Mold in the crawl and attic

[Bobby Hamilton]

Client was closing his summer cottage down for the winter. Found mold in the crawl space, which was 8" tall and no vapor barrier + there was standing water in it. Also found in the attic. Told him he needs to get it taken care of immediately by a pro.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by bhamilton

Client was closing his summer cottage down for the winter. Found mold in the crawl space, which was 8" tall and no vapor barrier + there was standing water in it. Also found in the attic. Told him he needs to get it taken care of immediately by a pro.
Attachment 25797Attachment 25798Attachment 25799

Been seeing mould in houses for 25+ years now but have never seen mould colonies form in lines as in the third picture!!

[Dennis R. Goudreau]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

Been seeing mould in houses for 25+ years now but have never seen mould colonies form in lines as in the third picture!!

I agree with you Brian very strange, almost like it 's following a grain pattern or something

[Barry Adair]

colony patterns are not uncommon...some are really artfully awesome in design

http://metafysica.nl/dictyo1.jpg

[Dennis R. Goudreau]

That is cool Barry, I have seen mold in its reproductive stage that was unreal!!!!

[Barry Adair]

If you're interested in more images and species descriptions here's a pretty extensive glossary

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

An 8" tall crawl space??? How'd you get in there to inspect it?

[Bobby Hamilton]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

An 8" tall crawl space??? How'd you get in there to inspect it?

Sent the fearless dog in, camera equiped and ready for action


The client knew he had a problem and had cut several holes in the floor. This was a home built in the early 1900's with add on after add on. The crawl spaces were closed. There was no entrances to get in and there was standing water in all of them. Here's a couple more pics.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

8" tall crawl space...

Originally Posted by bhamilton

The client knew he had a problem and had cut several holes in the floor. This was a home built in the early 1900's with add on after add on. The crawl spaces were closed. There was no entrances to get in and there was standing water in all of them.

He has worse problems than that little bit of mold then. How do you expect anybody to be able to remediate the mold issue, anyway?

[Bobby Hamilton]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

8" tall crawl space...



How do you expect anybody to be able to remediate the mold issue, anyway?

A MATCH

[Jason Yost]

The contractor that remediates this will definitely have their hands full (and the home owner probably a large bill). They'll have to dig it out before they can even get to thinking about cleaning; and, they'll have to do it in a way that prevents any cross contamination. I've worked on projects like this in the past. While demanding, they can be very rewarding when completed. As a Council-certified Indoor Environmental Consultant, I generally recommend to my Clients that when remediation is performed that moisture preventing measures be taken to avoid future reinfestation and contamination, a system that addresses thermal properties, humidity, plumbing leaks and other unforeseen disasters, and ventilates the crawl space so that air can be properly moved and processed (for example dehumidifier or air purifier or HVAC system with a good filtration system) - all specific to the structure. (I'm not trying to sell any one procedure over another in this post.) Failure to make sure that moisture is controlled may hinder remediation ineffectiveness and reinfestation can occur (all of this without mentioning the other microbes and parasites that flourish in a moist environment such as this and their effects on the building, its system, and the indoor air quality).

[Russell Spriggs]

Mold may be following the slime of slug trails in pic #3.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Originally Posted by Jason Yost

The contractor that remediates this will definitely have their hands full (and the home owner probably a large bill). They'll have to dig it out before they can even get to thinking about cleaning; and, they'll have to do it in a way that prevents any cross contamination. I've worked on projects like this in the past. While demanding, they can be very rewarding when completed. As a Council-certified Indoor Environmental Consultant, I generally recommend to my Clients that when remediation is performed that moisture preventing measures be taken to avoid future reinfestation and contamination, a system that addresses thermal properties, humidity, plumbing leaks and other unforeseen disasters, and ventilates the crawl space so that air can be properly moved and processed (for example dehumidifier or air purifier or HVAC system with a good filtration system) - all specific to the structure. (I'm not trying to sell any one procedure over another in this post.) Failure to make sure that moisture is controlled may hinder remediation ineffectiveness and reinfestation can occur (all of this without mentioning the other microbes and parasites that flourish in a moist environment such as this and their effects on the building, its system, and the indoor air quality).

You are right. In my area of the country, we will discontinue use of all the crawlspace vent and install a fan at the end of crawlspace to the outside. This will cause conditioned air to be pulled into the crawlspace from above. I think the fan set up is less $200.00. Also a sealed moisture gets installed, now those are not cheap.

[Jason Yost]

There are so many systems out there now. It is amazing too the complexity of some of them. I understand the science behind them and respect it (even written about it on my website www.SolutionsIEC.com), but for a lot of people I think it gets so complex that they don't trust the new systems and sciences being introduced to them. I don't judge them. I just give my customers the basics of controlling microbial development in their crawl spaces so they can look into their purchase for improving their crawl spaces.