Cold Room Nightmare

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I will make this as short as I can.

My wife and I moved into our house four years ago. There is a cold room situated underneath the front porch. It was completely drywalled, insulated, and had some old kitchen cabinets inside it.

About a year after we moved in, I noticed some water on the bare concrete floor of that room. I decided to investigate, and what I found floored me.

There was mould everywhere. The studs that were used had COMPLETELY disintegrated. I have NO idea how that cabinet was still hanging.

So I took it all out. I cleaned up as much as I could, and to be honest, I put it to the back of my mind. There were a few items in there being stored.

Then my little 1 year old *husky started to develop allergy/ respiratory related problems. We have been trying to get her health normal for quite a while, and then I read that mould can be an irritant for these very symptoms that she is showing.
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I decided to peek into my cold room, and was floored AGAIN! There is mould all over the items in there (mostly garbage that I was too lazy to get rid of). The one part of the wall is flaking cement. It appears that water is flowing off of the porch, and into the crack between the wall and the porch slab. It is a HUGE mess, and something that I need to deal with right away. I am even debating pulling out parts of the panelling/insulation in the basement just to make sure there is no mould in there.
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My question is, what is the BEST way to deal with this cold room?
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We really don't use it. I know I will have to patch up where the water is coming in, and probably open up the vents that the previous owner covered in.
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Can I somehow close off that room entirely? Is there actually a way to close it off without getting the mould and moisture effects inside the finished part of the basement?
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Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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(boy, I sure didn't make this as short as I had hoped, Sorry!)
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I'm not any type of expert in this area but would think opening the vents would be the number one thing to help remove the moisture. I would a door with good weatherstripping along with venting the moisture out of the room would keep the interior air clean.

 

I had the very same issues (not sick kids though) with my previous house. Our cold storage was under the front steps (as yours) and looked like it might have been an addition to the original basement (which is also poured concrete).

Disclaimer: I am not a house inspector, nor do I work in construction of any type for a living.

First things first, open that vent(s). You need moving air.
Clean everything out and down to the concrete. Wash every square inch down. Concrete can and will sweat, so that could be part of the problem with no air moving.
If the concrete is flaking, check with a local shop as to what you can use to refinish and seal it (possibly garage floor sealer).

Now outside... it sounds like you know exactly where the water is coming in. You'll need to address two things here. First one is how keep the water away from that area and the second is how to seal that area.
With my situation, the concrete or sealant was degraded and because the landing was fairly flat, the water was able to travel back towards the house and down in between the house and the cold storage.
I sealed off the area between the house and the cold storage (don't remember the products) and then finished the top of the landing with a finishing concrete. There was an ever so slight grade away from the house and for extra assurance, I added a slight grove using a piece of quarter-round. The grove is my last defense against the water and channels anything that might go there off the sides. The slight grade was maybe a degree or two, just enough to convince the water to travel away from the house, but not enough to make it slippery during the winter months.
I would also suggest looking at your eaves and make sure it's not letting all the rain water from the roof fall onto the area with the troubles.

Once you have solved the ventilation issues, and preventing the water from coming in, I would suggest looking at your insulation between the warm house and the cold storage room.
A door with a decent R value and some weather stripping around it will help keep the cold out of the house, and the warm in.
There are paints available that are designed to prevent mold, so I would suggest looking into that for painting the concrete walls.


The above info is pretty much what I did. Unfortunately I do not remember all the products that I had used, but in my case, it worked and I was mold free for the few years until I sold the house.
Hopefully what I did will help you with your issues.

 

I experienced a similar situation where water was leaking through the roof down the side of our log home right into our concrete block laundry room. Left unattended, the mold grew even though I mopped up. Initially, what needed to be done was the leak needed to be stopped. A new roof was already scheduled in the works, so I didn't sweat it too much. After the new roof went on, we still had a problem with water seeping in and/or blowing in during heavy rains or with snow melting because it was coming in via a window well. Basically, we had to install new window wells & covers to eliminate this problem, so what you need to do is...to eliminate the access route to the incoming water.
Without a picture or description I can't tell to which end of the porch you're referring to so I'd suggest the following. Does your porch roof have a rain gutter? If not and the water is coming off the front end portion of your porch, you may need to install one with a down spout that entends away from the house. If the water is flowing down from where the porch meets the house, you may need plug up that section.
Meanwhile, I'd suggest using a bleach solution (1 part bleach/3 parts water) to clean the mold off then placing a portable heater in this area (away from water seepage) to help keep the moisture/mold level down.
Good Luck

 

I wouldn't use Bleach. Another product designed for mold yes, but not bleach. It can cause more health problems then it'll solve when working in a confined area such as a cold storage.
There are commercial and home made products that can do the job, with less of a health impact.

 

I wasn't referring to a full strength bleach but a solution of bleach (about a half cup) mixed with a gallon of water. I've used this several times in life without any after effects. Sorry, I meant to meant to mention that.

 

Not a problem. Just making sure the OP or anyone else would not misunderstand and go nuts with full strength bleach in a confined space.

 

Bleach does not kill mold. Get a fungicide from the local home store. Using bleach in that space is going to knock you on your butt.

Get someone in there to test for mold. You will know for sure if the levels in your home are high enough to cause problems for your child. Don't guess.