How do I get mould and fungus [shudder] off my wall?

[estar]

We are so close to finishing the three storey house we are renovating, and now things are going backwards again!

Mould started growing on the wall inside the playroom (thankfully, about 2 weeks after we moved our three ds out of there and into other bedrooms!) and after much searching of the gutters, etc, discovered that it was coming from an old pipe embedded in the wall (erm, why????) of the room upstairs. But by that time, there was actually fungus growing at the top of the wall.

So we've stopped the leak, kept the window open to dry out the room, and the fungus has died but is obviously still stuck to the wall. It's a newly plastered (of course ) and painted wall which now has lots of staining and white bubbly bits and I'm not quite sure how to start recovery of it.

Do I scrape?
Wash?
Treat with something first?

Advise please

I would scrape, wash down with diluted bleach, fill in any dents with pollyfiller and then paint over with an oil based paint to prevent any staining and last paint over with whatever the room is painted in.

best approach might be to remove all effected plaster etc & redo it.

Ooooh, the white bubbly bits are probably the salts in the bricks of the wall that had a chance to migrate through the moisture. We've had that in the kitchen, and although we removed the bits (preferably when still soft and fluffy, not when hardened,because you might damage the plaster), it kept coming back, even though the wall was dry! A damp man (a man from a damp proofing company) told us to use a special kind of paint or sealer (can't remember what it was now, sorry)and now it doesn't come back as quickly but it is still there... We've put another wall in front of the wall in the end.
Hth

Ah, okay, that sounds like our white bits - didn't think it looked fungal-like, so that would explain it.

Still haven't done anything with it because I don't want to do the wrong thing. Okay, and because who wants to tackle that job in a hurry? Eurgh.

I think I'll have to start with scraping, then try and see how damaged the plaster is to see whether it needs replacing. Maybe I won't paint it again straight away, in case there is any more of the salts to come through.

My main worry is that you hear stories of people being poisoned by stuff growing on their walls, and I just want to make sure I get of it as best I can! Keeping it well venitaled in the meantime (good job it's summer) just in case.

Thankyou x

Salts sound right - buy special anti-damp paint from DIY shop. But if you are worried about mould, scrape first then treat a couple of times with Dettox anti-mildew spray - you can buy it at the supermarket. Think it's basically hydrogen peroxide (hair bleach) - works a treat on mould but if ingrained you need a couple of goes. It says leave on for 5 mins but I think half an hour better...

Seconded!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2724/554072

Tess - your lovin the cleaning threads...huh

lol@Love2bake. I really need to get a life don't I?

who plastered and painted it? plaster is meant to be treated with pva stuff before it can be painted.

also could it be the paint bubbling and flaking (a pipe on my boiler was leaking and caused that) rather than brick dust as wont you have plaster boards under you plaster and not brick?