My wife and I moved to Mackay 2 years ago for my job and in that time it has rained about 85% of the time.
The humidity causes mould to grow on absolutely everything in the house, and I mean everything.
My wife gives me a hard time about it because it is obviously my fault !
I bought a dehumidifier which now lives full time in our bedroom and gathers about a litre of water a week, we have purchased litres of oil of clove, which we spray on the curtains to kill off the mould, we wipe down all our timber furniture with white vinegar regularly to kill the mould, but still it keeps coming back on everything.
We have thrown out many clothes, belts, jackets and shoes, and we are living in an environment which is probably not to healthy.
We have taken advised to leave the air conditioners running during the wet months to circulate the air, but it still keeps turning up.
Does anyone else have these problems or any ideas which maybe helpful.
Thanks.
I've dealt with mould so often i have a series of correctional solutions for it.
If you are living in a subtropical climate FORGET ABOUT WIPING DOWN FURNITURE as a preventative .. its only sterilizing the item and once the vinegar dries off … they will be back in no time.
You need to look at constructive measures for keeping the internals dry. First .. if you have any flaking paint or damp ceilings .. strip them right back and use a high gloss anti mould paint on them. Then choose a color of your choice for the top coating. Mould has a habit of being painted over and being left behind old layers of paint. Its a recipe for disaster and can cause real health issues.
Mould has a self protection measure where it actually wets itself when it comes under attack. So trying to strip it with vinegar .. it just goes into a protective state and then spores into the air. Guess what you are breathing in?
Since you seem to be fighting a larger area moisture issue you are asking your dehumidifier to do overtime to get a half baked result. There is too much moisture and .. your humidifier is just doing overtime.
Look at ways that manufacturers take the moisture out of the air. Go out there and buy activated charcoal for your wardrobe (place in a prominent position not at the base of the wardrobe else its pointless). Make sure you have effective seals on your entry and exits within the house. Check the roofspace for what you have as insulation. And finally .. if you are living in a 20+ yr old house in that area .. you may need to check between the wallspaces. When mould forms there its usually undetectable .. and that protection effect of mould producing its own moisture .. it wets and rewets the air around it, keeping areas continually mould attractive.
Mould as a problem can go from just being unpleasant to severe and finally .. cause breathing issues that may be ongoing to fatal. There are tools you can use out there that well and truly kill the mould and produce long term preventative measures.
Do as much as possible on that stuff .. as quickly as possible.
I have purchased in subtropical areas before .. mine was a little further up in Cairns. And you just need to recognise that you do whats possible. With mine .. it had an issue with both termites and mould .. neither of which was directly obvious. But the correct measures were taken and it was restored to being a liveable house.
Just remember that not only are you fighting the mould .. you are fighting the RESPAWNING of the mould. And to do that properly you will have to get every possible wet area to dry out normally. Go to your local hardware store .. he'll probably have several bags of tricks. And most importantly .. he may just know what works in his local area.
Hi RyanJD & xdrew,
Thanks for the link and previous experience, my wife has read your posts and my ears are hurting a lot less, Thank you !
In our house we have an on-suite from our bedroom which I believe is a big contributor to the mould there, and some of the house has timber slat type blinds instead of glass windows, so when you open them up there is only a mossie screen between the inside and the outside.
Due to the amount of rain we have had, we rarely open these up which leaves the house dark most of the time and unventilated, we do open these when the days are good and dry.We have now decided to purchase another dehumidifier for the main living area and bring the moisture content down and hopefully with the La Nina phasing away and the El Nino moving in, the dry weather cycle may be our saviour.
What a pain in the butt the mould has been.
The picture below was from RyanJD's link, OMG !
I went to viewing for a house for sale the weekend before last and the roof was about half that bad. Didn't want to touch anything!
I wonder if a sunlight in the roof would help stop moisture building up
i have heard that about an 80% vinegar solution kills mould better than straight vinegar… this is because the hyphae absorb more before being killed off so you are getting to the root of the problem. worked for me.
but yeah as they say address the factors that make the place attractive to mould, it does not like direct sunlight, it likes still air and of course moisture, in cases where it keeps re-appearing usually means it is re-growing from either new spores or there is growth behind the surface it's on.
sometimes can be a sign of rising damp in a house or a leaky pipe in addition to climate.
Mould is a fungi it has to be killed first with vinegar 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water .
Then wash with commercial products if you wish. Good luck
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