Mold issues in garage

[sepani]

Hi. I have a garage on the property of the newly purchased house that has given me an unexpected problem. The garage appears to be newly renovated with a poured slab. New siding, new roofing felt, good drainage, electricity installed, new garage door and door, in short, nicely done. BUT, after a couple of months, black mold started appearing around the vents located in each upper corner (the building has a sloped roof). It's partially on the ceiling and partially on the wall. The inspector on site doesn't think it's moisture coming from outside. He suspects it might be the boards that were wet before they were installed. It should be noted that the garage was freshly painted inside at the time of purchase and inspection, which I understand better now. Any ideas?

 

[Stefan N]

Do you have heating in the garage?

 

[anders07]

It is common for mildew to form around vents if there is poor circulation. Then warm and cold air "swirl around" at the vent, leading to condensation that settles above the vent. Clean it with bleach and ensure good ventilation. If it is natural ventilation, install an exhaust fan, e.g. http://www.luftbutiken.se/vaggflakt/4507-ostberg-vaggflakt-rs-080-a.html

 

[Roev08]

Is there a single vent in the garage? If the garage is well-built, no air will escape anywhere else. In that case, you can place a vent low down at the other end of the garage or in the garage door or similar, thereby creating a certain pressure difference and airflow.

 

[sepani]

No, there is no heating in the garage.

 

[sepani]

Thanks for the tip. But should it really result in black mold because of this? Then it feels like it would be better not to have any vents at all in a garage? I can add that it smells very strongly of mold. I'm wondering if it's the visible traces that can really smell that much?

 

[anders07]

If there are spores elsewhere in the garage, it will grow quickly. If there are boards on the walls, I would remove or saw holes in a few places to see how they look on the backside.

Black mold grows fast and can come back just after a few days, and what you show in the picture can definitely grow in a couple of months. Just make sure you have fresh air intake as well, and if that's not enough, order a fromfuftsfläkt and hang it on the wall outside.