The Battle against the Mold

Get the best humidifier you can afford. My life in this part of the world changed for ever once I switched onto the life enhancing power of these beauties. I have a reasonably sized flat in HK right on the beach, and all I need is one of these on constant rotation in humid months and all is dry and good. It’s so damned powerful I can string up a machine load of washing, shut the humidifier in the room and it’s dry as toast in a day. I’m too afraid to have it on in the bedroom at night unless I wake up looking like a prune. I bought this one second hand over six years ago.

HG

[quote=“Icon”]I am really concerned about the mold in my house. I am losing the battle.

The bathroom’s ceiling is made of plastic planks. There are mold “spots”, not a single drop -like the one you see when there is a leak- but rather small “sprouts” all over. I clean it with everything in my arsenal, no luck, it comes back.[/quote]

Persistently recurring mold is an ancient problem, and the solutions aren’t any better today:

It sounds like your house has all the typical environmental symptoms:

Under the Levitical code, your house would have been considered irredeemably infested, and destroyed. The modern solution is hardly more practical in your case:

I seriously suggest you move as soon as possible.

Move to Taichung

Books and magazines, even clothes need storage in a dehumidor room … not too dry or humid, same temp all year round … :ponder:

Actually mold grows in Taichung too…just not as much!

I keep my books in a closed bookcase containing one of those disposable dehumidifiers. I have been here for 3 years and have never had any mold on the books or musty smell to the pages. For important papers ( like passport, bank book ), I keep them in a sealed ziploc bag. No problems so far. One thing I did run into though. I have an expensive watch ( around $1000 US ) so , it is not an everyday watch. It was kept in a felt lined , sealed, wooden box ( with one of those packets that absorb moisture ) which in turn was in a cardboard box. That cardboard box was in another cardboard box ( all tight fitting ). It stopped working the other day. I brought it to the jeweler thinking it needed a new battery. It turned out there was mold INSIDE the watch. No evidence of mold anywhere else. None on the cardboard boxes, the wooden box, or the felt in the interior of the wooden box. No mold on the outside of the watch. The lesson is,that you never know where it is going to pop up.

About the watch - something probably got lost in translation. Molds needs food (an organic substrate) on which to grow, and the inside of a watch doesn’t provide that. Molds also need oxygen to survive, so at least some part of the mold colony needs to be exposed to the air. More likely to be corrosion do due water ingress, wouldn’t you think?

My wife talked to him ( she is Taiwanese ) and she said it was mold. I thought it was strange seeing as there was no mold present anywhere else. You could see something ( little black marks ) on the spot where the battery goes. Moisture and corrosion sounds a little more likely. I don’t know if the watch is waterproof. Went back to US this summer for 3 weeks. Left the watch here, so it was in the apartment ( very humid ). I left about 10 of those disposable dehumidifiers around the apartment and when I got back they were all full. Or it might have gotten a little moisture in it when it was manufactured and just took time to corrode. Anyway, only cost about $1800 NT to get it cleaned and is back to normal.

One other thing I forgot to mention if people have a mold problem ( and even if they don’t ). Clean the air filters in your AC. Wash them in warm soapy water and make sure they are totally dry before you put them back in. If you have mold in the filters, evrey time you turn the AC on you are blowing spores around the place.

At least these is one positive from this island, it’s hard to dry out here :slight_smile: When I go back to Europe I’m hacking with a dry cough and my skin and lips start peeling for a week…bizarre!

So Icon, how’s it going?

Have you noticed a difference in the kitchen?

Well, the kitchen is faring the same. I clean the sink, but any dishes left wet will spring greenies. Haven’t tried the coal yet, I am afraid certain furry creatures I live with might use it to play hockey or worse.

The bathroom and my bedroom are faring better. I’ve removed most stuff from the bathroom floor and set it on stills -little platform thinghies- and keep the place as dry as possible. This is accomplished by submitting the drains to a weekly regime of drain cleaner…

For the bedroom, I do not leave the dehumidifier on 24/7, but turn it on as soon as I get home.

I have bought little dehumidifier pots for the house, as many as can be safely put with pets in residence.

The cleaner I use is organic, not very strong actually, but it is supposed to repel insects -it’s almond based, French.

Like I said, put coals in bags in out of the way places, especially dark damp spots where mould will accumulate. In cupboards, under the sink, in bookcases etc. Cats shouldn’t be getting into those places anyway…

Trust me. It works.

Trust me, they do.

But I had missed the part about the bag. That’ll do.

I have a brand new build in sindian thats got damp/mold problems.
My new sofa is starting to get a bit damp as is all the bedding, clothes… everything, not to mention extreme condensation.

The place is so new so flats arent even done yet, not only is it new but its also one of the more expensive propertys in sindian with mostly older, wealthier residents.

So im a little pissed off, i think its the giant windows we have as they arent sealing properly, where they slide theres a small gap in the rubbers so you can feel a breeze coming through, theres rather alot of them too.

Tried the aircon trick and its not really working, doesnt help that its not very warm out here either!.

So im going to complain to the builders and our landlord (whom owns half the building) but i have a feeling they will give it the typical taiwanese ‘oh thats not a problem, live with it’ attitude.

TAiwan is usually nearly 100pct humidity. Mold is endemic . Its not possible to eliminate it. What I did was to keep my windows open as much as possible. In summer , always open, except when the AC is on. IN winter of course closed because of the cold, but then several heaters running in the house , including a kerosene one. They bring down the moisture content of the air. No moisture= reduced mold. Have to accept that closed closets will be moldy unless your apt is very dry. Leather garments? Best to leave those in the car as they will mold just hanging even in the open. Wooden furniture? Accept that they will mold and clean often.

Its a neverending battle. I couldnt keep any books at my beach apt as they were all destroyed by mold. The Taipei apt was much nicer as I kept the AC on all the time in summer and heaters on all the time in winter .

No, I don’t accept that Tommy. My house was very mouldy and there was mould growing in every cupboard, and anything leather did turn green in the blink of an eye, but now it’s well under control.

Nor do I accept that you have to wast huge amounts of electricity to control the mould. I have no air-conditioner in my house, and only a very small dehumidifier which we use as a heater when needed.

No, I don’t accept that Tommy. My house was very mouldy and there was mould growing in every cupboard, and anything leather did turn green in the blink of an eye, but now it’s well under control.

Nor do I accept that you have to wast huge amounts of electricity to control the mould. I have no air-conditioner in my house, and only a very small dehumidifier which we use as a heater when needed.[/quote]
Good job! Granted Im sure it took you some consternation to get it under control though?

Some areas fare better then other areas it seems. One apt I rented in Neihu was soo wet moisture was running down the walls !! And one time it collected off the ceiling and was raining down on me. I could scarcely believe it !!

We have some solid wood furniture that was always slightly moldy. A wipe down with warm water and bleach now and then was all we could do. And my leather jackets had to be left in the car in summer and worn in winter.

One apt i rented on TUnHwa was the nicest. No mold problems. Just AC in summer and a heater in winter (it wasnt a very big apt so no huge electrical bills).

leather sofas in the living room has no issues tho. Never got moldy.

LIke I said, i never could keep any books or anything paper long term at the beach apt of ours due to general high moisture content in winter. Summer was fine as all the windows were kept open as well as living room sliders. Only closed if it got too hot and AC was on.

[quote=“smellybumlove”]I have a brand new build in Xindian (Xindian) thats got damp/mold problems.
My new sofa is starting to get a bit damp as is all the bedding, clothes… everything, not to mention extreme condensation.

The place is so new so flats arent even done yet, not only is it new but its also one of the more expensive propertys in Xindian (Xindian) with mostly older, wealthier residents.

So im a little pissed off, I think its the giant windows we have as they arent sealing properly, where they slide theres a small gap in the rubbers so you can feel a breeze coming through, theres rather alot of them too.

Tried the aircon trick and its not really working, doesnt help that its not very warm out here either!.

So im going to complain to the builders and our landlord (whom owns half the building) but I have a feeling they will give it the typical taiwanese ‘oh thats not a problem, live with it’ attitude.[/quote]

Regarding what Smellybumlove is saying, I have a question to our experts:

Is it better to keep the windows open -such insuring ventilation, wind seems drier to me- or to close everything down -which seems to me would trap the humidity inside the house?

I am asking this because it seems to me my kitchen’s problems started when the door frame broke down and now I keep teh door closed and it is dark all the time. I used to keep the door mosquito netting part open, and so a draft would circulate the air in the house.

In that case, shouldn’t Smellybumlove keep the windows open, as well as the doors, instead of closing? Or is it better to run the dehumidifiers and keep to house closed to keep humidity out?

Open on dry, sunny days. Otherwise your house will just be perma-damp, even with a dehumidifier. My opinion from Wanfang, the wettest place aside from the Amazon.

I think if rainwater is entering form the outside, through hairline cracks in walls and/or ceiling, airing out the place doesn’t make much difference. The more you try to dry the interior, the more water gets sucked in through the wick effect. The problem won’t go away until the rain stops and the building exterior has dried out.

In bathrooms, it’s important to mop the floor bone dry if you have one of those soak-the-floor affairs the Taiwanese love. The locals also believe the floor is only wet while the bathroom light is on. Rewiring the extractor fan so it is permanently on can fix this problem.