ᐅ Eliminating Odors and Soot from a House with Clay Plaster – Any Suggestions?
Created on: 7 Apr 2021 19:11
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danabanana
Hello Forum,
Last year, we bought a house in Hungary and plan to renovate it. The house was probably built around 1950. It is solidly constructed from fired bricks (40cm (16 inches) exterior wall), unplastered on the outside, with walls and ceilings inside fully covered with clay plaster. The floors are tiled, except for two rooms which have wooden floors.
At the time of purchase, the house was unfortunately completely cluttered—sometimes up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) high—and the floors were almost entirely covered with PVC, newspapers, furniture, laundry, carpets, and garbage bags. The walls were completely blocked with cabinets and trash, so there was no ventilation anywhere. In the kitchen, moisture was present under the PVC on the tiles but dried within two weeks. In one of the rooms, the wooden floor partially disintegrated under piles of trash, PVC, and carpets; this floor will be replaced soon. We hope to save the other wooden floor by sanding it. In one room, black moldy marks formed on the exterior walls behind the cupboards. The roof had two major leaks, through which the interior of the house was consistently exposed to moisture 🙁
It is unknown how long the house had been empty before the purchase, but we estimate at least 1–2 years.
We have completely cleared out the house and have now let it dry for eight months. Fortunately, the windows and front door are currently quite drafty, which provides some air exchange. A critical damp spot on an exterior wall was traced back to a faulty gutter and is now dry as well.
Now we have two problems and are unsure how to proceed:
1. In the kitchen, the previous owners heated the room for years with a defective wood stove. The room smells unbearably of smoke, like after a major fire. The ceiling and walls are BLACK!
2. The entire house has a very strong musty smell and other unpleasant "leftovers."
Basically, we need to clean all surfaces from dirt, soot, and mold.
For the tiled floors, we plan to use baking soda as an odor absorber and possibly a steam cleaner. Wooden floors, doors, and windows will be sanded. We have also considered an initial ozone treatment to kill mold spores and eliminate some of the odors.
What do you think?
How should we approach the clay plaster on the walls?
We thought about removing the top layer (maybe 2mm (0.08 inches)) with a floor grinder and then applying a new fine clay plaster. The walls will be repainted anyway. However, I worry that sanding will push the mustiness and especially the black soot layer in the kitchen deeper into the plaster (I would like to avoid removing the full 2–3cm (0.8–1.2 inches) of clay plaster). We also considered cleaning with steam, but that would add a lot of moisture to the house...
How would you do it?
Thanks for your tips and suggestions.
Last year, we bought a house in Hungary and plan to renovate it. The house was probably built around 1950. It is solidly constructed from fired bricks (40cm (16 inches) exterior wall), unplastered on the outside, with walls and ceilings inside fully covered with clay plaster. The floors are tiled, except for two rooms which have wooden floors.
At the time of purchase, the house was unfortunately completely cluttered—sometimes up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) high—and the floors were almost entirely covered with PVC, newspapers, furniture, laundry, carpets, and garbage bags. The walls were completely blocked with cabinets and trash, so there was no ventilation anywhere. In the kitchen, moisture was present under the PVC on the tiles but dried within two weeks. In one of the rooms, the wooden floor partially disintegrated under piles of trash, PVC, and carpets; this floor will be replaced soon. We hope to save the other wooden floor by sanding it. In one room, black moldy marks formed on the exterior walls behind the cupboards. The roof had two major leaks, through which the interior of the house was consistently exposed to moisture 🙁
It is unknown how long the house had been empty before the purchase, but we estimate at least 1–2 years.
We have completely cleared out the house and have now let it dry for eight months. Fortunately, the windows and front door are currently quite drafty, which provides some air exchange. A critical damp spot on an exterior wall was traced back to a faulty gutter and is now dry as well.
Now we have two problems and are unsure how to proceed:
1. In the kitchen, the previous owners heated the room for years with a defective wood stove. The room smells unbearably of smoke, like after a major fire. The ceiling and walls are BLACK!
2. The entire house has a very strong musty smell and other unpleasant "leftovers."
Basically, we need to clean all surfaces from dirt, soot, and mold.
For the tiled floors, we plan to use baking soda as an odor absorber and possibly a steam cleaner. Wooden floors, doors, and windows will be sanded. We have also considered an initial ozone treatment to kill mold spores and eliminate some of the odors.
What do you think?
How should we approach the clay plaster on the walls?
We thought about removing the top layer (maybe 2mm (0.08 inches)) with a floor grinder and then applying a new fine clay plaster. The walls will be repainted anyway. However, I worry that sanding will push the mustiness and especially the black soot layer in the kitchen deeper into the plaster (I would like to avoid removing the full 2–3cm (0.8–1.2 inches) of clay plaster). We also considered cleaning with steam, but that would add a lot of moisture to the house...
How would you do it?
Thanks for your tips and suggestions.
D
danabanana7 Apr 2021 22:20Myrna_Loy schrieb:
You can only get rid of the smoke smell by removing the plaster completely. Persistent musty odor would concern me and prompt a close inspection of the structural timber in the floors and ceilings. How is the floor construction on the ground floor?From bottom to top:Rammed earth, 30cm (12 inches) of sand, beams embedded in the sand without contact to the walls, with wooden floorboards on top
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danabanana7 Apr 2021 22:21OK, the entire clay plaster in the kitchen will be removed. How would you handle rooms that only have a musty smell (but no soot or smoke odor)?
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Myrna_Loy7 Apr 2021 22:23These types of floors always have a slight earthy smell and often have issues with the joists. It all sounds like a costly money pit.
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Smialbuddler8 Apr 2021 18:35Maybe it’s also interesting to know what your goal is. You probably didn’t buy a house like this expecting it to become as dry, insulated, and airtight as a newly built home. If that’s the case, I’m afraid I also see @Myrna_Loy’s money pit.
Do you plan to use it as your main residence or just as a vacation home occupied on a weekly basis? I think that with this type of construction, you will always have a somewhat humid indoor climate, unless you rebuild it based on the original foundation walls...
Do you plan to use it as your main residence or just as a vacation home occupied on a weekly basis? I think that with this type of construction, you will always have a somewhat humid indoor climate, unless you rebuild it based on the original foundation walls...
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Smialbuddler8 Apr 2021 19:57Tolentino schrieb:
Yes, but I wouldn’t want to inhale mold spores even twice for two weeks each year. Completely chipping off the plaster and reapplying it is still far from a full renovation meeting energy-saving regulations. Something definitely needs to be done!! However, if it’s just about mold, there are good disinfection companies that can handle it without necessarily having to replace everything.
My main concern was the likely persistent moisture in the floor and probably also in the walls. That didn’t sound like a properly functioning horizontal damp-proof course, but more like walls damp from ground moisture... Although I’m no expert on this.
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