42
votes
Accepted
Why are we to leave a front-loader clothes washer open, but not the dishwasher?
TL;DR Temperature
Dishwashers use hot water, because that's the way to clean dishes. Then they heat up the hot water even more to sanitize the dishes. Food safety requires it.
US dishwashers normally ...
35
votes
Accepted
Does A/C encourage mold growth
Yeah, that advice was super wrong. Moisture encourages mold growth.
After a water leak you need to go to extremes to dry the air to get wet things to evaporate into the air, which you then ...
23
votes
What should I do about mold in a new build?
First of all, you should probably contact a mold abatement contractor. Not only should they be able to remove the existing mold, they should be able to identify its cause as well.
Then you may need ...
- 23k
23
votes
Accepted
Mold or rust stain on roof truss
Neither. It's labeling paint. It was either sprayed onto the entire lumber unit or this truss set for identification.
source
- 120k
21
votes
Santizing a vacuum cleaner by sucking up disinfectant
Either you trust the HEPA rating or you don't. If you do, you can continue to use the vac until you are ready to swap that filter media out, and then decide whether you want to sanitize. If you don't, ...
- 22.9k
19
votes
Should I discard all flooring in a package containing mold?
Contact the seller and tell them about the problem. They should send you a new package and take back the mouldy one.
- 291
18
votes
Accepted
What is this white powder on my foundation?
Looks like effloresence to me, which itself is not harmful, but possibly a symptom, mainly of water movement; I would check perimeter walls for further signs of water infiltration, and make sure water ...
- 1,262
18
votes
Accepted
What is this black sooty material on the inside of my roller shutter?
Looks like fungus of some sort. It grows on many surfaces. Try household cleaners and a sponge.
There are many types of mold, and the hysteria surrounding them is often unwarranted. Mold spores are ...
- 120k
18
votes
I've moved into a new apartment for a while. Is this mold? Is it safe to continue live here?
Looks more like mildew, which is related to mold, but not as dangerous (from a health standpoint). Yes, a dehumidifier could help prevent mildew. I would also look for sources of the moisture, e.g. a ...
- 14.7k
16
votes
Does A/C encourage mold growth
You are being sold.
The evaporator coil in the AC condenses water vapor in the air. It does this by blowing the warm air from your home over the cool evaporator coil. The cool coil pulls the moisture ...
- 856
14
votes
Why are we to leave a front-loader clothes washer open, but not the dishwasher?
Certainly washing machine door seals are more prone to mould, but there's another reason to leave the dishwasher door shut: It's perfectly placed for walking into and tripping over, in the kitchen ...
- 5,038
14
votes
Accepted
Should I discard all flooring in a package containing mold?
Contact the seller to see what can be done with your time line in mind.
If you cannot get replacement before some hard installation deadline, remediating what you have is certainly possible: use the ...
- 15.5k
13
votes
Does A/C encourage mold growth
It is possible for A/C to cause mold issues but it depends on a few factors. The problem is this: when choosing a A/C unit for a home, often people (even 'professionals') will assume that bigger is ...
- 1,881
13
votes
Can I determine the cause of mold?
Probably chalk dust (blue, or possibly green depending on the camera, both common colors used in builder's chalk-lines) from the time of construction. Very "slightly smeared boot tread" with ...
- 175k
13
votes
Accepted
Santizing a vacuum cleaner by sucking up disinfectant
If yours is a commercial model then it probably uses the venturi effect or compressed air to cause suction. This means that the sucked-up material does not touch any internal moving parts. If it is ...
- 2,494
12
votes
Accepted
We have mold under carpeting, what should I do?
Chlorine bleach does not enter wood pores, only the water component of a bleach mixture will do so, so you end up not killing any mold spores inside the wood; only on the surface. Either use cleaning ...
11
votes
What is the recommended way to destroy mold?
I just find it useful to recap all the information I could find on the web about it and the unanswered questions and hypotheses that still need to be tested. Please feel free to correct and update my ...
- 456
11
votes
Joists in Basement (for main floor) black - is this mold?
This looks like black spray paint. Mold would tend to have a less uniform appearance, and you would likely have other indications of moisture.
- 155
9
votes
What is this black sooty material on the inside of my roller shutter?
Clean it up with bleach and a sponge (chlorine is the main ingredient of mold-cleaners). If your home is humid (RH >55%) consider installing a dehumidfier so with less moisture you get less mold.
- 2,232
9
votes
Accepted
What should I do about mold in a new build?
What should I do immediately about the mold? I'm worried about breathing in the mold, and unsure of whether I should try and save the items of clothing that have mold on them.
There's a couple of ...
- 23.2k
8
votes
What is this white powder on my foundation?
Efflorescence, salts rising to the surface due to presence of moisture. Common in cementitious materials where water is present.
You can wash it away with mild HCL solution but the stains will remain....
- 33.9k
8
votes
Accepted
What is this growing outside my window?
Those are mud-dauber wasps. They're good guys. They paralyze spiders, take them back to their nests, and lay eggs on the still-living spiders.
So if you don't like spiders around your place, leave the ...
- 853
8
votes
Can I determine the cause of mold?
That pattern isn't characteristic of mold; see below. Mold likes to develop where there is an infiltration source and drying time is the slowest. If you have an excessively humid attic then you would ...
- 15.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any side effects of using sodium hydroxide as a mold-cleaner in the shower?
I'm a materials scientist, and I can tell you that the main plastic components used in plumbing products are generally polyolefins (polypropylene, polyethylene and polybutylene etc...). They are ...
- 86
7
votes
Accepted
How to prevent mold in stored joint compound
Mold grows on any surface that provides food for growth. Joint compound contains organic compounds and lots of moisture. The compound will only last a finite length of time even under "ideal" ...
- 10.9k
7
votes
When buying a rental home after many years of our occupancy, is a home inspection still necessary?
Yes, unless you are an inspector yourself. Inspections often catch things owners don't know about. The owner may have maintained it meticulously, but he can only fix the problems he knows about. My ...
- 1,667
7
votes
What is this black sooty material on the inside of my roller shutter?
This is indeed black mold. We had the same problem at home because:
A vent is built between the shutter box and our bedroom.
The shutter box wasn't insulated at all: the lath was cold and had a large ...
- 487
7
votes
Accepted
Help me identify: Mold or fungus or Moss?
This is a combination of Moss (the thick rounded lumps) and lichen (the very thin plants) It is no worse for your health than having the same plants growing on your footpath or driveway or rocks.
...
- 9,262
7
votes
Accepted
When trying to keep moisture in the house down, at what point would it be best to close the doors and windows, is there a calculation?
The calculations are not very straightforward. You want to look for a Hygrometric chart, that shows the relationship between absolute humidity (amount of moisture in the air), relative humidity, and ...
- 6,076
7
votes
Accepted
Fastest way to dry a vented dirt crawl space (no vapor barrier) in California (Bay Area)
Fastest, without tearing the house apart:
4 fans sized to your 4 vents - two blow in, two blow out. Less fans will probably work fast enough, but 4 would fit "fastest" as requested. If you ...
- 175k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible