{"id":10294,"date":"2017-02-13T17:47:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T16:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/?p=10294"},"modified":"2018-10-04T17:47:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T15:47:38","slug":"eek-mold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/2017\/02\/13\/eek-mold\/","title":{"rendered":"Eek! Mold!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I guess by writing this blog I\u2019m taking a chance that I will get a lot of criticism for not doing things right. Too bad, I never said I was perfect. But I want to write about this because I think I can help others to not make the same mistake. And how bad is it, anyway?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Picture: Lotta Lagerberg<\/p><\/div>\n

Upstairs in the loft where I sleep, I also have my wardrobe. All the clothing I possess, including the bed sheets, are stored there. An area to hang clothing, jackets and so on, and a few shelves. On the right side the roof is sloped, so there are no shelves. I had a few piles of summer clothing and bed sheets there. The other day I needed to take something from there and when I removed a pile of summer clothing I found a very unwanted guest: mold! Eek! \u2018Oh no\u2019, I thought, \u2018how did this happen?\u2019 Sure, it\u2019s a corner without much air circulation, especially when you stuff it with clothing. And a while ago I left a load of laundry to dry inside the house, while that laundry was really too damp. Gulp.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

I immediately sent a message to Dimka and Walden\u2019s team, with a photo of the atrocity. \u2018Help! Mold! What happened?\u2019 Dimka was soon to respond with \u2018Stoke! And ventilate!\u2019 With which I replied: \u2018I\u2019m already doing that!\u2019 And he responded: \u2018try harder!\u2019 Me: \u2018should I spray anything on it?\u2019 Dimka: \u2018it wouldn\u2019t hurt!\u2019 Anyway, something like that. So I went to the DIY store, searching for a fungus-killing substance. Of course, it was meant to be used on tiles, but after deliberating with the office clerk, I decided to buy it anyway. I\u2019d just apply it thin and carefully, but I had to kill that stuff. \u2018Gross, now I have a bottle of chemical crap in my cabinet,\u2019 I thought. I also bought a moisture absorber to put in that corner. I\u2019ll have to stock the summer clothing somewhere else, that corner needs to ventilate.<\/p>\n

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Picture: Lena van der Wal<\/p><\/div>\n

It just so happened that Marcel van Mierlo from the blog Leven in Tuinen<\/a>\u00a0paid me a visit last week. When I told him about the problem he explained very clearly what caused it. I asked him to write it down because I didn\u2019t remember very well and I\u2019m not very technical. Now you know for sure the information is correct! Here is his explanation:<\/p>\n

Fungus you don\u2019t want<\/em><\/h6>\n
Besides good fungi that are used to give French cheese extra flavor, there are also fungi you don\u2019t want. You can find them in moist areas like basements, bathrooms and if you\u2019re not so lucky, also in kitchens where a lot of food is steamed or there is not enough ventilation.<\/em><\/h6>\n
The best solutions? Make sure there are no wet surfaces, because fungus likes to grow there. This can be hard to do, especially in wet rooms. A decent exhaust hood helps, as does drying your tiles after every shower. But water damp can also find its way into your building framework and condense into water. Causing wet insulation material and less insulation. Is that bad?<\/em><\/h6>\n
On warm days, when an equal amount of water condenses and evaporates, it\u2019s fine. But in winter \u2013with low temperatures \u2013 sometimes that doesn\u2019t happen. And then you\u2019ll find mold in the outer corners (where wall, floor and roof connect), because these are the coldest places.<\/em><\/h6>\n
When designing your house, you can prevent this problem by adding a vapor seal on the inside of your framework in the wet areas. It prevents damp from getting into your framework. With breathing frameworks it\u2019s best to ensure proper ventilation of damp air (mechanical exhaust).<\/em><\/h6>\n
Marcel van Mierlo<\/em><\/h6>\n

Thanks for the clear explanation, Marcel!<\/p>\n

I decided to check the other corners in my house and discovered a little bit of mold in the sitting area, behind the pillows. Darn it! So I have to remove the pillows to ventilate regularly. I heat my house enough and nowadays have enough ventilation as well. The air grid in the bathroom and of <\/span>two of the three Velux windows are always open and now I also have air grids in the doors. When I\u2019m cooking, the kitchen window is open a chink, and when I\u2019m taking a shower, the bathroom window is open. Well, apparently all that isn\u2019t enough; the corners are vulnerable.<\/p>\n

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Picture: Lotta Lagerberg<\/p><\/div>\n

Now that I know this, I can keep it in mind. Maybe you\u2019re designing your Tiny House right now, and you can use this knowledge for your design. Also keep in mind, that when you choose a gas heater instead of a wood burner, the moist problem will increase. Small houses just get damp easily. You breath, cook, shower, do laundry and so on. So make sure there are plenty of ways to ventilate your house. I hope this helps you; my problems are now solved. I need to stay on my toes though, especially in the corners, but since I now know this, I can take it into account. All I can do now is wait for spring to arrive so that my doors can stay open every now and then!<\/p>\n

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I guess by writing this blog I\u2019m taking a chance that I will get a lot of criticism for not doing things right. Too bad, I never said I was perfect. But I want to write about this because I think I can help others to not make the same mistake. And how bad is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[586,551,550,587],"class_list":{"0":"post-10294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-build-and-installations","8":"tag-mold","9":"tag-tiny-home-en","10":"tag-tiny-house-en","11":"tag-ventilation","12":"entry","13":"override"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}