yellow orange stains or mold on basement walls??

I have these yellow orange stains on my basement wall. Is it mold, water stains, rust...??? Can anyone tell me what it is???

We live in Iowa and last year our 2 of our basement walls started to crack and bow. We are going to have i-beams put in to stabablize the walls. We dont have any water problems in our basement the bows are due to last years flood saturating the ground and putting hydraulic pressure on the walls which I found out is a very common problem in my area.

I am really hoping I dont have a mold problem and have to have added expense of removing it and we really didnt want to have to waterproof the basement.

We run a dehumidifer in our basement and do have a musty smell. I am really worried this is mold. Please tell me it is not!!!

 

Looks like effervescet. If you still have a musty smell you need a bigger dehumidifier.

 

What is effervescet? And how do you keep it gone. I was planning on stripping the paint and repainting it but how do I keep it from coming back?

 

I think he meant to say efflorescence..caused by moisture from the outside migrating through the block.

 

So is it a mold? or is it a danger like mold? Should I be worried or can it just stay there??

 

Wiki has a pretty detailed explanation.

You may not want to water proof the basement, but that may be your only real option to eliminate it. Make sure your exterior is graded correctly so water runs away from the house and that all downspouts extend out far enough...6ft minimum I believe.

It could be that the reddish orange color is caused by water picking up minerals from the soil or some sort of reaction to the paint.

Oh, and I doubt its mold..but you could put a little bleach on it to see what happens.

 

I did try to clean it with bleach but it didnt do anything. Is it a health risk?

 

Nope...just kinda ugly....but if its not a living area...who cares.

You could try something like CLR or similar to see if it bleaches it out, that would prob tell you if its rust.

 

Thank you all so much I am soo glad it is not mold.

 

efflorescence yep that's what I was trying to say. A bigger dehumidifier should dry out the mold that you have.

 

Airman..don't scare 'em...I doubt thats mold..don't ya think? I know it can come in different flavors and colors...but since bleach had no effect, I would think it's more a mineral thing.

 

The wall is not mold but shelby said she had a musty smell. The musty smell is from the mold so it is there some where.

 

I will buy a bigger dehumidifier or maybe just another one and have one on each side of the basement

Thanks!