Before

After

Mold on wood framing

One of the most common mold calls that we respond to is caused by incomplete installation of a vapor barrier in a partially finished basement.  In this case, part of the basement had the vapor barrier installed, but the drywall or plywood wall covering was never installed.  This allows the warm moist air to flow upwards from the floor behind the vapor barrier and condense on the cooler exterior wall, resulting in microbial growth.

Other areas in this basement that either had the plywood walls installed over the vapor barrier or were left exposed with no vapor barrier installed, had no microbial growth.

In this case, we treated the affected area with a mold cleaning enzyme and scoured the area with an abrasive brush.  Treated the area with a disinfecting cleaner and then sealed the stud cavity with a mold prohibiting primer.