Old tenants have painted over mouldy walls, what do I do?

Hi all.

I am fixing up my old house and have learned that the old tenants have painted over several walls that has mould underneath. This mould has not been cleaned and killed.

I'm not sure what my options are now. If I just paint over this paint again (their paint job is awful) the mould is likely to just grow through again I presume.

What can I do to remedy this situation? Is there a primer that blocks mould from underneath the paint surface perhaps? I'm at a loss as to what else can be done.

Any help is welcomed....thank you.

Any paint that has been applied directly over mould is highly unlikely to have adhered very well. If you dampen the areas concerned, you will probably find the paint will blister and should peel off quite easily.

If you can do this then kill the mould underneath with a mild bleach/ warm water solution (wear gloves) or fungicidal wash, rinse well and allow to dry thorughly. You can then fill to blend in and re-paint.

If the paint won't peel off, then try using a kitchen scourer with the bleach solution as that should wash it off. Try this first if the surface in question is wallpaper, being careful not to over wet.

Solve the problem of why the mould is occurring before finishing otherwise it will re-appear.

Paints with mildicides only mask the problem temporarily!

Thanks for the help misterhelpful.

They have gone over a lot of walls so this could end up being really labour intensive. What I'm worried about is not being able to get all the paint off and there being mould underneath these sections making all my other effort pointless - what a mess!

Thanks again....any other suggestions appreciated.

Mould is usually confined to corners as a result of condensation due to low air circulation in these areas. I wouldn't worry that much about it being everywhere unless you can see otherwise.

When you do get around to re-painting you may want to have a look at some of these to prevent re-occurence.

http://www.nwepaints.co.uk/acatalog/Anti_Condensation___Anti_Mould_Paint.html

Nice one. I will have a look at those when the time comes.....thanks a lot.

I here Zinsser Perma-White is good for this sort of thing, has anyone used that before? Also, does anyone know of an anti-mould additive that can be added to paint? I've read actual anti-mould paint is meant to be better but ould still like to read up further on these.

Perma-white is very good but expensive and, well... white!

Heres some reading:


http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/z/ZINPWBP/
http://www.kingfisheruk.com/item.php?id=52Y
http://www.condensationproducts.co.uk/aspbite/products/products.asp?intproductsID=39

Yeah, they all seem to be pretty expensive. They do it in Brewers, they said they could do a discount if I open a cash account so I might ask them about that.

Thanks for all the links.