Since the weather is showing no signs of warming up enough to make me feel like opening the windows, I decided to put the storm windows in place. I wiped all of the windows down, made sure the plastic sealing strips were all firmly in place and then I slid the storm window into place. It really wasn't taking long so I was feeling rather pleased with my progress on today's to-do list. We had a few minor mold problems in the past, but I've been doing a good job of keeping the windows wiped and free of long standing condensation... or so I thought. Imagine my surprise then when I was preparing for the inevitable winter today when I found THIS in my bedroom!
Everyone with me now.... EEEEW!!!!! Geez, no wonder my allergies have been so bad this year. YIKES. I guess that will teach me to remember to clean every window in my house except my bedroom. Maybe I shouldn't have my bed under my window after all. It made me start to wonder what else I may be forgetting to clean. Now I'll have to get out the search lights and take a gander around my house.
I guess it's kind of an out of sight, out of mind type of mistake! Maybe those people who live in older homes have the right idea, if this home weren't so darn air tight I wouldn't have this problem. I suppose it would cost me a lot more in heating bills so it's kind of a trade off. What do I do to eliminate these problems?
My old house had these same kinds of problems in them. It seems to happen more in homes with wood windows, they're beautiful but can pose a real health problem. I suppose it's more because of the availability of food product for the mold to feast on along with the excess of moisture.
Don't be fooled into buying new windows thinking that it will solve your problem, been there done that. It didn't help! Don't waste your money. The salesman said we had black mold and I needed to replace all of the windows immediately. Yeah, he didn't have a motivation to scare me into buying new windows now, did he? Rack it up to being young and gullible trying to do everything I could to improve my family's health. I suppose I should have thought to ask where he got his PH D in mold studies, but I bought the $12,000 window package instead.
My advise? Clean all of your windows every other month at least, if not more often. Don't keep your blinds closed all the way to the bottom all of the time either, this allows for air flow between the blind and the window. The condensation can evaporate more readily then also. If you can't keep up you may also consider investing in an energy efficient dehumidifier.
I have also begun wondering if it would be worthwhile to buy some of the mold inhibiting cleaners they sell for bathrooms, but I suppose bleach would be more cost effective.
Have you ever had this happen? What did you do to keep the problem from returning? What do you do to prepare your house for winter?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
9 comments:
I live in an older home so I do have some during the winter as they are not airtight like new windows. I try to use clear caulking in the fall to get them air tight and it pulls off fairly easily in the spring or you can just leave it on.
I'm a stay at home Mom too Cinj and I have to admit some chores to get put on the backburner with all the running around I have to do daily.
Oh the window story I have to tell sometime!
I like to leave the windows open so we end up with dust everywhere!
We had mold removed last year, it was not black mold; and then had the crawl space encapsulated and have some fan drawing out all the damp air...we rarely get condensation now. Now our house feels stuffy!
We had this problem with a rental house where we had condensation on the windows in winter. Where we live now it's way too dry in the winter to have mold problems. We actually have to run a humidifier to keep the air bearable.
We live in the middle of damp woods so we would get mold and mildew on the side of our house siding portion. We would use bleach to remove it. Finally got the siding replaced. We used the mold resistant paint when painting the wood on the front porch. And when painting the entire inside of the house, we used kiltz primer then paint on top. Never had mold inside. We had metal windows but had them all replaced this year with new ones as the old ones fogged up. We open the windows a lot to allow ventilation throughout the house. For the metal shed and garage, we bought a pressure washer! Love the thing!
Get outta here! You mean I'm supposed to CLEAN THE WINDOWS? I think it would be easier for me just to move!
Seriously, I don't have that problem, but I do have a condensation problem; several of the seals have burst on the double panes, and now they get cloudy between the panes.
I actually saw the answer to this on the hgtv cleaning board. I bet if you searched over there it would come up. It wasn't a window mold issue but it was mold in paint....they used something they bought at the place like where your husband works. I wish I could remember the name of it. Maybe I'll go look in a bit and come back to tell you. Any way--you sprayed it on and no more mold ever. It' wasnt' a bleach. I'll see if I can find it.
Kathi- That's a great inexpensive fix to a winter annoyance. I never thought of that! I don't need it here, but I'll keep it in mind if I ever move again.
Racquel- I know how that goes! Mom's taxi service is always at their beck and call, isn't it?
Gail- I get lots of dust in the spring and fall especially. Winter's too cold and summer's too hot for me to keep windows open all day.
Gotta love a good window story!
Amy- Wow, it sure would be nice not to have to worry about mold. I don't know if I'd like the dry air any better though. I wouldn't say our air is all the humid in the winter, we just stupidly leave the blinds closed and we get lots of condensation.
Skeeter- Gross, isn't it? Luckily I don't have any siding issues with it. I suppose it helps that we have vinyl siding but I'm sure that's something else I'll have to keep an eye on. I like my pressure washer too but I haven't had the opportunity to use it here yet. We used to use it to wash the cars but that might be a stupid move to do on a gravel driveway, the darn dirt would just splash right back up on it.
Nola- Like we don't have enough to worry about, right? I think people in the 1800's had the right idea. Have so little stuff that washing windows wasn't really considered too big of a chore.
Anna- I've got a product in mind. I don't know what it's called but I've seen it when I've been browsing around. So that stuff works good? Maybe I'll have to make a new investment.
I'm the same way, I insist on keep everything clean, but being a renter, I can't keep everything as properly maintained as I wish. The window glazing on the old single pane windows in our farm house are cracked and falling out, the white glazing is black with mildew on the outside and even though the storm windows are down, I fear water seeps in around the panes! It drive me crazy!!! I bleach the hell out of everything. I recently found what I believe to be toxic black mold growing underneath the kitchen cupboards in the a/c return. I tried bleaching that too but I think it is in the wood, so the entire situation is turning into a paranoia.
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