Hi! I just bought a condo. As I was preparing to paint the 2nd bedroom, I noticed the plaster around the window frame wasn't very smooth-looked like someone just did a quick plaster job and then painted. So, I decided to sand it down and make it smooth. As I was doing that, the plaster started to crumble off very easily. It was suggested to me to remove the old plaster and start fresh. So, I began chipping away at the plaster. When I did, it was revealed that the entire window frame had mold living inside it. Every piece of drywall that I chipped out, had lots of black mold! In fact the whole room smells musty and mildewy now. Anyway, my question is how can I fix this, or is this something best left to a professional. I've demo'ed most of the window frame. My best guess as to what happened is that that window was leaking pretty badly, so the previous owners replaced all of the windows and did a quick "patch" job to the 2nd bedrm. window frame, painted it and sold it to the people I bought it from. So, I don't think it's leaking anymore, although it hasn't rained since I bought the place. Thanks for any advice!

 

Mold means moisture, either from a leak in the window framing or from poor vapor barrier installing/design.

Can you report what vapor barrior the house uses? Tyvex house wrap or wall fiberglass backed vapor barrier, etc? Do you see signs of water infiltration? Poor caulking, etc?

Personally, I would just repair the wall and go on with my life. But you may want to better understand your entire house and may have to tear out some other areas to get a better picture.

Bottom line is to correctly install the vapor barrier when building the house. It could be expensive to repair completely.

 

I don't know much about the building itself. I bought a condo and I'm a first-time home buyer. There are no signs of leaking, that's why I was so surprised to find the mold. The windows look to be brand new. Again, a reason for my speculation that the old windows were leaking and because of that the new ones were put in. My question is really how to repair the window frame now. I was thinking about hiring a professional but the cost-Yikes! I've never worked with drywall or plaster of anything like that. It's really just the frame of the window. The wood was dry and I sprayed bleach on the wood and around the area. If there's a good website on how to repair something like this, that would be helpful as well. Thanks again!