who have allergies or asthma may be more sensitive to molds. Sensitive people may experience skin rash, running nose, eye irritation, cough, nasal congestion, aggravation of asthma or difficulty breathing. People with an immune suppression or underlying lung disease, may be at increased risk for infections from molds.
A small number of molds produce toxins called mycotoxins. When people are exposed to high levels of mold mycotoxins they may suffer toxic effects, including fatigue, nausea, headaches, and irritation to the lungs and eyes.
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