Mold from heck

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Yamabiru
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Yamabiru »

This year has been particularly bad here too, with no A/C to suck the humidity out and the constant rain, the north side of our house on the first floor is sprouting some nice fuzz in spots inside. Also we've got some pooling of water under the house on the base of the 1m. high concrete foundation. In drier years it doesn't pool much, but this year is the worst I've seen since we've been here. So rising damp creeps in. Most mold is powdery on certain areas of wood, the entire interior is either pine t&g or log wall, so the well shellacked parts clean easily. But the overall humidity is uncomfortable even with moving air. Usually by now the summer has broken and we can enjoy cool and dry evenings, not cool and wet ones inside, yuck. C'mon autumn.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Yamabiru wrote:This year has been particularly bad here too, with no A/C to suck the humidity out and the constant rain
It really has been an awful year for humidity this summer hasn't it ? I've been half expecting to find algae growing on myself at times. It's been impossible to dry clothes outside because there hasn't been any sun and then once you put them in the cupboard they smell musty within a few days and we've had to use the tumble dryer every time. It's been so cloudy the solar panels have made hardly any electricity and the solar water heater has barely been above 45-50C where it should normally be around 70-80C.

When we first started farming here we had to water all new plantings and seedings through most of August and the first half of September but that hasn't been necessary at all this year and many things just rotted in the continual rain. Our michi no eki has half empty shelves where they would normally be ram packed at this time of year as everyone else is having the same problems. Most of the rice farmers we know say they won't break even this year because the continuous cloudy weather has meant their rice harvest is way down on normal years and friends up in Hokkaido had a large part of their potato, onion and carrot crop wiped out when they were flooded by the typhoon because the ground was already so waterlogged.

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Funasshi
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Funasshi »

After lots of complaints I finally got the landlord to come and have a look and since there is nothing that can be done regarding airflow due to solid concrete underneath us.
He decided to remove all the wallpapers in the two rooms on the north side where we are having issues and replace it with something he said will suck the humidity.. (Not sure how well that will be working but at least he is doing something)
His words were: エコカラットという湿気を吸い取る壁材
:whistle:

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gonbechan
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by gonbechan »

eco-karatto is diatomaceous earth wallwaper and/or wall panels.

It will probably make some difference.

donguri
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by donguri »

I have no particularly great tips for avoiding this situation, I'm just here to commiserate and kvetch a bit about my own miserable mold manifestation.

Our cabin stands in the midst of a mainly hinoki forest and the air and earth are always very damp. The cabin stands up on stilts, quite high in some parts and has a lot of gaps and air leaks in general but doesn't get a ton of sunlight. So it was real cool during the summer but last week when I was out there I found mold on EVERYthing: cooking utensils, vinegar bottles, binocular case, drum sticks, soba pillow, table, stereo speaker, natural wood door handles, etc. We don't live there but usually spend a couple days/night a week out there, so while the windows do get opened and fan turned on and basic living functions take place regularly, it's not daily, and man, what a buzz kill finding all that fuzzy, powdery mold was! Even during dry times it's damp out there, so it's not such a shocker, but in the course of one week the reach and amount of it was mind boggling. I was alone on this particular visit and had no one to moan at or help me with the clean up. So like I said, I'm here to whine a bit.

I'll try the spray solutions paradoxbox mentioned and maybe the lime wash solution when we put up some new walls in the near future.

Yamabiru
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Yamabiru »

donguri wrote:I have no particularly great tips for avoiding this situation, I'm just here to commiserate and kvetch a bit about my own miserable mold manifestation.

Our cabin stands in the midst of a mainly hinoki forest and the air and earth are always very damp. The cabin stands up on stilts, quite high in some parts and has a lot of gaps and air leaks in general but doesn't get a ton of sunlight. So it was real cool during the summer but last week when I was out there I found mold on EVERYthing: cooking utensils, vinegar bottles, binocular case, drum sticks, soba pillow, table, stereo speaker, natural wood door handles, etc. We don't live there but usually spend a couple days/night a week out there, so while the windows do get opened and fan turned on and basic living functions take place regularly, it's not daily, and man, what a buzz kill finding all that fuzzy, powdery mold was! Even during dry times it's damp out there, so it's not such a shocker, but in the course of one week the reach and amount of it was mind boggling. I was alone on this particular visit and had no one to moan at or help me with the clean up. So like I said, I'm here to whine a bit.

I'll try the spray solutions paradoxbox mentioned and maybe the lime wash solution when we put up some new walls in the near future.
Commiserating with you donguri!

Our home is up on a 1+meter concrete foundation and our area is very damp, rainfall often is 2500mm per year. Our situation sounds like yours, though we don't get much mold on the south side.
Do you have a woodstove? I just can't bring myself to fire it up in summer as I've heard about. Even if we went out all day, and came back it'd be a sauna, then just open the windows again to the 80% humidity outside. The upside is nearly everything is solid wood, so it cleans easily. Have heard that laminates will peel apart in such humidity.
Eight months of cool,cold , and humid weather ahead haha!

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Eric in Japan
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Eric in Japan »

If it is an option, the best thing to do is open up the area around your house/cabin to more sun/air movement.
In our area, most older properties have a bowl effect. The edges of the property have the taller plants/trees, gradually getting shorter and smaller as they come closer to the house, which is usually surrounded by bare ground or grass. It also makes the view from inside the house very nice, with close, middle, and long views.

Move most landscape plants to a meter or more from the foundation/walls and you will see a difference.
If you can, cut down larger trees to expose your house to more sunlight and you will see an even bigger difference.

Summer days will be hotter, but the nights will cool off quicker. Winter days will be cozy, and the nights colder. But your mold problems should be a lot less.
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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Funasshi
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Funasshi »

Just a quick update on this...
They covered the walls with eco-karatto in two out of three rooms (The third being the most southern facing didn't really have an issue to start with), and now after some time has passed both rooms are still bisho-bisho wet (Maybe the humidity is lower but not noticeable, and the mold is thriving as before)
Oh well, at least we tried. :D

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Oh man, that's a bit of a downer. You'd think with the drop in humidity that it would have gone by now. What's your next move ? Industrial sized dehumidifiers ? Or get out to the countryside and freedom ? We were down Mobara/Chonan way the other day and it looks great for farming down there, lovely soil, great landscapes and with the new highway easy access for farmers markets in bigger cities. Plus Togane now has it's own michi no eki.

Good road and rail inks if you did want to carry on commuting for a while as you make the transition.

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Funasshi
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Re: Mold from heck

Post by Funasshi »

I will use this as an additional incentive to get out and find somewhere new...
I was motivated before, now I am super motivated. :think:

Yeah, it is funny that you say it, Mobara has been my main target area to find a plot, for the exact same reasons.
So far though .... nothing.

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