couple possibilities here....since you just bought this place you dont have the ability to say "gee everything was fine till i put in the tank"...there is the possibility the house had an issue before you bought it that the flippers covered up....you say no insulation in the crawlspace....does the ground in the crawlspace have a moisture barrier? (sheet plastic covering the entire dirt floor)....is the house balloon framed (nothing blocking crawlspace air from flowing up walls)....are there foundation vents? is the place properly insulated? cause warm humid air will condense on a cold ceiling or wall....when i finished one room in my basement it got mold spots everywhere...i cleaned everything down with bleach and repainted with Zinsser perma white paint (most stores dont carry the paint, only their primer cause they have so many competing brands....you may need to go online)...7 years later no mold...and i had 2 tanks in that room for a year or 2 before i moved....its tintable....have my moms bathroom painted with it....
Mold growth in the room I keep my tank
- Thread starter Aaron88
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Hey, my house does have a moisture barrier, it’s on posts and has vents. I’m finding out how much it is going to cost to have the craw space insulated and I’m going to add some craw space fans to get the air moving as well. I have a issue with the front door you can see a bit of light coming from the top so I am fixing that this weekend.
CMMorgan
Counting my blessings...
I think the tank is too obvious. Could it contribute? Perhaps. If the air temperature is lower in the room than that of the water vapor, you'd have condensation. This is the same as the ceiling above a shower. Code in modern houses dictates that you would have a vent fan or operable window in a bathroom. If the air exchange in the room you have issue wish is off balance, that could be the issue. How old are the windows? Are they new? I have a client on an island here in Florida with a 100 year old house. As soon as they replaced the windows, they developed a serious mold problem.
A dehumidifier is going to be hot and loud.
I think you have had some good advice here... and some bad. I am in the remodeling industry. Bleach is a temporary fix. A good cheap solution to kill mold is a saturated solution of borax. You can find it in a powder box in the laundry isle for less than $3.00. You apply this to the area with a sponge and allow it to dry. Prep and paint over with Kilz Mold Killing Primer. That should keep it at bay. Another cheap solution is to use Damp Rid, non-prelit charcoal or baking soda to remove odor and dampness from the room.
Once you have treated the symptom... you will need to find the cause. Is your house too tight or too loose? You either need ventilation or insulation.
Best of luck! Old houses are a blessing and a curse.
A dehumidifier is going to be hot and loud.
I think you have had some good advice here... and some bad. I am in the remodeling industry. Bleach is a temporary fix. A good cheap solution to kill mold is a saturated solution of borax. You can find it in a powder box in the laundry isle for less than $3.00. You apply this to the area with a sponge and allow it to dry. Prep and paint over with Kilz Mold Killing Primer. That should keep it at bay. Another cheap solution is to use Damp Rid, non-prelit charcoal or baking soda to remove odor and dampness from the room.
Once you have treated the symptom... you will need to find the cause. Is your house too tight or too loose? You either need ventilation or insulation.
Best of luck! Old houses are a blessing and a curse.
Captain K'nuckles
Community Member
I had same problem. I used vinegar on the ceiling. Came back In days though. Even started on my wooden furniture. Airflow is key but the humidity must be addressed in one way or another. Dehumidifiers heat the room and can be noisy and expensive to run. Not good in living areas. My tanks are in my bedroom so a small ceiling vent was fitted above tanks and inline extractor fitted exiting through sofit under gutters. Have it on low 24/7 quiet with option to ramp up in summer. I'd try to the quietest de humidifier you can get. See if you can test one first for noise. Turn it on when you go to bed if you can't have on of a day. You will be shocked to see how much water they pull from the air. 5 litres a day for me at my peak tank addiction. Humidity didn't get above 40% more than doubled if left off
green behind the ears
Community Member
If possible you need to install some sort of extract fan on an exterior wall that pumps air out preferably with built in humidity stat , this works for me and I live in the uk which practically rains everyday .
I think there are a lot of options obviously come at a price you might need to speak to a contractor
green behind the ears
Community Member
There is also an option of a fan that is installed in the loft of the property and pumps air in keeping the air in the house at a set pressure , apparently this constant pressure inhibits mold growth and pushes out humidity .
Captain K'nuckles
Community Member
I would check the roof space above tank for void in insulation or cold spot. Might help. Trying to get the room the same temp as the tank water is easier said than done. Does help. Basic physics. Just have to look at your car windows in the winter. Our tanks just happen to create the perfect environment for lots of things good and bad. Monitoring my room with a humidity meter gives me an idea of how it's going through out the days. Dehumidifier would be the easiest way to go. cheap humidity meter for observation. it can be a balancing act. Warm air from dehumidifier may increase tank evaporation. Something to think about. It will remove it. Just keep an eye on your ato reservoir.
Hey, I went and got myself a dehumidifier. It is the option I can afford at the moment. When I was going around my house I found a bit of this mildew issue in a few places. So the upside is I don't think it is my tank, more along the lines of the flippers covered up issues that I am now gonna have to go back and fix myself.
CMMorgan
Counting my blessings...
Be diligent and don't make the same mistakes. Bleach will just make it come back again and again. One room at a time. You'll get there. I built my career renovating old homes. It's a cause worth fighting to save.
Hello everyone,
I wanted to think everyone for all the helpful input and all of the great options. For right now, I went ahead and got a dehumidifier, not the sexiest fix, but it is within my budget at the moment. As I moved around my house looking for drafts and cold spots, I found more than a few and started closing them up. It looks like I have a fiar more issues than I thought that I need to fix. But in every place that I did find an issue with a draft coming in from the outside, I did find mildew (what I would like to call it, makes me feel slightly better). At this time, it is looking like I will need to move forward with priming all my ceilings with a product such as kilz and pain with mildew/ mold inhibiting paint on top of that. I am already in the process of closing up all my leaking areas. Hopefully, by the time summer comes around, I will have the money saved to get a pro out to my house to insulate my crawl space. That would help a lot with a bunch of issues. If all of these steps don't help me out any, I think I will invest in a PIV unit. I will need to find out how that would work during "fire season" and all the smoke. I would not want all of that coming into my house. It is already a massive issue keeping my tank alive during that time of year. I don't need any more issues. But moving forward, if anyone knows of any home improvement DYI forums that are as great as reef to reef, please let me know. And again, thank you all so much for all your feedback and help in what turned out to be a none tank issue. This shows me that this community really looks out for each other.
I wanted to think everyone for all the helpful input and all of the great options. For right now, I went ahead and got a dehumidifier, not the sexiest fix, but it is within my budget at the moment. As I moved around my house looking for drafts and cold spots, I found more than a few and started closing them up. It looks like I have a fiar more issues than I thought that I need to fix. But in every place that I did find an issue with a draft coming in from the outside, I did find mildew (what I would like to call it, makes me feel slightly better). At this time, it is looking like I will need to move forward with priming all my ceilings with a product such as kilz and pain with mildew/ mold inhibiting paint on top of that. I am already in the process of closing up all my leaking areas. Hopefully, by the time summer comes around, I will have the money saved to get a pro out to my house to insulate my crawl space. That would help a lot with a bunch of issues. If all of these steps don't help me out any, I think I will invest in a PIV unit. I will need to find out how that would work during "fire season" and all the smoke. I would not want all of that coming into my house. It is already a massive issue keeping my tank alive during that time of year. I don't need any more issues. But moving forward, if anyone knows of any home improvement DYI forums that are as great as reef to reef, please let me know. And again, thank you all so much for all your feedback and help in what turned out to be a none tank issue. This shows me that this community really looks out for each other.
I did go and srub my ceilings with a bleach and soda wash mix. I could not find any borax, and all the stores were sold out around me. I figured it would be a decent band-aid until I can move forward with priming and painting. If you are a renovator, I would like to stay in touch as I will have many DIY projects and would like someone who knows what they are doing to ask for advice. My uncle is a carpenter, but he really isn't big on chatting and honest sucks at explaining anything, but he is great at his craft.
The dehumidifier that I got on amazon is small but does 2,500sq feet and has a reservoir that only holds 0.5gl. It is rather quiet even when I have it on high, and with it being winter, I welcome anything that will help warm the house. At this point, I have not noticed it putting off any heat. Within the 1st 24hrs of having it on is has pulled 1.5gl of water out of the air. Installing a vent fan in my dining room is not really an option. The other half would much rather kill me 1st and have the tank removed 2nd before that happens. But all in all, it is looking like a much larger issue than my tank. I guess that is a good thing.I had same problem. I used vinegar on the ceiling. Came back In days though. Even started on my wooden furniture. Airflow is key but the humidity must be addressed in one way or another. Dehumidifiers heat the room and can be noisy and expensive to run. Not good in living areas. My tanks are in my bedroom so a small ceiling vent was fitted above tanks and inline extractor fitted exiting through sofit under gutters. Have it on low 24/7 quiet with option to ramp up in summer. I'd try to the quietest de humidifier you can get. See if you can test one first for noise. Turn it on when you go to bed if you can't have on of a day. You will be shocked to see how much water they pull from the air. 5 litres a day for me at my peak tank addiction. Humidity didn't get above 40% more than doubled if left off
CMMorgan
Counting my blessings...
Happy to help. I've been in the business for 27 years. Reach out anytime.
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