Today I smelled damp in our bedroom, and I've also had headaches quite a bit this year when I wake up. When I removed the trim, I found mold!! What should I do now? The house is built on a slab from the '70s. The wall where I found the mold is an exterior wall. In the bedroom, there was initially a black "air mat" (perhaps called plotonmatta). On top of that is a chipboard floor, on that a parquet floor, which is shown in the pictures. On top of this was a laminate floor that was very tightly placed against the walls, with baseboards around it. I started to remove the trim and found white mold, and it smelled of dampness. We removed all the floors except the chipboard, and the damp and mold smell increased.
A year ago, my neighbor laid a new stone path to their entrance, and this stone is right up against my house. When they laid this stone, they chiseled off a "ledge" on my plastered wall to make more room for their stone; they also chiseled off some of my plaster, making the leca stone visible. This was about a year ago. It is against this exterior wall that the moisture damage has occurred. How do you think I should proceed? Do you think the moisture has spread up the walls? It doesn’t look like that in the pictures.
Pictures:
A year ago, my neighbor laid a new stone path to their entrance, and this stone is right up against my house. When they laid this stone, they chiseled off a "ledge" on my plastered wall to make more room for their stone; they also chiseled off some of my plaster, making the leca stone visible. This was about a year ago. It is against this exterior wall that the moisture damage has occurred. How do you think I should proceed? Do you think the moisture has spread up the walls? It doesn’t look like that in the pictures.
Pictures:
Here you have several errors, 1: Drainage, which is key, do you have functioning drainage? 2: Do the neighbor's tiles slope toward your wall or away? Where does the rainwater flow? 3: The neighbor has damaged your outer wall!!! The concrete blocks absorb rainwater, leading to a damp wall and mold on the inside after a while (a case for neighborhood harmony). 4: The floor construction with the Platon mat requires an air gap against the wall so that the damp air from the slab can escape (laminate floor tight against the wall).
This is not an optimal construction, but it seems to have worked until the neighbor laid stone slabs that seem to have caused moisture load on your wall.
My suggestion: contact a professional + insurance company and possibly a lawyer if the neighbor isn't very cooperative.
The inner wall should be "stripped" and dried, as should the floor. The moisture load against the wall must be addressed, etc.
I have experienced similar wall damage when there was a row of wardrobes built against the outer wall with poor ventilation, resulting in moisture damage.
Good luck with future neighborhood harmony.
This is not an optimal construction, but it seems to have worked until the neighbor laid stone slabs that seem to have caused moisture load on your wall.
My suggestion: contact a professional + insurance company and possibly a lawyer if the neighbor isn't very cooperative.
The inner wall should be "stripped" and dried, as should the floor. The moisture load against the wall must be addressed, etc.
I have experienced similar wall damage when there was a row of wardrobes built against the outer wall with poor ventilation, resulting in moisture damage.
Good luck with future neighborhood harmony.
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I thank you for a very good response!Carambaa said:
Unfortunately, the slabs do not lean at all, completely flat.
Do you have tips on how I can get the lecablocks dry in this bad weather? I suppose I'll have to dig up along the wall and apply new plaster. Tips on how to do this best?
What do you say about buying a dehumidifier and putting it in the room, any tips on a good and cheap one?
My neighbor and I get along very well, so I hope we can solve this with both of our help and not involve a lot of other people. What do you think it might cost to fix everything?
Is it just as well to take down all the interior walls too? So far, it doesn't look very damp.
Thanks in advance
Fun with neighbors who get along 
Start by buying a case of beer, take the neighbor and tear down the interior wall so it can dry, you might need to replace the floor too.
Take the neighbor out and remove the tiles. Dig up and drain, fix all the damage to the plaster, and lay, for example, Platonmatta (here it might be time for a beer and some help from the neighbor).
Put back the fillings and tiles, make sure the tiles slope away from the house and that the rainwater has somewhere to go (once again time for a beer and some help from the neighbor).
Now the wall in the bedroom has probably dried, so rebuild it, take the opportunity to renovate the entire bedroom, i.e., remove chipboard (if you feel like it) in with drywall and new wallpaper.
Now you have gotten help from the neighbor to drain an exterior wall and received help to renovate a bedroom, which I think he owes you.
Ps. finish with a cognac in the company of the neighbor, preferably INITIAL EXTRA, which suits all throats.
Start by buying a case of beer, take the neighbor and tear down the interior wall so it can dry, you might need to replace the floor too.
Take the neighbor out and remove the tiles. Dig up and drain, fix all the damage to the plaster, and lay, for example, Platonmatta (here it might be time for a beer and some help from the neighbor).
Put back the fillings and tiles, make sure the tiles slope away from the house and that the rainwater has somewhere to go (once again time for a beer and some help from the neighbor).
Now the wall in the bedroom has probably dried, so rebuild it, take the opportunity to renovate the entire bedroom, i.e., remove chipboard (if you feel like it) in with drywall and new wallpaper.
Now you have gotten help from the neighbor to drain an exterior wall and received help to renovate a bedroom, which I think he owes you.
Ps. finish with a cognac in the company of the neighbor, preferably INITIAL EXTRA, which suits all throats.
Thanks for the response!!!
I have now spoken to the neighbor (who, by the way, lives in an identical house and is a trained carpenter). He has been inside, and we have discussed it a bit.
At first glance, he thought we didn't need to do anything about it. Nothing was directly water damaged, if you feel it, nothing is damp either. The mold "or the white stuff" was only where the moldings were flush against the wall (no ventilation).
However, he recommended getting a vent for the bedroom, as there is only a very small one in the window. There is a lot of condensation in the bedroom. And this could be true because about a year ago we got a door for the bedroom; previously, we had an open floor plan. In connection with this, you lock more moisture in the room, and considering that the floor and moldings have been close against the wall and floor that couldn’t breathe, at the same time as we enclosed the room with a door and had poor ventilation, has caused the problem.
Regarding the musty smell, he answered that it's hard to get rid of; unfortunately, it smells that way in these houses if you start tearing up the floors, and that’s correct, it smelled the same way in other rooms when I replaced those floors. But in the bedroom, it smelled a bit more damp.
Then we discussed the exterior and my concern about the slab absorbing water where the plaster was missing. He said that the slab is cast in place and that there are no lecasten but only concrete. The slab is constantly wet, and we didn't need to repair the plaster; it wouldn't make any difference.
And it's possible that there is no lecasten and that it's just concrete, I'm a bit unsure. He also mentioned that it was drained when they laid the paving stones and that they only chipped a little off the ledge when they laid the paving stones.
He also said that our floor is at the level where the panel begins (in the last picture), and it's about 15-20cm above where the paving stones lie, which is also correct. And therefore, it wouldn't have anything to do with the "mold" we found in the bedroom.
My spontaneous thought is that we have become a bit too worried about this and that it's really just the lack of ventilation that caused the problem, and that we don't need to tear everything up.
But I'm unsure, and you are welcome to give feedback.
Thanks in advance
I have now spoken to the neighbor (who, by the way, lives in an identical house and is a trained carpenter). He has been inside, and we have discussed it a bit.
At first glance, he thought we didn't need to do anything about it. Nothing was directly water damaged, if you feel it, nothing is damp either. The mold "or the white stuff" was only where the moldings were flush against the wall (no ventilation).
However, he recommended getting a vent for the bedroom, as there is only a very small one in the window. There is a lot of condensation in the bedroom. And this could be true because about a year ago we got a door for the bedroom; previously, we had an open floor plan. In connection with this, you lock more moisture in the room, and considering that the floor and moldings have been close against the wall and floor that couldn’t breathe, at the same time as we enclosed the room with a door and had poor ventilation, has caused the problem.
Regarding the musty smell, he answered that it's hard to get rid of; unfortunately, it smells that way in these houses if you start tearing up the floors, and that’s correct, it smelled the same way in other rooms when I replaced those floors. But in the bedroom, it smelled a bit more damp.
Then we discussed the exterior and my concern about the slab absorbing water where the plaster was missing. He said that the slab is cast in place and that there are no lecasten but only concrete. The slab is constantly wet, and we didn't need to repair the plaster; it wouldn't make any difference.
And it's possible that there is no lecasten and that it's just concrete, I'm a bit unsure. He also mentioned that it was drained when they laid the paving stones and that they only chipped a little off the ledge when they laid the paving stones.
He also said that our floor is at the level where the panel begins (in the last picture), and it's about 15-20cm above where the paving stones lie, which is also correct. And therefore, it wouldn't have anything to do with the "mold" we found in the bedroom.
My spontaneous thought is that we have become a bit too worried about this and that it's really just the lack of ventilation that caused the problem, and that we don't need to tear everything up.
But I'm unsure, and you are welcome to give feedback.
Thanks in advance
Now I have found the problem. I chose to break up the chipboard and take a look. First, there are the floor chipboards, then the Platon mat, and then a fiberglass fabric on the concrete slab. Where I found signs of moisture and mold, there are cracks in the slab that are visible both outside and inside. So there is a "pathway" from the outside to the inside. These cracks are at the corners of the slab in a room that is about 4 m wide. But what on earth do I do now???
Pictures:
Crack 1 from outside
Crack 1 from inside
Crack 2 from outside
Crack 2 from inside
Pictures:
Crack 1 from outside
Crack 1 from inside
Crack 2 from outside
Crack 2 from inside
The images were too large, trying again, unfortunately, I can't delete previous posts so if someone can, please do!
Now I’ve found the issue. I decided to break up the chipboards and take a look. First, there are the floor chipboards, then the pluton mat, and then a fiberglass fabric on the concrete slab. Where I found signs of moisture and mold, there are cracks in the slab visible both outside and inside. So there is a "path" from the outside to the inside. These cracks are at the corners of the slab in a room about 4 meters wide. Not the neighbor's fault anymore, at least. But what the heck do I do now???
Images:
Crack 1 from outside
Crack 1 from inside
Crack 2 from outside
Crack 2 from inside
Now I’ve found the issue. I decided to break up the chipboards and take a look. First, there are the floor chipboards, then the pluton mat, and then a fiberglass fabric on the concrete slab. Where I found signs of moisture and mold, there are cracks in the slab visible both outside and inside. So there is a "path" from the outside to the inside. These cracks are at the corners of the slab in a room about 4 meters wide. Not the neighbor's fault anymore, at least. But what the heck do I do now???
Images:
Crack 1 from outside
Crack 1 from inside
Crack 2 from outside
Crack 2 from inside
Contact someone who knows the area, and contact someone who can perform an indoor moisture measurement. Remember to protect yourself from the mold - do not stay in the room and remove EVERYTHING old that might have absorbed moisture. Good luck
