Removing mold from wood

[myxpykalix]

I saw a process being done that i thought was very interesting. There was mold impregnated in wood and they took very small pellets the size of BB's of dry ice crushed it up to probably snowflake size and blasted it onto the surface of the wood and the mold just burnt off due to the chemical reaction and heat.

Keep in mind this was surface mold. I had to gut the downstairs of one house due to the infestation of mold that was so bad that when i cut into plain old 2x4s they were so infested with mold that they looked like pressure treated wood they were so green. In that case it was demolish and replace.

[navigator7]

Jack,
Did you get migraines while your house was in this moldy condition?

A friend was always getting migraines, always sick, with something, and taking very serious thyroid medicine.
I went to help him work on his house but the mildew drove me away like flames.

I kinda told him so....we don't talk much anymore.......;-)

Anyway....he got somebody to cut out and replace all the bad wood and encapsulate the rest.

No migraines, no sickness and no more thyroid medication!

[myxpykalix]

I should have been a little clearer in my explaination. I saw this process on a tv show called "Holmes on Homes" and had never seen anything like that before.

The house i worked on was the parents of a friend who had a basement apt. that they left unrented and they were very old so they never went down there. They both were very ill and the daughter never went downstairs. I went down to investigate and found the problem and the mold had been growing for so long from a leaky sink that it was in the 2x4s in the interior walls where the water crossed it going to the drain in the floor.
It had crawled all the way up the 8ft 2x4s almost to the floor joists. I gutted everything tore up all the floor tiles stripped it out and rebuilt it.
I don't recall that i got headaches but the daughter always told me she felt bad when she came over to visit them.
I wore a respirator and protection and kept the dust from demolition to a minimum.

[navigator7]

Sounds precisely what I've observed.
People accepting sickness when the real activating event is mold inside the home.
Even that sooty black mold from aluminum windows.

My sister came to visit us. Evidently she lives in a home filled with mold. How did we know? We could smell it on her. We almost went nuts. It was an assault on our senses. We could smell everywhere she'd been in the house. Later, she told us about the mold condition in her house.

We treated our home after she left. Whew!

[myxpykalix]

Sounds like when a smoker comes into the room you can smell it on the clothes, hair, skin, they reek of it. Just being around that makes my sinuses want to snap shut and have to use nasal decongestant.

I have seen mold on wood i had intended to use and taken a solution of bleach and killed the mold and still used it for a bowl.

Also spalted maple is a form of mold ins't it?

[ssflyer]

Yes...

[foampro]

Hydrogen Peroxide will work. Kills 100% on contact. We use 30% and 35% H202. Not sure how the cheap store brands will work. They are generally 3%.
We use the 30% on our house windows and it sizzles when it hits the mold. We also use it on our big square bales of hay to prevent mold. It really works!

Glen
http://www.innovativefoam.com

[myxpykalix]

glen is this the same type of peroxide you buy from the store? Would places like lowes carry 30% peroxide?

This house i worked on, after gutting all the bad material i cleaned it with darn near a 100% solution of bleach if i recall correctly, whatever it was it killed it all and cleaned up good.

[john_l]

I know have always bought the higher % peroxide at places that sell commercial cleaning supplies. Also the local grain mill sells it.. must be for bales like Glen states.

[foampro]

I use a food grade. You can buy it from this company: http://www.purewaterworksinc.com/index.htm
Bleach is toxic. H2O2 is not. It will turn your skin white if you get it on your skin. Certainly do not drink it unless it is very diluted. We bathe in it. One or two cups per tub of water.

Glen

[myxpykalix]

Glen,
You bathe in it? I guess that explains your pasty white skin but what causes the red marks?

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