Anyone know anything about damp & mould?

[Daz]

My neighbour asked me to take a look at her mothers shower yesterday, as they have recently noticed that the hallway floor carpet is wet and it has been caused by water getting behind the tiles, running down to the floor and soaking into the concrete screed.

Background....
Bungalow, shower cubicle was installed (nothing to do with me) 5 or 6 years ago as her mother could no longer get in and out of a bath.

I cannot rip it all out and start again, as her mother will be unable to live with the inconvenience (she is incontinent and can no longer climb stairs) so I have said that I can repair the area that is failing and make it good.

I took the plinth off the shower tray and removed the lower rows of tiles that appear to be the problem (see pics...)

There was, what looked like white foam, all over the wooden shower tray frame but when I looked closer it is actually some kind of mildew / mould. Does anyone know whether this is likely to be hazardous for the little old lady (or me when I scrape it all off), please? Sorry the pics are rubbish I only had my phone with me.

Thanks in advance,

Daz

 

[DHTiling]

Don't like the look of that mate.....never seen that before...

I think it needs killin what ever it is........

 

[CJ]

Looks like expanding foam............has the plumber been cutting a few corners??

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Daz,

You need to get your goggles, face mask and industrial strength gloves on and see if you can scrape it out. It doesn't look healthy and if it is some form of mould, it's not good for the lungs especially in our older generation.

If you can scrape it out and be sure it's not foam filler, I'd contact the local council environmental health department. They should have the knowledge and resources to deal with that situation.

Other than trying to track down the people that originally installed the shower cubicle, I cannot think of anything else constructive to say right now.

Liz (still ill)

 

[Daz]

Looks like expanding foam............has the plumber been cutting a few corners??

It's def not expanding foam Col :lol:.

 

[Colour Republic]

That looks more like salt deposits to me, but from where I don't know. does she use any sort of special cleaner in there?

 

[Swanseajack]

If it's not foam, only thing you would expect is Dry or Wet rot, but it doesnt look like that to me, another thing as its so white it may be some sort of effolescence (sp). Hell of a lot if it is.

 

[Colour Republic]

The image to the right is from an otherwise perfect, well-maintained $ million house. During the home inspection I placed my camera into a heating duct and took this picture. The point is that mold often grows in non-visible, hard to get to places, and yet can affect the air quality of the entire house, as in this example showing mold growing on the return air duc of the heating systemt. After sampling it was determined that this particular mold was in the penicillium/aspergillis family, a very common mold, easily removed. While not as toxic as some molds, it has the potential to cause respiratory problems.

It would appear it's part of the Penicillian family... quite health then:lol:

 

[Daz]

It's very soft and powdery and seems to be growing all over the wood under the shower tray. This was a sealed area until I pulled the plinth off so I'm pretty sure that it is nothing to do with cleaning products.

 

[White Room]

I've seen some bad damp in my time but nothing as bad as that, As CR could it be some cleaning product they use

 

[Daz]

The image to the right is from an otherwise perfect, well-maintained $ million house. During the home inspection I placed my camera into a heating duct and took this picture. The point is that mold often grows in non-visible, hard to get to places, and yet can affect the air quality of the entire house, as in this example showing mold growing on the return air duc of the heating systemt. After sampling it was determined that this particular mold was in the penicillium/aspergillis family, a very common mold, easily removed. While not as toxic as some molds, it has the potential to cause respiratory problems.

It would appear it's part of the Penicillian family... quite health then:lol:

Nice one Colour - thanks for that!

I'll google on how to remove it, but it seems that it shouldn't be too harmful to the little old lady, then

 

[Swanseajack]

Images of rising damp, dry rot, wet rot and other fungal decays from Timberwise Looking at some of the pictures on the link, it may be dry rot. I had this in my old house but nowhere near as white as your photos show. I would get an expert in for advice.

 

[White Room]

Good link Swanseajack

 

[Ajax123]

My neighbour asked me to take a look at her mothers shower yesterday, as they have recently noticed that the hallway floor carpet is wet and it has been caused by water getting behind the tiles, running down to the floor and soaking into the concrete screed.

Background....
Bungalow, shower cubicle was installed (nothing to do with me) 5 or 6 years ago as her mother could no longer get in and out of a bath.

I cannot rip it all out and start again, as her mother will be unable to live with the inconvenience (she is incontinent and can no longer climb stairs) so I have said that I can repair the area that is failing and make it good.

I took the plinth off the shower tray and removed the lower rows of tiles that appear to be the problem (see pics...)

There was, what looked like white foam, all over the wooden shower tray frame but when I looked closer it is actually some kind of mildew / mould. Does anyone know whether this is likely to be hazardous for the little old lady (or me when I scrape it all off), please? Sorry the pics are rubbish I only had my phone with me.

Thanks in advance,

Daz

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You need specialist help with this one. It does look a bit like dry rot bt I don't think it is. Normally with dry rot this advanced you would expect to see fruiting bodies which are large brown disk like pieces which look mushroom tops. There don't appear to be any in the pics. Don't start scraping away at it. If it is a fungus it could well be hazardous. You also run the risk of spreading out the spores of any fruting bodies there may be there. If it is dry rot it will have a slight odour of mushrooms (don't fry it up for tea with bacon and eggs though). If it is dry rot it is too late to save the timber as it will be pretty much rubbish. Dry rot tends to grow in dark places where there is relatively little moisture (hence it name) and where there is little or no air flow. It is very sensitive to temperature so will only grow in reasonably warm environments. So does Wet rot but this needs mre moisture. I had something that looked similar to this in a stair case about 15 years ago. Fortunately my Uncle was a specialist in treatment of rot and fungus problems and came and looked at it. It turned out to be a form of Wet rot which is bad but no where near as serious as dry rot. I had to take out the stair case and treat the area affected with Murasol to kill it off. If it is a fungus I am afraid that i think taking the shower tray out might be the only option.

 

[bighen]

Hi

I have dealt with dry rot on numerous occasions.
The sporophore growth (white in the picture) would normally have red areas on it.

These are spores which carry the growth further. Also mycelium is evident (matted fungul strands - look like fine plant roots) These grow ut rapidly through concrete, brickwork etc searching for new areas to infest.

The cycle is as follows:-



[edit] Life cycle of the dry rot fungus (Serpula lacrymans)

A. Millions of tiny rust-red spores are emitted by the fruiting body of the developed fungus. These spores are transported through the air and some inevitably land on damp wood.
B. When the spores have settled, they begin to develop thin tubes called hyphae.
C. These hyphae spread over the surface of the wood, feeding on moisture.
D. The wood begins to dry out and break into deep, cube-shaped cracks.
E. Eventually the hyphae form themselves into a web-like sheet called a mycelium.
F. A flat pancake-shaped fruiting body, called a sporophore, grows on the surface of the mycelium and begins to emit fresh spores.

These pictures do not look like dry rot to me.

You say that the shower area is leaking still.
To me this would outline mould growth. It thrives in moist conditions. See attached piccy.
Still bad but no where near as bad a dryrot - far easier to treat and isolate.

I would still get the pros to come in and give an expert prognosis but based on you info and pics I would definitely say it was mould