Weird mould

MD

MD

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My gun locker is in a damp spot in the house, and I noticed some rust on the receiver of my 870 and the bolt of my 270, so I thought I'd better check the other guns. The metal was fine on them, but two guns had mould growing on the wood. I have a 1970s Winchester model 94, sitting butt down in the cabinet and the black plastic butt plate had a strange almost camembert-like mould on it.

I've put those dollar store water trap things in the cabinet and they are sucking up water. Time to replace them I guess.
 
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Time to fix the wet basement... no reason to have water in your house, or to have your gun cabinet sitting in it.
 
^What he said. And a dehumidifier at least.

More importantly, if you have mould on your gunstocks, chances are very good you also have mould growing inside your basement walls.

Hope you don't have any kids living downstairs?

Hhhmmm.....
 
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After the flood last spring we threw out all the obvious soaked carpets and things but short of ripping the walls apart I don't know how to get rid of the residual moisture and as you say subsequent mould. I never had this problem before in 28 years here.
 
MD said:
After the flood last spring we threw out all the obvious soaked carpets and things but short of ripping the walls apart I don't know how to get rid of the residual moisture and as you say subsequent mould. I never had this problem before in 28 years here.
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how high was the water, what are your walls made out of?
 
I do this on the side... you have to cut back the drywall or panelling and see what is going on... you may have black mould growing and it is very problematic for your health... make sure the water problem is taken care of, then remove any soaked insulation, expose the walls and cut away and blackened drywall or studs etc... then reinsulate and finish it all... your insurance should cover it all for you.
 
I would move the guns and cabinet out, run an electric heater flat out in the area for a few days, then clean guns and safe up well and make sure to put safe desiccant like rem dri etc in the safe with the guns. I put a bag on the floor and a bag on the shelf in my safes. Finally put a dehumidifier in the space/room and keep an eye on the situation.
 
It wasn't a huge flood, the sump quit in the basement and I got about an inch of water in one end of the garage (about 1/4), but it seeped under the wall to the next room too.
 
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Check with your insurer and see where you stand. If there is mold it has to go. A dehumidifier will help the moisture problem but you still may have to open up the walls and see whats happening mold wise. Move the guns to a safe spot for now.
 
We bought a dehumidifier from rona, it would easily pull 8 litres of water out of the air when there was moisture in it, I had to dump the tray a couple times a day and only ran it for a week or two to pull all the moisture out of the house.

We used it after getting about 2 feet of water in our unfinished basement (concrete walls), we started to develop mold on the little bit of drywall down there, sprayed it with mold killer and ran the dehumidifier for a couple weeks and it ceased growing.
 
Some of the Mould on leather and or Wood can be a fungus
need a bleach treatment (Do at own risk) and a treatment of your favorite clenner or
some of the stronger gun cleaning products Will work if your get the fungus clean stock with your favorite clenner if it come back try a different cleaner
(Do at own risk) ----You need to kill the fungus

trying the bleach treatment on a old 22 rim stock at the moment fungus is only where finish has been removed over the years

tried it on a some leather last month
 
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Mould will grow when humidity is quite high, get a dehumidifier right away, some can come from other sources that are in the area as it gets in the air and transfers to other things as it settles. Fix the water issuer and it should go away.
 
cody c said:
We bought a dehumidifier from rona, it would easily pull 8 litres of water out of the air when there was moisture in it, I had to dump the tray a couple times a day and only ran it for a week or two to pull all the moisture out of the house.

We used it after getting about 2 feet of water in our unfinished basement (concrete walls), we started to develop mold on the little bit of drywall down there, sprayed it with mold killer and ran the dehumidifier for a couple weeks and it ceased growing.
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if the drywall gets wet the paper comes loose from the board, at some point my hunting house must have had a flood (previous owner). they put on base boards so the paper was held in place but we still ended up removing the bottom sheet of drywall in the entire basement to do a proper repair.

If the wood is mouldy you can try some of the different paints and coatings available but it is best to cut it all out if anyone in your family suffers from allergies. Black mould is very bad for your health.
 
SuperCub said:
A low wattage light bulb in your gun cabinet will help a lot. I did this for years.
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I too have used that for years, but I have one gun safe that is an old Remington Rand bank safe that is solid, no holes and I'm not certain how to keep the inside dry without drilling holes in it....... don't want to do that..
 
Cut the drywall up 2ft from the floor, exposing the wall cavity to check. Depending on what you find you may have to go further, removing framing etc. As long as the wall aren't load bearing this is not a huge job and easily fixable. While its open rent some fans and big dehumidifiers from home depot and set them up to get everything dry. If your bottom plates are wet they can take a long time to dry.
Better to have a dry unfinished basement than a wet moldy finished one.
 
Buy a dehumidifier (not a safe dehumidifier, a house one) and keep it running until moisture levels are around 50%. It may be permanently on.

As for the drywall, I'd be removing a section and having a look. I flooded in the spring and had to replace the entire flooring and I took the bottom 4 feet of drywall off too. I had a mould guy come in a check for moisture as well.
 
Lead Loader said:
Fix the water issuer and it should go away.
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Mould doesn't "go away," it just goes dormant awaiting the right environmental factors for it to bloom again... order of business;

1. Fix water problem.
2. Dry the area.
3. Check behind walls and under floors for wet insulation etc... and signs of mould.
4. Remove wet/mouldy material and treat area with mould retardant.
5. Replace insulation, vapour barrier and drywall/panelling.
6. Possibly do exterior grading/ditching/tiling to avoid future floods...

Good luck... save those guns!
 
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