my guess is that somehow and some were in the basement moisture is present how ever little it may be,it`s tough to pin point the source from what you have written but there may have been a puddle on that floor in days gone by where your father had to go down and mop it up(maybe a water heater gone bad).Another place to check for dampness is on top of the foundation wall during a heavy rain storm.I would think that if the house is only 20 yrs old that the moisture that was in the lumber would be gone by now.Heres another thing to think about if your dryer is down there is it possible that moisture or even condensation is growing around the hose that leads to the out doors(just making some suggestions i`m not a specialist)ok!Anyhow its some place to start.Oh i just thought of one more place to look and thats around the cellar entrance and stairs make sure there is no standing water in there either.
Edited 10/29/2004 5:11 pm ET by Shavey
Replies
First, welcome to BT. Second, if you'd take a minute to fill in your Personal Profile, found by clicking on your name, you'd save us some guessing as to the climate you're living in. With ac, unless it's the arid west, you likely have humid summers.
In central Virginia, mold will grow on anything and everything. Gotta have over 50% relative humidity, some food, and reasonably warm temps. Turning on heat or ac will dry out the air, reducing mold growth. Sometimes ventilation, in a drier climate than ours, will do the trick. We live with dehumidifiers, which I'd certainly recommend immediately.
You need to get rid of it. First step is determining how extensive it is.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I'll add that it is close to impossible to totally get rid of mold once it has established itself. You can control it. You can set it back a lot by gutting and rebuilding the interior drywall, etc.
Incidentally, I've always found basements to be mildewed. Always.
Mold is a result of moisture in most basements, it can be caused for many reasons.
I had a bad mold problem caused In the summer by a warm air space with a cool floor causing condensation to occur. We tried opening windows to dry things out it only increased the problem. Dehumidifiers worked full time a second dehumidifier was added. This helped but was not a real solution .
Finally we found a system that helped. It uses a fan that draws cool moist air from the floor of the basement up a duct and exhausts it outside. This causes a negative pressure in the basement and draws warm dry air from the first floor. All basement windows must be kept shut. the Basement was devided into rooms so to help overall venting we cut vent holes in the bottom corners of the room to help circulation. This fan has worked now for about 5 years and the mold has not been visible since.
George