[Greenbuilding] Reducing mold

[JOHN SALMEN]

I like the question about Turkish baths. The stucco is lime based so has
some resistance in offering little food and some anti-fungal but a bathing
area quickly accumulates both the food and the moisture. 

Vinegar and similar caustic materials will have some affect but will also
eat into the finishes to provide yet more area for food and moisture to
rest. Essentially you want to do the opposite and increase the polish and
smoothness of the surface.

The smoothness and hardness of a surface is a benefit for basic washing of
surfaces - and the Rob mentioned tadelak which is essentially a very fine
lime stucco with stone fines that can be polished and burnished very smooth
for water resistance. Soaps and waxes are often used to complete the finish
which can offer both additional water resistance as well as some
anti-microbial benefit.

As for mildewcides within a shower or bathing area we often forget the
basics which is copper, silver, zinc. These can be sacrificial cleansers if
you can live with the precipipate stains. I have an outdoor shower on a
concrete deck with exposed copper plumbing and the shower are is quite free
of algae which seems to love the rest of the deck - despite the sunshine.

JOHN SALMEN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
4465 UPHILL RD,. DUNCAN, B.C.  CANADA, V9L 6M7
PH 250 748 7672 FAX 250 748 7612 CELL 250 246 8541
terrain at shaw.ca

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of RT
Sent: November 7, 2010 6:45 PM
To: GBioEL
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Reducing mold

On Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:22:40 -0500, Sacie Lambertson
<sacie.lambertson at gmail.com> wrote:

MOB wrote:
>>   Are you thinking about ways to reduce the mold?
> Indeed, I would love something easy to reduce the black stuff that  
> appears

Sacie;

My guess is, and it is just a guess, that if you were to install a
smooth-surfaced material (ie something that drains and dries quickly ie
glass sheet or tile, polished stone, porcelain tile) over the stucco ...
or ground/polished the stucco to a high-gloss finish (ie like tadelak),
the potential for mould growth would be reduced muchly.

Squeegeeing the polished surface after each use would probably help too.

And if that doesn't work, move the shower outside and into the sunlight.
(You like sleeping with the windows open in winter. Right ? So showering
outside in the middle of winter shouldn't be a problem. Nyuk,nyuk,nyuk.)


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply"
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