Green mould on new skirting boards

katymayo

Hi
Looking for advice I have recently redecorated my living room took the old wood skirting off and replaced with MDF skirting boards, they have been on a few months now and have started going mouldy on the fronts & along the tops but only on the internal walls not the external. I bought them ready primed & painted them gloss myself. The originals never had any mould or signs of on them. So I've pulled one length off and there are patches of green / yellow mould all along it. Can anyone advise as what I should do? Have I got damp all of a sudden? Is it because they were MDF? Would it be better putting real wood skirting back on?

stueyhants

Has anything else been changed in the room like floor level or material ?

katymayo

Nothing else has been changed in the room. The other skirting that I took off was pine & showed no signs of mould or damp....house was built in the 50's so original skirting. Could it be a dodgey batch of MDF? Messaged the company & they said not

twopenny

Seems you aren't alone. Here's a previous MSE one

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5957543/green-mould-on-new-mdf-skirting

If you google - green mould on mdf - there are quite a few previous on this. You should be able to pick an answer that applies to you.

Good luck

Jeepers_Creepers

I haven't come across this myself, but if there's a common theme between replies on that other linked thread, it would seem that MDF is more porous and absorbent to moisture than timber - which it certainly is - and that this could be drawing any moisture/damp from the walls (which the timber effectively disguised) and giving mould a nice damp surface on which to grow. 

It might even be that mould finds some of the content of MDF quite tasty to live on?

If it were one localised spot, I'd be wondering if a nail had been driven through a pipe when fitting the skirting! This is still a possibility - any small leaks could easily travel along most of a wall length causing more extensive effects - but from your description it does sound like a more even and general mould across whole lengths?

I suspect you simply have a small amount of rising damp that has always been there but has only been highlighted by the MDF. But that is a complete guess.