Forum Topic

White mould on loft timbers

Any recommendations for a tried and tested local company to deal with this problem would be much appreciated.

Neil McKelvie ● 3977d3 Comments

Borax. Have a look on Ebay or Amazon for something like Sodium Tetraborate. It is very cheap, water soluble, and used to be readily available in many shops until the EU decided it could not be sold in shops. It is rated as slightly more toxic than table salt by the US Food and Drink Administration - FDA - and is an excellent fungide. No VOCs. No solvents.

Antoni Wroblewski ● 3966d

Your issue is damp.Cure that and the problem of the white mould will go away.Is the property a modern well insulated one (or an older and recently re-roofed one) or a 'heritage' one?if the latter they are usually well enough ventilated to avoid this kind of thing in the first place, so you will be looking for a leak.  Fix that and you will be home and dry (quite literally :-) ).If the former and you cannot find a leak then you have my sympathy as the problem is going to be a lot more difficult to resolve.  Chemicals will not help you.  You will have to work out how to provide adequate ventilation in the space concerned so that the moisture content of the timbers is held below 19%.(You probably will want to deploy chemicals to clean-up the mould depending upon the extent of it but the 'cure' will be strictly temporary unless you fix the underlying excess moisture problem first.)

Tony Colliver ● 3975d

To be honest I would have a go at this myselfYour bigger issue may be that the loft space needs ventilation IF the issue is sweating timbers --- have you had the loft insulated lately as this can sometimes cause an issue. Look out also for any penetrative dampAssuming you are reasonably fit and mobile you'll need:-*Lighting*Firm surface to walk / crawl on*A face mask*A volumiser (like a garden weedkiller pump)*Some decent and penetrative timber preserver (higher VOC's the better!!!!)Now the careful part -- take care NOT to be in the area too long. Take regular breaks and spray the timbers top down working furtherest away from access point back towards it.Dont do it when there's no-one else about.Be careful of your electricsSpray in conservative application re-doing a number of passes if you need toSolvent free safest to use (but I feel gives less performance) and there's plenty on the market like Soluguard etc. Look to buy it in a 20L tub if you can as it works out far cheaper

Colin Goodman ● 3977d