# Forum Home Renovation Sub Flooring  White growth/mould on subfloor dirt...problem?

## bigclick_dean

Hey All, 
I have just settled on a house last week that had some mould issues with water entering the subfloor and poor ventilation (weep holes on one side of house were blocked with dirt build up). We have dug around the house to allow proper air flow, put a whirlie bird in the roof to pull air through the house, stripped all the overgrown plants from around the house to remove moisture and share from the house and stripped the plaster from a couple of rooms to remove mould. 
I went for a crawl around the subfloor today and noticed that there is a large amount of white, mould like spores covering the majority of the floor, there is also some other colours but mainly white throughout. 
Should I try to remove this? Is it actually mould or just a form of salt creep or residue? 
I dont want to start re plastering the house and changing carpets if the mould will just come straight back. 
I have stopped all the water from coming into the sub floor and it does appear to be drying out slowly. 
Cheers,
Dean

----------


## Bloss

Dry soil = no mould or fungi - so long as it gets dry and remains so it will be fine.

----------


## m6sports

Bleach will kill mold but as Bloss said you need to keep the area dry

----------


## bigclick_dean

Thanks for the replies, hopefully I can get it dry and keep it dry! 
Should I try and remove the white growth that is there now? i.e. Rake the top soil out 
The subfloor dirt is also very "hilly" as the original builders just dug the holes for the footings and then left the piles of dirt next to the holes. Should I think about leveling off under the house to reduce the risk of pooling. 
One of the main reasons for the moisture was the laundry has no floor drain and the washing machine from the old tenant used to overflow every time she used it and just run into the subfloor. I will hopefully be putting a floor drain in to prevent this. 
@m6sports: Hi from a fellow coastie (saratoga) ;-) 
Cheers,
Dean

----------


## Bloss

No need to remove what's there, but if you want to you could ( had that in my house when i moved in 16 years ago - did the remedial drainage work and there are still patches of white around - all dead though. Use a mask though - moulds, fungi & spores are not supposed to be in your lungs . . .

----------


## Pulse

could be salt left by water evaporation if the area was pretty wet at one stage. 
Cheers
Pulse

----------


## Bloss

> could be salt left by water evaporation if the area was pretty wet at one stage. 
> Cheers
> Pulse

  Another good point - depends on location and soils. In my case I had both, in different places under the house. Either way dryness is the key.

----------

