White mould on bricks

[H F]

We've recently found some white mould on brickwork inside our house (please see photos).  It's a 3m long stretch under a bench that we have in te hall way.

 

Can someone please recommend a product that we can use to best treat this with and what preventative measures can we take to prevent this from coming back?

 

 

[Russell griffiths]

You shouldn’t really look at treating it, but look at the cause, go outside and look at the wall, is there something causing damp?, was the bench restricting air flow?

 

there is normally a cause to these problems and it’s better to deal with this than try a quick fix. 

[H F]

There's a shower on the other side of the wall, and the bench will definitely be restricting airflow.

 

So is this definitely caused by damp?  And if we "fix" the issue, will the mould go away or will it still need to be treated? 

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, Home Farm said:

There's a shower on the other side of the wall, and the bench will definitely be restricting airflow.

 

So is this definitely caused by damp?  And if we "fix" the issue, will the mould go away or will it still need to be treated? 

 

 

Mould needs three things in order to survive, moisture, the right temperature and a source of nutrients.  The nutrients will be in the surface of the bricks, possibly from the paint that's been applied at some time.  The moisture may well be penetrating from the shower on the other side.

 

Are you sure that it's really mould, BTW?  Moisture penetrating through bricks can cause efflorescence, which is the salts in the bricks being dissolved and then depositing as white crystals on the surface exposed to air. 

[H F]

I think its efflorescence. Is that better or worse?

 

Is it also caused by damp?

 

Can we treat this?

Edited August 4, 2019 by Home Farm

[Jeremy Harris]

7 minutes ago, Home Farm said:

I think its efflorescence. Is that better or worse.

 

Hard to know for sure, as it depends where the moisture is coming from.  As there's a shower the other side of that wall, I'd say that probably has to be a likely culprit.

[H F]

Thanks for that. Is there a way to treat it, and if left untreated, will it adversely affect the bricks in any way?

[Jeremy Harris]

4 minutes ago, Home Farm said:

Thanks for that. Is there a way to treat it, and if left untreated, will it adversely affect the bricks in any way?

 

Efflorescence won't cause any harm, it's pretty common on brickwork, but it may be an indicator that moisture is penetrating through that wall, and that may cause damage that's largely unseen.  There's no treatment needed for the efflorescence itself, other than just brushing the crystallised salts off to clean things up a bit.

[nod]

2 hours ago, Home Farm said:

We've recently found some white mould on brickwork inside our house (please see photos).  It's a 3m long stretch under a bench that we have in te hall way.

 

Can someone please recommend a product that we can use to best treat this with and what preventative measures can we take to prevent this from coming back?

 

 

Salt 

caused by damp

Spray with a salt inhibitor before treating the cause