We recently moved into our home about 9 months ago and noticed a mildew smell in our cold room. We never ever use it and it remains empty and door closed at all times. However, we do notice some mould at the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling and it's directly under our front porch.
We are doing a large landscaping project starting in April and I'm wondering what the best way to tackle the issue with the cold storage room. Would the correct steps be as follows:
1. Remediate All Existing Mould in Cold Room
2. Demolition of existing front porch steps (this was going to happen anyways)
3. Seal & Water Proof the wall either through injection or some other means
4. Install New Steps as part of upcoming landscaping project
I have attached a picture of the issue. We have no intentions on really ever using this cold room and my wife says, just keep the door closed, we'll never use it anyways but I just worry that the issue will only get worse and eventually creep into our home somehow.
I did notice that they plugged the vent hole. I can't even see the vent hole from outside. In our climate, I'm not sure keeping the vent open at all times is the solution either as the summer will bring humid moist air right into the cold room.
Any ideas/suggestions on how best to proceed with this? Leave it alone? Follow the steps above? Any recommendations on who to use for mould remediation and sealing? Wish it could be the same company for both the mould treatment and sealing.
If you aren't already, leave the door to it open to allow it to dry.
If water is not running away from the foundation, you can remediate that to keep water away from your house, which would help dry the room.
You can re-open the vent, but close it in some months if you think it's drawing in humid air.
Ideally it should be waterproofed on the outside, but that's pricey.
I dried mine out by fixing the landscaping to keep the water away.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
The Mould is likely from condensation, not a leak. The wood that it’s feeding on is likely the form used when the concrete was poured, if so tear it out?..
Open up the ventilation ports and use a new method to cap it seasonally, makes a big difference. Open vents in fall & winter, close them during warmer humid months….
Seal up the house side so the heated air doesn’t meet the cold air. Spray foam all the gaps. Insulated foam core access door is a million times better than the wood builder door.
Wire racking on walls is best to allow airflow.
Love my coldroom, all it needed was a little help.
OP: Unfortunately, air carries humidity - especially in our warmer months - and when humid air meets a cold surface, you get condensation, especially when you have no circulation. Since mould spores are absolutely everywhere and they love wet surfaces, that's what you get. Closing the door will make it worse.
My room's walls are insulated (styrofoam) and I mostly just keep the door to the room open in the summer and close the exterior vents - I don't have a cold room per se in the summer as a consequence but it's amazing in the winter.
I have considered installing an air conditioner in mine in order to reclaim a cold/cool room all year long. I can solve the problem with the water that the a/c will produce as the sump is close by and exhausting the "hot" air isn't an issue as I treat one of the two existing vents to the outside as an exhaust vent. No, the issue for me is really the source of intake air: I am considering adding to the two existing vents a third vent but on the cold room door. I would only open the door vent in the summer and close the exterior intake vent so that I am drawing in air that is already cooled and somewhat dried. In the winter, I would close the door vent and at the same time, open the intake vent from the outside. Still, that's a lot of work for a room that is of marginal benefit. It'd be easier to keep the door open in the summer, add a dehumidifier and just use it as a large storage closet (mine is 37' long and 4' deep).
I always upvote respectful/helpful posts wherever I encounter them.
I have a friend who has a dehumidifier in their cold room because of the humidity and dampness. They have to resolve that issue long term instead of just band-aiding it.
exrcoupe wrote: ↑
I have a friend who has a dehumidifier in their cold room because of the humidity and dampness. They have to resolve that issue long term instead of just band-aiding it.
If the humidity is coming from warm inside air, I wouldn't consider a dehumidifier to be a bandaid; if the humidity source is moisture migrating through the exterior concrete walls, that's an altogether different thing. Of course, you can have more than one source of moisture...
I always upvote respectful/helpful posts wherever I encounter them.
CaptSmethwick wrote: ↑
If the humidity is coming from warm inside air, I wouldn't consider a dehumidifier to be a bandaid; if the humidity source is moisture migrating through the exterior concrete walls, that's an altogether different thing. Of course, you can have more than one source of moisture...
It's from the cold room as they keep the door closed all the time. I think they need to fix the grading near their porch as others have noted.
exrcoupe wrote: ↑
It's from the cold room as they keep the door closed all the time. I think they need to fix the grading near their porch as others have noted.
How do we know that? There is no picture of the exterior. I will say that the interior pic makes me wonder what the material is above what looks to be a painted waferboard ceiling. I had assumed that the room was capped with a poured slab which doubles as a porch but it is possible that the porch floor and the cold room walls are not tightly sealed against one another. If so, that could be a source of groundwater intrusion but it would definitely be a source of humid air in summer months - worse if the cold room door was left open.
Yeah, we need to know more and see more pictures - particularly exterior ones.
I always upvote respectful/helpful posts wherever I encounter them.
CaptSmethwick wrote: ↑
How do we know that? There is no picture of the exterior. I will say that the interior pic makes me wonder what the material is above what looks to be a painted waferboard ceiling. I had assumed that the room was capped with a poured slab which doubles as a porch but it is possible that the porch floor and the cold room walls are not tightly sealed against one another. If so, that could be a source of groundwater intrusion but it would definitely be a source of humid air in summer months - worse if the cold room door was left open.
Yeah, we need to know more and see more pictures - particularly exterior ones.
Sorry, I was referring to my friend's place, not the OP.
