# mold in garage



## coeng (Apr 23, 2007)

Relatively new homeowner here (bought my house five years ago). I eventually painted the interior garage walls with white concrete paint in 2004. Last night I started to notice mold growing in a few areas on the wall just above the floor. It also spread to some storage shelves (plastic and wood). Had to throw some stuff away last night because of it. Even my power mitre saw has mold on the metal surface that I can't clean off. 

I plan on scrubbing the walls with a bleach solution today. After cleaning is there anything I can apply to the walls to prevent mold? 

Maybe it would have been better had I not painted the bare walls! The painted surface allows moisture to condensate and that's probably the cause of my problem.

I know it sounds silly, but I may have to put a dehumidifier in the garage as well.


----------



## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Doesn't sound silly to me
But then, I've got to regularly Boe-Shield* my metal tools or they become rust lumps rather quickly
I live in The Land Of Rust And Mildew

*like a super WD-40 that leaves a waxy film

After mold removal, I'd paint again but with Zinsser's Perma-White

It is the most Mold Mildew resistant paint I've found


----------



## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

There are plenty of painted walls in garages that don't produce mold. I would also suggest that you take a closer look at your exterior roof and gutter drainage system, siding, roof itself, and other areas to determine if there is something else going on.....(example, there could be a leak that is running down the interior of the wall and saturating the lower areas of the garage walls and causing the mold).

I am not stating this as fact, or a definite reason as I obviously have no way of doing an onsite inspection of the areas inside and out. 

It's just common practice when correcting any mold or moisture isses to determine 'why' a situation is happening and then eliminate the cause of it.....then do your repairs....


----------



## coeng (Apr 23, 2007)

AtlanticWBConst. said:


> I would also suggest that you take a closer look at your exterior roof and gutter drainage system, siding, roof itself, and other areas to determine if there is something else going on.....(example, there could be a leak that is running down the interior of the wall and saturating the lower areas of the garage walls and causing the mold).


It just so happens that I had a clogged underground drain in that corner of the garage that I recently cleaned out. It was packed with mud and other debris. This was the cause of water that was seeping into garage wall even when we got only an inch of rain. Since I've cleaned the drain out, I have only seen water in the garage once and that was when we had 6+" of rain with the Apr 07 Noreaster. When you have a crack in your foundation and 6" of rain draining downhill, its gonna seep in eventually. Fortunately not that much seeped in. Well, not that much to warrant a repair easily over $1000. Since half my garage is above ground it easily dries out when I open the door.


----------



## Bopper (May 1, 2013)

*Garage Mold*

My wife and I moved into a brand new house 6 months ago. Attached garage was insulated, vap-bar, and painted. Noticed 2 days ago that we also have an 8" uniform strip of mold on all three walls at the base(even the wall beside the house).

Because it's uniform, does not stand to reason that it has anything to do with moisture leaking from above but more likely just moisture left from the vehicles.

Is there any leg to stand on to get the builder to do anything here that should have been done in the first place or will we just have to live with it?


----------



## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Bopper said:


> My wife and I moved into a brand new house 6 months ago. Attached garage was insulated, vap-bar, and painted. Noticed 2 days ago that we also have an 8" uniform strip of mold on all three walls at the base(even the wall beside the house).
> 
> Because it's uniform, does not stand to reason that it has anything to do with moisture leaking from above but more likely just moisture left from the vehicles.
> 
> Is there any leg to stand on to get the builder to do anything here that should have been done in the first place or will we just have to live with it?


Should have started a new thread only because it can get confusing try to answer 2. But by all means get ahold of the builder and have him look at it.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

original thread is 6 years old

start a new one ,please


----------

