What is it? Seems to grow out of some wooden areas in the room. I’ve tried peroxide and bleach. Would a steamer help? Sorry in advance for the bad picture quality.
From a person with a lot of years of experience fighting mold on wood in a humid climate, what you want is borax:
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/green-home/21331232/killing-mold-on-wood
Borax kills mold and also soaks into wood and stays there to prevent future growth. Bleach does not help on porous surfaces like wood:
"Note that bleach should not be used to kill mold found on wood. While bleach is very effective for killing mold on non-porous surfaces, it doesn’t work well when it comes to wood. This is because the chlorine in bleach can’t penetrate wood, so only the water portion of the bleach gets absorbed.
The mold may appear to be removed from the surface, but it’ll likely continue to grow underneath and return within a few months."
Now I’m interested in trying this on my shower grout. I wonder if it would work the same way. I’ll have to check and make sure it’s safe on stone and grout.
Same! Cleaning grout is so exhausting and inevitable. Something to stop mold from growing would really help.
Get a brush tool for your drill. Best investment to courage the bathroom.
Much thanks. I’ll have to look around for some of this.
A fungus Connoisseur
Those are the tasty bits.
disclaimer. Do not eat the tasty bits®
If the voice get louder seek medical help
Don’t worry, the voice isn’t any louder, just sexier…
You got Gilbert Gottfried too eh?
Well, it’s definitely mold.
That’s a chair? It shouldn’t just be growing there randomly. So you live in a highly humid environment? Eesh.
Tropics. This place gets marine air so it sucks extra bad.
Sounds like it could be some mineral growth. This happens a lot in humid area. I’ve read magnesium is especially susceptible to this.
I had given it a thought that it may be crystallized salt from the marine air, but it doesn’t dissolve. The clusters are almost hydrophobic in water at first but end up as a suspension when stirred around, i.e. not soluble.
It would more likely be from the material itself and not from the air.
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Ya. That was my other thought. Dunno how to test that theory though.
Lemme guess: Singapore?
I live in a similar setting (tho probably not as humid), so I know it’s a thing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efflorescence
Not sure if it describe the one we’re seeing, but it’s something similar, at least.
White rot fungus, use very diluted bleach (like 5%, a cup of bleach in a gallon of water.) or vinegar (either might alter the wood finish though…), wrap the arm of the chair in paper towels and keep them damp with it for like 30 minutes or so to let it soak into the substrate of the mold inside the wood, and it should just come off with a brush.
Don’t let it go everywhere when brushing it off because the more you spread the spores, the more mold you get.
A steamer will likely make it grow more. It’ll look like it’s working but it’ll grow back worse.
Thanks muchly, friend. First time dealing with it. It’s worse because it’s in a place I don’t visit very often. So every time I come back I get a new surprise. :(((
When you say “wooden areas of the room,” do you mean it’s on different wooden objects? That’s a chair in the picture, right? What else is it on?
Is the room humid? If it’s any kind of mold, streaming is a bad idea.
On some pieces of furniture. Not on others. Maybe it needs to spread, maybe the unaffected pieces are better sealed. The place gets marine air, so it’s very humid, but enclosed.
Mold growth on furniture is weird. Mold needs two things: moisture and something to eat. Usually if a room has enough moisture, you’re going to get mold or mildew on fabric and more porous things before you’re going to get it on treated wood. Does the room smell like mold or mildew?
It smells like an unused room, but dampness is there as it’s exposed to marine air. Can’t detect traces of mold on the porous items like linen, cushions etc, but I’m not too familiar with what to look out for. Any tips?
It’s a really weird one. You can try a borax and water solution. Here’s a page that seems similar to your problem that might help
I’m starting to think it’s embedded inside the wood at the factory, but have no way to verify it. Anyway, thanks for the solution, I’ll give it a shot.
