In October the environment in my condo went crazy. Moisture levels were high and the paint appeared to be changing almost like there was a mold trying to come through but you could not see it. You could however see sparkles much like you see in the ceiling of a cave. I got a dihumidifyer and began pulling 2 gallons a night out. The mold inspector I hired said he had never seen anything like it and did not know what it was. He found no mold or unusual moisture levels. I also hired people to pull insulation from the ceiling and have it analyzed as prior to purchase the water heater had burst in the upstairs unit when these were being remodeled and thought maybe they had not repaired it properly. They did find evidence of the damage but extremely small amount of aspergillus that appears to be dry as no moisture detected. The contractors responsible don't want anything to do with it and were threatening. I am stumped that the walls are so odd looking so am painting over with a anti-fungal, anti-microbial paint and it is helping. Any ideas what this could be? It cannot be washed off with the most powerful cleaners.

What is the type of construction? wood frame? concrete? What type of wall/ceiling material? plaster? drywall?

Your post seems confusing. You say your pulling out two gallons of moisture each evening, but your mold person says moisture levels are normal? Cannot be both ways.
How old is the unit in which you live?
I am wondering if the people that owned this unit before you painted the ceilings/walls with some sort of reflective paint that is showing through your finish.
Painting with an anit-fungal paint is not the answer if indeed you have a mold issue.
Did the inspector take any air samples from behind the finished walls? I would suggest that to find out if any mold is growning behind the wallboard material.
I would also take a black light and use it one night to see if there is any glowing of the painted walls. This can be an indication of past animal staining.
Tell us how old the home is, and what area of country you live as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Maintenance 6:
What is the type of construction? wood frame? concrete? What type of wall/ceiling material? plaster? drywall?

Construction is wood frame and with gypsum flooring that I have partially gone over with Grancrete which has helped amazinging lower the moisture levels. Walls are regular wallboard and ceiling material insulation with I believe wood above the insulation.

quote:

Originally posted by The Home Care Club LLC:
Your post seems confusing. You say your pulling out two gallons of moisture each evening, but your mold person says moisture levels are normal? Cannot be both ways.
How old is the unit in which you live?
I am wondering if the people that owned this unit before you painted the ceilings/walls with some sort of reflective paint that is showing through your finish.
Painting with an anit-fungal paint is not the answer if indeed you have a mold issue.
Did the inspector take any air samples from behind the finished walls? I would suggest that to find out if any mold is growning behind the wallboard material.
I would also take a black light and use it one night to see if there is any glowing of the painted walls. This can be an indication of past animal staining.
Tell us how old the home is, and what area of country you live as well.

Its all very frustrating and confusing. I was taken by a con artist prior to getting the mold inspector in who charged me a amount I am too embarrassed to share to apply a new subfloor of non-permeable grancrete. He only got through the livingroom, bathrooms, kitchen and hallway before bailing with numerious ridiculous excuses. It looks quite aweful as he did not know what he was doing, but it put a lid on the moisture problem. Its basically gone. He convinced me that applying this would take care of the problem and strangely enough it appears to have however the sparkles on the walls are quite odd. I have left one room unpainted so I can collect samples when I have time and take them to a lab. I am frankly tired of spending money on the problem. The reason we targeted the floor is that after tearing up the carpet discoverd a nightmare of cracks and crevices and profound fossil type things that looked like they were from the land before time like they were growing in and living in the grancrete. I learned that some of this material comes from overseas and contains who konws what. My father was a marine biologist so I have seen many fossils and such but could not find anyone interested in the phenomenon so decided to cover it with something that nothing could not grow in and its worked. I just have to figure out whats going on with the walls. I did purchase a ultra violet light but do not see any indication of anything there. The strange thing about the sparkles is they are not like sparkles someone got at the store and sprayed on the walls. I have looked at them under a microscope and they are like mineral salts but do not dissolve with water/bleach/hydrogen peroxide, etc. There were alot of cracks around the sliding door and gaps that were never sealed between the wallboard and the subfloor so it was all sealed. We live in Washington and the lab did find aspergillus but in too small amount to have affect. Gotta sign off for now have run out of time.

You said that the environment went crazy in October. Do you mean a weather event or some mechanical failure in the building? Did you or anyone actually take moisture level readings? Have you taken any since installing the Grancrete product? Certain aspergillus species are common and can be found in many homes. Did the person evaluating for damage from the water heater incident use any kind of moisture meter to evaluate? Gauging moisture levels by how much water you empty out of your dehumidifier is not very accurate. You need to have some serious metering both of the air and materials in various places throughout the living area. I've seen crystaline structures form on plaster with high moisture levels,but not on drywall. Has the problem persisted in areas that have been refinished?

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Paint Anomaly

I had a problem on a black Dodge PU where the front of the hood was
"sand blasted" by heavy dirt road use. Took it to someone close that
couldn't follow orders of "put on a black primer and 3 coats of paint".
Six months later he was out of business and the hood was chipped and I
found a *white* primer had been used.

Take the SUV to a reputable paint shop. Shop around, a *restoration*
shop will probably do a much better job. DON'T use an ordinary
repair/paint shop!
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Primer color has nothing to do with how the paint is working. IN fact the primer that they used may have been the recommended color primer that the paint manufacture recommends.

Your newer paints such as enamels require special non-sanding prime coats before the paint color is applied. This is really true when body work has been completed using body plastics and sanding primers.
So the color does not matter under the final coat.

If the hood chipped again, perhaps it was another road rock and not the primer used. Remember even the factory paint chipped. Primers have nothing to do with the ability of the paint to resist a rock hitting the hood at highway speeds.

Also enamel paint is NOT three coats. Its a single tack coat and final coat. Three coats are typically lacquer paints and are very brittle and will chip easy with any impact. And this type of paint must be put on with at least five coats as buffing the paint out once dry will remove one or two coats of paint.