OUR EICHLER STINKS
There is a terrible musty, moldy smell in our Eichler which increased a thousand fold yesterday when we turned on the radiant heat. My theory is that we have mold in the concrete slab. There have been numerous small leaks in the (steel) system over the past five years or so coupled with the fact that we have zero drainage and heavy soil leading to permanently wet soil around perimeter of house.
We are planning a major remodel in spring with new radiant heat, new water plumbing and new slab poured on top of existing slab.
My question: if we do have mold in concrete, how do we test this, and would we have to jack up entire floor to remove it as simply putting new concrete on top and improving drainage will not kill it? Does this make sense. Can anyone help.
leigh rowe - diablo court, palo alto
You may have mildew instead of mold. Mildew may be a type of mold but I am not sure.
We also had that smell you describe in one room when we moved into our Eichler. Our solution was to remove the vinyl flooring (not original to the house) and let the concrete dry out completely. We had the radiant heat tested and there were no leaks, so we could not understand why the concrete floor was damp under the vinyl. I believe that the vinyl floor was trapping moisture. Anyway, after a month of drying out we replaced the flooring--in this case cork over a substrate.
We have not had a mildew smell after that and it has been about 4 years.
If you can I would advise you to look under your existing flooring to see if the concrete slab is damp.
There is a terrible musty, moldy smell in our Eichler which increased a thousand fold yesterday when we turned on the radiant heat. My theory is that we have mold in the concrete slab. There have been numerous small leaks in the (steel) system over the past five years or so coupled with the fact that we have zero drainage and heavy soil leading to permanently wet soil around perimeter of house.
We are planning a major remodel in spring with new radiant heat, new water plumbing and new slab poured on top of existing slab.
My question: if we do have mold in concrete, how do we test this, and would we have to jack up entire floor to remove it as simply putting new concrete on top and improving drainage will not kill it? Does this make sense. Can anyone help.
leigh rowe - diablo court, palo alto
