Hello everyone,
We have been living in the house for a few weeks now. It is a property from 1995, and from the beginning, I noticed a somewhat “strange” smell in the bedroom. It’s hard to describe, not always exactly the same, somewhat musty.
We have recently painted the room, the wallpaper is about 15 years old and has already been painted over once. No smoking has taken place in the room, so that can’t be the cause.
We have crawled into the attic, and there is obviously no dampness there.
There are also no visible stains of any kind.
However, the wallpaper is quite thick, with two layers of paint, so who knows how much mold could be behind it without it showing through.
Should we just tear down the wallpaper based on suspicion? No. Are there other ways to reliably detect possible mold?
Thanks!
We have been living in the house for a few weeks now. It is a property from 1995, and from the beginning, I noticed a somewhat “strange” smell in the bedroom. It’s hard to describe, not always exactly the same, somewhat musty.
We have recently painted the room, the wallpaper is about 15 years old and has already been painted over once. No smoking has taken place in the room, so that can’t be the cause.
We have crawled into the attic, and there is obviously no dampness there.
There are also no visible stains of any kind.
However, the wallpaper is quite thick, with two layers of paint, so who knows how much mold could be behind it without it showing through.
Should we just tear down the wallpaper based on suspicion? No. Are there other ways to reliably detect possible mold?
Thanks!
Hello again,
building a house leaves little time for “just popping in” 🙂 But first, thank you all for your responses.
We can definitely rule out visible mold right under the baseboards on the outside. We actually replaced the baseboards recently, and there was nothing visible.
The musty smell remains, but it’s more of a “diffuse” kind. I can always smell it, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. My husband thinks he knows which smell I mean but doesn’t find it as strong as I do and believes mold smells different.
Still, there is a smell in the room that isn’t present anywhere else, and it just won’t go away...
I find it difficult to start peeling off wallpaper somewhere — I can’t identify a specific spot where I would most suspect anything. And then we’d have to start re-wallpapering and repainting...
I looked up “mold detector” devices online, and it seems there are some available for about 75-100 euros (around 80-110 USD), sometimes even cheaper. Hmm. We don’t know much about this. The device will probably tell me the moisture level at a certain point. But can you say, before we invest money: Yes, here we have a clear sign of mold — or rather not?
building a house leaves little time for “just popping in” 🙂 But first, thank you all for your responses.
We can definitely rule out visible mold right under the baseboards on the outside. We actually replaced the baseboards recently, and there was nothing visible.
The musty smell remains, but it’s more of a “diffuse” kind. I can always smell it, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. My husband thinks he knows which smell I mean but doesn’t find it as strong as I do and believes mold smells different.
Still, there is a smell in the room that isn’t present anywhere else, and it just won’t go away...
I find it difficult to start peeling off wallpaper somewhere — I can’t identify a specific spot where I would most suspect anything. And then we’d have to start re-wallpapering and repainting...
I looked up “mold detector” devices online, and it seems there are some available for about 75-100 euros (around 80-110 USD), sometimes even cheaper. Hmm. We don’t know much about this. The device will probably tell me the moisture level at a certain point. But can you say, before we invest money: Yes, here we have a clear sign of mold — or rather not?
There are nutrient soil kits that you can set up and then send in for analysis. However, they are said to be quite inaccurate.
I think it’s just the “old” wallpaper or floor coverings where the previous occupant and their musty smell are still lingering. Could that be the case?
I think it’s just the “old” wallpaper or floor coverings where the previous occupant and their musty smell are still lingering. Could that be the case?
Mizit schrieb:
...
I specifically googled "mold detector," and it seems there are devices available for around 75-100 euros, sometimes even cheaper. Hmm. We have no expertise in this. The device will probably tell me that a certain spot has a certain level of moisture. But can you really say, before we invest money: yes, here we have a clear sign of mold—or rather not?Why would a mold tester show you moisture? Those are two different things.
And I really don’t understand you: if you have this strange feeling of mold and that “smell” in your nose, and you google for a mold detector and find one listed on Amazon for about $40, then you buy it and set it up at your place (or whatever you get for that $40)... I mean: what more do you want than to find what you were looking for, and without spending several hundred? At least it can confirm or reduce your suspicion. More than that, we can’t advise you here about your walls, which we don’t know.
Anything under 100 euros is not really an investment—you try it out. That’s my opinion! I mean: you don’t want to open up the wallpaper—what else can you be advised to do?
Of course, you can also wait: some people develop asthma within a few months... waiting for the illness costs nothing [emoji6]
Unfortunately, linking is not allowed here 🙂 For example, I searched for mold measuring devices, found one for 90 euros, and it says that the "mold measuring device measures moisture in walls, etc." I have no idea what that technically means; maybe someone wanted to link the terms closely for SEO purposes...
So, you know your stuff: Does a mold measuring device detect mold and a moisture meter measure moisture?
So, you know your stuff: Does a mold measuring device detect mold and a moisture meter measure moisture?
Mizit schrieb:
Unfortunately, linking is not allowed here 🙂 For example, I googled mold measurement devices, found one for 90 euros, and it said it "measures moisture in walls, etc." I have no idea what that technically means, maybe someone tried to closely connect the terms for SEO purposes...
So, since you seem knowledgeable: Does a mold meter measure mold and a moisture meter measure moisture?No, sorry. I don’t know either, I just quickly checked Amazon to see what comes up with search terms like yours. But one thing I do know for sure: where there is moisture, there isn’t necessarily mold. A moisture meter can tell you whether a wall or concrete still contains residual moisture or not. So that information alone isn’t very helpful.
But there were other devices shown on Amazon for just a few euros—as I said, if _I_ had ordered those gadgets last week, I would know today if I have mold. _You_ don’t know! What’s stopping you from just buying one?
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