Hey everyone. I thought I would share the information I found after much research on combating black mold once you have it and how to prevent it. If your growing hydro the issue isn't IF you get black mold rather then when. In most hydro systems leaks can occur because of many many different reasons. Here I will show you what you need to do once you have the mold and also prevention.
Lets begin with the things we will need. First off the chemicals needed
1. TSP cleaner
2. Bleach
3. Moldex
4. Water
Other items you will needs are as follows
1. paper towels ( many many many rolls)
2. garbage bags
3. nitrile gloves
4. (2) 5 gallon buckets
5. respirator
6. measuring cup
7. 1 gallon sprayer
8. scrub brush
9. (2) towels
And last but not least Kiltz Paint
Now before we start a few things first. Black Mold is dangerous shit. It can infect your lungs if breathed in and will at some point send you to the ER. If ingested thats a whole different matter with the same result. Sending you to the ER. FIRST THING you do if you suspect you have black mold.........seal the room. You DO NOT want it finding it's way to the rest of your house.
Second thing.......When you enter the room wear a respirator and nitrile gloves. Also, before you leave the room take your shoes off. You don't want to track it through the house.
Third and last. DO NOT touch the mold or sweep it at all. If somehow it gets restled at all it can release spores and now you have a even bigger problem.
A short story on how I ended up with black mold. I use a flo n gro system. The flood and drain is controlled by a controller buck. My controller took a crap on me and flooded my grow space. At first I just thought it was a fluke, rest the controller and tested it. Everything worked fine........for two days then it flooded again. I tried to vaccum up all the water but apparently it found it's way under my tent. I had no choice to leave it as I still had another month of growing left.
This is what I found when I pulled up the carpeting.
And that was just the begining. After I saw that I know what I needed to do. Pull the carpet. Now if you have to pull carpet and matting and toss it out toss it out the window if at all possible. I put the matting in large garbage bags and tossed those and the carpet out the window. I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing. After pulling everything this is what I found.
Now, you need to grab a 5 gallon buck. Read the directions on the TSP box and mix accordingly. Use HOT water when mixing this up. Now get your respirator on, grab the scrub brush and get to scrubbin!!!. You will dip the brush into the 5 gallon buckets solution and as you scrub you will see that everything turns to a very dark brown/greenish sludge. Use the paper towels you have and wipe up the sludge and throw it into your garbage bag. Hit the area again and wiper up. Second time should come up a little cleaner looking. Repeat the process everythere you have to. Here you can see what I have done
You have to let everything dry for 24 hours. The most damaged areas will still have some darkish areas but this it what you'll end up with.
Now that the mold has been beaten down a bit now it's time to kick the shit out of it. Moldex kills any mold and mildew and also seals it. It kills the roots of mold that you just can't scrub out. So, get your sprayer out and fill it with the moldex. Remember to still wear your respirator.
Here is what it will look like once it's complete. Also, let this dry for 24 hours.
After this dries you no longer need the respirator. Now it's time to paint the sub floor with the Kilz! The finished product
After this dries if you have a Ion generator to clean the air floating in the room it would be a good time to use it and filter any particles in the air.
Well. This wraps it all up. If you have any questions please feel free to either ask me here or PM me.
Lets begin with the things we will need. First off the chemicals needed
1. TSP cleaner
2. Bleach
3. Moldex
4. Water
Other items you will needs are as follows
1. paper towels ( many many many rolls)
2. garbage bags
3. nitrile gloves
4. (2) 5 gallon buckets
5. respirator
6. measuring cup
7. 1 gallon sprayer
8. scrub brush
9. (2) towels
And last but not least Kiltz Paint
Now before we start a few things first. Black Mold is dangerous shit. It can infect your lungs if breathed in and will at some point send you to the ER. If ingested thats a whole different matter with the same result. Sending you to the ER. FIRST THING you do if you suspect you have black mold.........seal the room. You DO NOT want it finding it's way to the rest of your house.
Second thing.......When you enter the room wear a respirator and nitrile gloves. Also, before you leave the room take your shoes off. You don't want to track it through the house.
Third and last. DO NOT touch the mold or sweep it at all. If somehow it gets restled at all it can release spores and now you have a even bigger problem.
A short story on how I ended up with black mold. I use a flo n gro system. The flood and drain is controlled by a controller buck. My controller took a crap on me and flooded my grow space. At first I just thought it was a fluke, rest the controller and tested it. Everything worked fine........for two days then it flooded again. I tried to vaccum up all the water but apparently it found it's way under my tent. I had no choice to leave it as I still had another month of growing left.
This is what I found when I pulled up the carpeting.
And that was just the begining. After I saw that I know what I needed to do. Pull the carpet. Now if you have to pull carpet and matting and toss it out toss it out the window if at all possible. I put the matting in large garbage bags and tossed those and the carpet out the window. I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing. After pulling everything this is what I found.
Now, you need to grab a 5 gallon buck. Read the directions on the TSP box and mix accordingly. Use HOT water when mixing this up. Now get your respirator on, grab the scrub brush and get to scrubbin!!!. You will dip the brush into the 5 gallon buckets solution and as you scrub you will see that everything turns to a very dark brown/greenish sludge. Use the paper towels you have and wipe up the sludge and throw it into your garbage bag. Hit the area again and wiper up. Second time should come up a little cleaner looking. Repeat the process everythere you have to. Here you can see what I have done
You have to let everything dry for 24 hours. The most damaged areas will still have some darkish areas but this it what you'll end up with.
Now that the mold has been beaten down a bit now it's time to kick the shit out of it. Moldex kills any mold and mildew and also seals it. It kills the roots of mold that you just can't scrub out. So, get your sprayer out and fill it with the moldex. Remember to still wear your respirator.
Here is what it will look like once it's complete. Also, let this dry for 24 hours.
After this dries you no longer need the respirator. Now it's time to paint the sub floor with the Kilz! The finished product
After this dries if you have a Ion generator to clean the air floating in the room it would be a good time to use it and filter any particles in the air.
Well. This wraps it all up. If you have any questions please feel free to either ask me here or PM me.
