Our home's previous owner installed a light and exhaust fan combo that moves even more air than most contractor bathroom ceiling fans. It was a selling point for us. The winter after moving in we noticed an 'off smell when putting away Christmas decorations. On further exploration my husband discovered that the new fan had a larger diameter vent pipe, and rather than replace the full vent ductwork through to the roof, the previous owner just inserted the narrow pipe into the newer wide pipe, and wrapped it in in duct tape...
As you can imagine, the simple vibrations from this high velocity fan created enough wobble that the duct tape separated and for months a third of the shower moisture was being venting directly into the attic.
From what I have read on your site, I'm certain the wood's cellulose became a buffet for the mold and its just gross and out of control.
Once the vent is corrected we'll be cleaning up the mold and would appreciate any ideas. Should we use mold sealant once we are done?
Gloria G in Florida
Gloria, you have it right, the combination of moisture and wood makes for good eating for the city of mold growing in your attic. Idea wise certainly
killing attic mold on wood is the sweet spot for using MoldSTAT + mold killer. More details about how to go about application and the tools are a bit lower on this page.
What we wanted to call your attention to is
when to kill the mold. We recommend quickly killing the attic mold now to prevent the growth from getting even more out of control. By eliminating the mold that has already built up you will reduce spread of mold spores that will happen from the activity of replacing the existing duct work. Once the duct work is replaced, then as a final step, we suggest a re-application of the mold stat plus to get rid of any lingering mold that may have been jostled loose during the construction activity.
As far as a need for Mold Prevention Solutions, as long as the moisture is under control, the attic mold is unlikely to regrow, so a mold sealant would be over kill, but it might make sense to use an anti-microbial mold prevention spray as a final pass to afford 6 months of prevention as the overall attic moisture levels recede.