I bought a house built in 1935. it has wood paneling everywhere, real wood. Pine planks. I'm suffering allergies that remind me of mold allergies I've had elsewhere. Regular allergies gives me runny nose, but mold gives me asthmatic symptoms. I see no visible signs of mold. I used "MyMoldDetective" to sample the air in my bedroom and found traces of chaetomium 300, aspergillum 300, ascospores 100, cladosporium 100 basidospores 100, hyphae 100 pestalotia 15. These are all within the low ranges. the outdoor test found only ascospores 50 ad basidiospore 350. Kitchen and bathroom samples found no mold. I'm waking up every morning with itchy eyes, and asthmatic symptoms and suspect there's mold in either the walls or the ceiling. how do I best check for mold behind the wood paneling without demolishing the walls unneccessarily? The interior is minimal. no carpets. very little furniture. no dust. I see there are thermal cameras and cameras you put through drilled holes. Any suggestion how to best locate the mold source? I see on amazon there are thermal cameras and stuff.... do they work?
Finding the source of Mold
- Thread starter sj6
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- Apr 13, 2020
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Hi, it’s very common to have mould behind your wooden panels as they do not let your external walls breathe. buy a hole saw fo your drill and cut a hole in the panel for a better reading. Then just place a circular vent over the hole Once you’ve established whether it’s behind the panels.
Thank you! I did open the moulding around the window to peek in between a few studs and saw nothing. problem with drilling random holes is that it will only show me the 16" section between those 2 studs I'm drilling in-between. The wall paneling is built from thick pine planks.
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Hi, the exploratory hole would only be useful to put your detector in for a reading. I’m positive it’s coming from behind the panelling. The warmer temperature of the internal wood covering a cold wall with moist air in between and no vents is an ideal breeding ground. The big question is how to eliminate the mould without removing the panelling. Periodic vent holes would be required to prevent future spores. Is there a spray that can be used in the vent holes to avoid deconstruction?