Besides condensation water, the kinds of mold that grow on walls need something organic to feed on. Mold grows on wallpaper because it feeds on the cellulose; in the case of paint, it's the organic binding agents that do it.

Silicate paint employs mineral binding agents and so mold can't feed on it. If building a house with “mineral” walls, like bricks or concrete as opposed to wood, using silicate paint may be more expensive upfront but spare trouble in the long run. If renovating a house or apartment with appropriate walls, removing any wallpaper and underlying paint –painstaking as that is– and applying silicate paint should prevent mold growth.

[–] ciferecaNinjo@fedia.io 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I’m seeing the most mold on the plastic frame of the window. Seems strange that the mold finds food in plastic.

[–] djsp@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

That's strange indeed. The mold is hopefully not feeding on the window frame, but rather on invisible dirt laying on the surface of the window frame, in which case regular scrubbing (after removing the mold) should keep it from growing again. In any case, I'm sorry you have to deal with that pesky fucker. Mold sucks.

Having said that, plastic eating mold in the wild, damaging as it could become, would be a wonderful discovery.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 3 points 6 months ago

Plastic is organic. You might be thinking of the food definition ofeorganic not the chemistry definition.

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