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Norminn

wrote:

Well, as a followup, I managed to fix the source of the water leak in
my wall (overflowing sewer pipe that wasn't capped during a botched
later-nineties remodel ).

Anyway, that leak had caused a nasty mold infestation on my drywall
and in the cabinets.

So, I figured, with the water leak closed off, and the walls and
cabinets scrubbed down and Cloroxed, and, all rotten wood or drywall
removed, then treated all of it with Concrobium, that I'd have the
mold smell licked.

And, I was largely right, until it hit sunset, and the smell came
back. As it turns out, the mold smell comes back at night, and then
every day, goes away. I'm guessing this is due to the condensation and
the night air in my extremely humid (South Louisiana) climate.
Sooo:
1. Does that seem to make sense that night air is reigniting my mold?

2. So, what do I need to do? I'll be buying a dehumidifier, but I
don't really want to run it 24/7/365. Can I install some sort of
moisture barrier between my masonry (concrete block) walls and the
drywall/wood bolted to it?

Thanks in advance,
-Matthew D. Diez

Night air wouldn't change your environment as far as I know. Is the
smell local to where the
leak was, or throughout the house? How extensive was the damage?
Where? Where do you
notice the odor? Two things come to mind: carpet, bedding, clothing
might have soaked up
the odor....cleaning/laundering them might help. Second, if you close
up the house or a particular
room in the evening, then less circulating air might make the smell more
pronounced.

What kind of cabinets were affected? How repaired? What about
flooring? More info would
help, perhaps.

I repapered a bath about three years ago - the old paper was peeling and
had mildew along the
seams that had begun to open. I washed the wall well with bleach before
putting on the new
paper, but I noticed the same area is beginning to darken. I am sure
the mildew is back, but
I'm not going to paper again until I need to. This is an outside wall,
and our bath appears to have
studs that are 2" rather than 4". Concrete block and stucco, Florida.
I suspect there is moisture
in the wall - perhaps sucked in through outlets or other openings and
condensing when it cools???
The outside wall is south facing,
gets a lot of sun during the day, so I suppose it could warm up enough
to pull moist air into the wall space.
I can't figure out any other reason for the mildew - the outside of the
wall is sound, no cracks or
peeling paint.