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I have a door that was installed and the contractor put in some spacer wood. I didn't paint them and these were exposed to some rain (I'm in Los Angeles where it rains a few days a year)

Here's a picture of the wood up close. Are those black spots mold? I tried to rub them off and they wouldn't come off. Do I need to treat it or can I just paint over that?

wood frame close up

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    This might be a more specific question because it's regarding wood, not just mold on the surface. – milesmeow Mar 20 '18 at 23:41
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    I don’t think you’ll ever get it all out of the wood. I would treat it with strong bleach and water. After dry, paint first with kilz to seal it. – Tyson Mar 21 '18 at 0:54
  • The accepted answer of the duplicate specifically mentions treating mold on/in unfinished wood – mmathis Mar 21 '18 at 14:09
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Make sure the wood is dry first, the just paint over it with Kilz. Maintain the paint so that future rain doesn’t get in and reawaken the mold spores.

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I recently had a water tank explode and have been doing a lot of research on this.

Many will tell you to just mix laundry bleach 10:1 with some dish soap and apply it to the wood, let it dry then paint over it. This would be fine for a non porous surface, and if this area isn't likely to ever see moisture again it may be sufficient, however, in porous surfaces like wood mold grows roots into the wood that cannot be killed by bleach (bleach leaves it's chloride killing component at the surface).

Because of this, non-toxic household acids like vinegar, bases like borax, or hydrogen peroxide is preferred over bleach for porous surfaces such as wood. Adding a surfactant such as dish-soap should help with the penatrance. However, unless this solution penetrate deeper than the roots grown by the mold you won't be able to fully kill it, but it's also likely that no other moisture will penetrate that deep to reactivate it either.

*Beware * You shouldn't mix any of the following cleaning solutions:

  • Bleach + Vinegar (or ammonia) = chlorine gas (and ammonia isn't useful on mold anyway)
  • Hydrogen Peroxide + Vinegar = Peracetic acid a strong irritant

Also not that contrary to what some websites might claim the following is counter productive(however, one followed by the other should be useful):

  • Vinegar + baking soda: Mixing this acid and base together causes them to neutralize each other diminishing the effectiveness of the cleaning solution.
  • Vinegar + Borax: Mixing this acid and base causes them to neutralize each other diminishing the effectiveness of the cleaning solution.
  • Vinegar + Castle soap: Mixing this acid and base causes them to neutralize each other diminishing the effectiveness of the cleaning solution.
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  • Did I miss it or did you not answer how to treat mold on wood? – Kris Mar 20 '18 at 23:35
  • @Kris you missed it – virtualxtc Mar 21 '18 at 1:23

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