"Mould on MDF" Topic

Is it me, what have I done? A paddle boat in a filing cabinet, covered in it. Block house and palisade in a wooden box. Block house fine but palisade in a bad state. The mould does come off. I am using wilkinsons floor stain and acrylic type paints. Some areas are just stain, no paint. Some other MDF models seem OK butI have not checked everything

Mold requires moisture and usually darkness. However, it doesn't spring-up all by itself, so the mold spores were either present in the storage container or somehow in the mdf itself.

I'm not sure how or even if you can treat it on mdf. I would suggest contacting a mdf manufacturer and seeing if they can provide some assistance.

Dave
wargamingminiatures.com

Clean it carefully in a "well-ventilated" space, inhaling mold and spores is bad.

There is water in a lot of the products you used making these, some of it got trapped under your outer coat and grew.

There are mold spores everywhere. It takes *great* effort to get rid of them all. You have to deny them the conditions they like. I'm not sure what you should have done differently.

When I use MDF, I make sure to cover every side and edge, even those that are not visible. Moisture can sneak in and cause warping, even if you don't get mold.

Share whatever you learn!

Wow, never heard of that before. Another reason to be glad the game room is coming out of the basement soon. I hope you're able to salvage your stuff.

Any mold I encounter around the home, sometimes in window sills after a long wet winter, I use hot water and bleach to kill the mold.

My suggestion would be use straight bleach, outside. Put a small amount on a cloth and rub it over the effected areas. Do not soak the MDF. The problem with bleach is it will discolor anything you put it on, so you will have to repaint.
I would bleach, coat with white glue or spray paint with a gloss coat and repaint.

JMHO

Never had a problem with mold on any terrain piece, building or otherwise. Maybe because I stick with resin and avoid MDF. Just another reason not to like MDF.

Mold requires moisture and usually darkness

You're only half right. Mold, like most micro organisms, require moisture and a food source for growth. It's not that darkness is a requirement for growth, it's that mold doesn't require sunlight for photosynthesis. Mold will happily grow in darkness, but also on well lit windowsills, as wrgmer1 states.

Mdf is basically wood fibres held together with a resin based binder. The wood is made of cellulose which is a sufficient food source for the mold.

Clean and dry your storage containers (bleach is your friend), and totally seal your mdf so that the wood fibres are not exposed to moisture and spores. You should be fine.

Next, find out the source of the moisture and try to minimize it.

In all those storage location (in the box, in the filing cabinet, even the back of the closet) place a small silica packet. They can be found in dried goods and foods (clean those outside off… no stray food particles for the bugs to find) and even many board games recently. It will aid in controlling moisture in the immediate environment.

I live in a lovely, expensive home in Florida,on a barrier island, technically on swampland. Even in the driest times humidity can be too high, and things long stored out of sight can suffer. This I have found out the hard way.

Bowman, you are correct about the cause of mold colonization; mold spores are everywhere all the time and only need moisture, food sources (dead, organic material) and moisture to take off.
However, bleach is not your friend. Bleach does not eradicate mold spores/colonies, it only "bleaches out" the color, and whatever amount it does kill is still a health hazard. Dead spores are just as dangerous to inhale as live ones.
To properly treat mold, invest in an appropriate botanical disinfectant such as Benefect or equivalent. Industrial Hygienists are in agreement on this point.
Hope that helps, gbowan.