The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: martyconlonontherun on July 04, 2018, 05:55:53 PM
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Just 'finished' my basement by framing in a section of the basement with half being drywall and half being cinder blocks. I laid down bamboo hard wood floor (sub-level grade). We have been in the house for a year and the basement walls were free of mold and no water damage at all.
We had a heat wave with high humidity, and after not going downstairs for a week the floors were buckling since i didn't remove the spacers and there was droplets of water from what i believe is condensation. Doesn't appear to be water damage. There is a little bit of black mold on the walls and on one edge of the floor there is green mold.
How screwed am I? I bought a dehumidifier right away and trying to dry it out. Is this something that will just require a wipe down/keep area dry since I caught it early, it's too late since its already down there or somewhere in between?
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Just 'finished' my basement by framing in a section of the basement with half being drywall and half being cinder blocks. I laid down bamboo hard wood floor (sub-level grade). We have been in the house for a year and the basement walls were free of mold and no water damage at all.
We had a heat wave with high humidity, and after not going downstairs for a week the floors were buckling since i didn't remove the spacers and there was droplets of water from what i believe is condensation. Doesn't appear to be water damage. There is a little bit of black mold on the walls and on one edge of the floor there is green mold.
How screwed am I? I bought a dehumidifier right away and trying to dry it out. Is this something that will just require a wipe down/keep area dry since I caught it early, it's too late since its already down there or somewhere in between?
Hard to say, dry it way the heck out and see what happens. I am not as worried about mold as most folks are, so I might be a bad judge. Did you season your wood floors first? AKA open op the packages and let them adjust to the basement environment before install. Most construction materials are not going to like massive changes in humidity.
Finishing off a basement is always dicey IMO. No mater how dry or how much 'water proofing' you do it is never going to be as dry as above grade.
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Just 'finished' my basement by framing in a section of the basement with half being drywall and half being cinder blocks. I laid down bamboo hard wood floor (sub-level grade). We have been in the house for a year and the basement walls were free of mold and no water damage at all.
I think you need to supply more information. Off the top of my head based upon experience, people get themselves into lots of trouble with vapor barriers and understanding how they work. When you finished the basement, did you also add a vapor barrier or coating and if so, what layer/where? Also what about the time frame involved? Sometimes when you bring a bunch of supplies from a humid environment to a dry one, it can really off gas a lot of water vapor for awhile as it acclimatizes. You didn't specify where you saw the water condensation. How old is the house? Did you do the plastic test to see if the basement floor had a vapor barrier underneath it?
I'm not particularly worried about the mold either. If you fix your problem, it will die and go away/can be removed. The key is figuring out what the problem is that is causing it and dealing with it.
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I would never EVER put a wood floor in a basement. Sorry, I know this is not helpful. If the floor is ruined go with the vinyl that looks like wood.
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bleach