Look into building a dry well into the floor. From the book, “How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar:”
“A dry well is an air-filled hole in the floor that can magically eliminate mold by lowering humidity.”
Did you read my posts? This is not my house, so construction is not an option.
Civility much? You asked for suggestions, I gave you one. Yes, I read your posts. The home owner might welcome a simple solution to his condensation and mold issue.
John, look for a mild, quat-based sanitizer in trigger-spray format at your local home improvement destination center, a few applications should help to curb the mold. Send me a PM if you can’t find one.
I explained my constraints and you ignored them. It’s like the comment above that a properly temperature and humidity-controlled space wouldn’t have these problems. Well, uh, duh!
Thanks. What’s “a quat-based sanitizer”? I’d been thinking I would spray something but wasn’t sure what.
Quaternary Ammonium:
Mild dilution very effective against mold/mildew.
This.
You are paying to improve the property of somebody else. You could give up a portion of your garage and spend less making it into a cellar and you don’t have to call anybody to see if you can go pick up your wine. Obviously, he’s not charging you for storage. That’s the only legitimate reason not to find, rent or build a proper storage unit. Looking at the picture, you need to remove everything from the cellar just to properly clean it in preparation for any attempt to eliminate the mold. The rocks are cute but you won’t beat them with paint nor a cement coating. Had a friend with a similar cellar at his house in Tahoe. The loss of wine was almost as high as the cost to correct the problem, (which he never did). Can’t say how/why but his Champagne took the biggest hit, followed by Chard then Pinot. Every bottle undrinkable and they were in the cellar for three years or less. (Champagne, one year).
PS We use polypropylene glycol in our humidors to control mold. I may work for you if you eliminate the existing mold and have a way to disperse it other than a humidifier like we use.
I am little slow, please forgive me. Perhaps you can direct me to the post where you define those constraints, specifically the one that states modification to the space or structure is not an option?
Thank you.
Another way to put it would be: a shithole remains a shithole even with a new coat of paint duh ![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
Here:
In addition to the fact that it’s not my place, it’s two-and-a-half hours outside NYC, in an area where it’s hard to find competent contractors. (Both this friend and another one with a weekend house have learned this the hard way.) So commissioning and monitoring construction is not practical.
It was mold-free for two years and I go up there regularly, so I’m looking for a way to restore this to the condition it was in six months ago-- damp but not moldy.
And I appreciate all the practical suggestions from people who understand the constraints.
A while back I had a mild problem in my Eurocave when I moved some magnums from passive storage to the Eurocave. It spread throughout the unit and infected the labels to probably 25-30 bottles. Some I just removed the labels and wrote in the bottle in a bottle marker, others I used white vinegar & water on. In the unit I used a mix of 1/5 white vinegar/water and cleaned out the unit. It helped, and I’ve had no problems since then. Below is the label that was the biggest hit…it’s a magnum. I hope the wine will still be good when I crack it in another 25+ years.
Ah yes, that one. The one where you state you won’t buy a Bugatti to solve your transportation woes. Obviously, then, any rational being with a modicum of sense would understand that a Honda Civic is out of the question and that you were clearly asking only how to make your public transit a more pleasant experience!
If you simply want to battle the mold, use trisodium phosphate solution, not bleach. TSP is odorless and won’t create any untoward effects. You could easily mist or wipe the bottles with TSP solution to kill the mold spores, let dry and then wrap each bottle with Saran wrap to protect the bottles and labels from future mold growth. You can use TSP solution on other items, like wood cases, but the mold will ultimately return.
John -
Not really sure if the space was mold-free for the prior 2 years. Maybe just not apparent until growth became significant.
Either way, Marc and Randy are right - you will never win a mold war in that space without major structural alterations. But if your goal is to keep it in check you can clean/spray/treat and try to lower humidity. It will be an ongoing battle. You will never git rid of all of the mold.
What I don’t understand is how Randy’s friend’s wine was ruined by mold. How does it get inside the bottle? I’ve seen bottles totally encrusted with mold in wineries in Bordeaux and Burgundy where the wine inside is fine.
As I said a page or so back, I’m happy to “reach a detente” with the mold, to borrow Richard Trimpi’s nice expression. Hence the purchase of the humidifier. And I’ll use some kind of spray, yet to be determined because of conflicting advice.
I’m going to go back up there this weekend. I’ll get rid of the wood palates I built that turned out to be little mold incubators. I’ll substitute some kind of plastic. I also ordered a bunch of plastic Weinboxes to use on the bottom of the stacks to I don’t have to deal with collapsing cardboard. Since they are like plastic milk cartons, I figured they would provide ventilation so I wouldn’t get the rapid colonization I got in recent months.
I’ll also check inside all the cases to make sure there are no nasty colonies there. I removed one wood case that was the worst offender ten days ago. I didn’t find any mold inside any of the cardboard boxes, so that’s good.
John – I use this plastic pallet in my basement to get boxes off the floor. It does a good job and the price is right.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Orbis-Pallet-MPN-40X48-CP-EXP-Made-in-U-S-A/44593277
How about in inexpensive home Ozone Generator?
Use Borax. I wrote TSP, but was thinking of Borax. I don’t think TSP is effective against mold, but Borax is very effective and no bad smell. Don’t use bleach. And if you just let the Borax solution dry, it will inhibit new growth.
Two random thoughts:
First, acetic acid, aka vinegar, is exceptional at killing most all fungi…including molds/mildews. So spraying white vinegar in the space is a good control option. You wouldn’t want the acetic acid (VA) to find it’s way into the bottles. It’s extremely unlikely that would happen…if it does tho, I’d rather a bit of VA get in there than a bit of a commercial mold spray (both options are extremely unlikely).
Second, mold/mildew requires oxygen. So you could: 1) get air tight containers to hold your bottles and 2) buy some oxygen absorber packets and put one in each box. Hey, it might prevent/slow down premox as well! Ox absorber packets are cheap, and are generally sold in quantities of 100 (vacuum sealed container). They are sold in different ‘sizes’, i.e. how much O2 each packet can absorb. Store the unused packet in a canning jar and use within 4-6 months of breaking the vacuum seal of the original container.
There you go…a bit outside the box, but both viable/reasonable options to consider.