Thread: Mold (or something else?) in Maine Crawlspace

Hello - New to the forum and appreciate any insights. I have a house in southern Maine that used to have a very damp crawl space. About three years ago it was professionally sealed and water has been diverted away from the property. I have a commercial dehumidifier and humidity readings range from upper 40s to 60s. All that is good. However, I have noticed on some of the joists a black powdery substance that will sometimes turn a soft yellow. It is very easy to wipe of. Additionally, it is just on some joists and never really seen on the subfloor. I had a mold remediator take a look at it and he said it didn't seem like much of an issue and recommended just cleaning it off with soap/vinegar which I have starting doing. However, I thought it might be wise to get a second opinion. There is evidence of wide spread rot from years past, but the damaged boards were sistered several years before I purchased the property. Even though all is dry now, my concern is that any past mold, ect. is still lurking and that's what I'm seeing now. I've attached a photo and can supply some additions it that would be helpful. Thank you very much.

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Cooper, the photo(s) are not showing, which indicates that they are likely too large in size height/width and/or too large in kb memory.

Click on the "?" at the top of the upload file pop-up and that will display the size limits. For .jpg files, the height/width is maximum 1200x1200 and maximum 292 kb, if I recall correctly.

Ahh yes, I see what you mean. I tried re-attaching. Let's see if that works... Thanks!

I was waiting for other replies - it seems to mainly be associated with the knots.

I'm not sure what that is, I don't recall having seen it before.

Yes, it definitely has an association with the knots and also somewhat follows the grain of the wood. That plus the fact that it is only on some of the boards led me to think that is was something that came on the wood. However, I don't want to be too careful. Plus, as you can see in the first photo, in some places amoungst the black 'dust,' there are white-ish/yellow-ish clusters. I can take more photos/close-ups if that would be helpful. Thanks very much for any pointers.

The yellowish white powdery places, if there is a 'hole' in the wood in the white, that may be an indication of some type of beetle.

A pest control person would need to look at the powder, the holes (size), etc, to determine what type of beetle it might be.

Is there powder on the ground below the holes?

It's been over 25 years since I was my Certified Pest Control Operator certificatification and license, so I'm not as good at identifying them as I was 'back then' (but even then, I would have needed a much better photo of the hole and the powder).

I recommend you have a certified and licensed pest control operator look at those holes.