Mould in the basement

When we bought our house, one thing that we worried about was our basement. We were aware that it did have some moisture issues as we found surface mould in the cold room.

Cold room with mould

The first thing we did when we moved in was to identify where the moisture was coming from. We discovered that the cold room is situated right below a wooden planter box beside the front porch. This planter used to get filled up with water, as the downspout ended in the planter. Water had been collecting there for years and working its way down into the cold room.

Misha figured out a great way to fix this. He bought a $15 drainpipe extension and installed it on the downspout. Immediately, the planter became drier, the cold room became drier and the moisture issue was solved. It was an easy, cheap and really effective solution. 

The solution

We then removed all the panelling and washed the concrete walls with an environmentally-friendly mould remover. For now, the basement is dry. We will consider re-sealing the basement walls from outside and replacing the weepers when we get to the basement reno, planned for 2013. 

By Mia.