This is accomplished by either forcing air out the crawl vents or drawing air inward.
Scrapping off mold joists floor.
This can apply not only to homes with basements but also to those with crawl spaces.
Don t ignore mold or mildew on the floor joists in your crawl space.
If you live in a humid and moist climate it is important that you regularly remove mold from your floor joists.
I the case where the mold is heavy you may want to scrub the area first with chlorine bleach solution.
Grab a helper for this task if you can.
Just wipe it down with a 10 bleach solution 0 6 hypochlorite.
Your best strategy remove mold and mildew and address the moisture problem remove the mold or mildewthere are.
When left without being removed mold in joists can eventually become such a problem that it can only be removed by professionals.
Clean up any remaining mold.
Sanding is unnecessary and probably not advisable because of all the dust.
In crawl spaces where lighting is more dim take an extension cord and a drop light with you as you inspect the floor joists for mold.
Blue black or gray mold on floor joists may indicate sapstain fungi which are similar to surface mold but go deeper into the wood.
As spores enter the living area from the crawl space respiratory illness and odor will reduce quality of living.
Otherwise mold will spread back into your subflooring.
Why worry about the mold on the wood surface.
Dead mold can also be very dangerous to your family.
They will not weaken the floor joists but the presence of this fungus is an indication that the wood has been moist or wet for a long period.
If you find signs of mold treat the entire area.
Blue black or grey mould on floor joists may indicate sapstain fungi which are similar to surface mould but go deeper into the wood.
Mold in a subfloor can spread to floor joists so take a look down in the crawl space.
You will want to catch and collect as much of the dead falling mold as possible.
Cut a few access holes in the subfloor and point a fan downward into the crawlspace.
Once the wood dries out the fungus stops growing.
It should work to suppress mold and is fire retardant.
Your goal is to simply rapidly exchange the air in the crawlspace.
If there are areas of dead mold still left on the subfloor try removing them with a hepa vacuum.
The direction of the air flow isn t terribly important.
Among other concerns mold and mildew can lead to health problems in humans as well as pets.
Step 5 treating floor joists in crawl spaces.
Adjusting the moisture in the air and drying out the wood will remove the problem although the staining will still be present.
Once the wood dries out the fungus stops growing.