mold on raw wood

[pyotr filipivich]

I have not had a lot of storage space, and what I have is not weather tight. I live in the North West, we have the warm rainy season, the cold rainy season, and the two weeks of sunshine.

So I have mold & mildew on boards. Some of which are Real Boards(tm) from a lumber yard with the smooth faces. Some are rough cut "exotic pallet wood" still with saw marks, and a few are from logs which got slabbed and set aside to finish 'curing'.

The raw slabs I figure will clean up enough as I prepare them, same for the palletwood. But the Real Boards are the concern, as I'm not likely to scrape or plaine them before they get used.

Suggestions for what works for removing mildew from boards? I suspect that I can't just "clean it off", expect to "get it all", and not have it grow back. Any finishes to prevent regrowth? Or at least seal it in?

[Markem618]

I have posted this before, Water and 2% milk at a 20 to 1 ratio is an effective in killing mold and mildew. Works well on plants (azaleas) should not cause any more than raised grain on the "Real Boards".

Mark

[krw]

Oxalic acid? I'll probably wash the color out of "exotics" but should work well on "real boards". Makes pine look like new.

[DerbyDad03]

Since I assume you'll be doing this outside, most of the prep and clean up work will not be needed. Dress warm.

[pyotr filipivich]

DerbyDad03 [e-mail] on Tue, 27 Apr 2021 13:44:16 -0700 (PDT) typed in rec.woodworking the following:

Yowza. I think that is more involved than I want to get involved.

I'm downsizing: easy "fixes" or the dump are the options.

[DerbyDad03]

You asked for "suggestions", not "suggestions that are easy to implement". ;-)

Besides, since you don't own the required apparatus anyway, you could limit your involvement to signing the check/swiping the card.

[Jack]

When I tore out my pool, it exposed 50 feet of wolmanized 2x12's that hadn't seen the sun in 25 years. The mildew was extensive. I got a bucket and brushed on pure bleach, and squirted it off with a hose. With almost no effort the boards looked better than brand new, and no damage at all to the wood. Bleach of course, particularly undiluted could do unwanted things I guess, but didn't in my case (Wolmanized lumber).

Try it on a small section first and see. It is about as easy and cheap as it gets.

Always wear good eye protection when using bleach. My wife damn near went blind once when she splashed some in her eye.

[pyotr filipivich]

That I did.

Hmmmm, and as I have my own card not linked to the joint account, SWMBO won't know. Maybe ... wives is tricksy like hobbetses. B-)

[pyotr filipivich]

Excellent. I've become a lot less cavalier about such things over the years.