April 13, 2010

This. Is. Disgusting

When we bought our home we were very careful to wash all the walls before painting them. The place had been a rental and the walls were in rough shape. We scrubbed them with TSP and then primed and painted them and have been very happy with the results - what a coat of paint can do! Any time that Porter has a cough or a cold we put the humidifier in his room as that helps a lot in this climate of ours. Recently we have noticed that the humidifier seems to be pulling hidden gunk out of the ceiling - which we did not wash, prime or paint. It has now gotten to this point and I am seriously grossed out. Neil's best guess is that somebody smoked in the house and the crud in the cigarettes is now collecting on our ceiling. I have yet to get up there to clean it (it's on this week's to-do list I assure you!) but I'm guessing a little TSP and some elbow grease will do the trick (Cynthia - do you have any suggestions?) I'm just glad I'm not the one that has to lay in bed and look up at this mess... poor Porter Boy!

To fully appreciate the degree of this nastiness you really must click on these photos to view them in their full size glory.


4 comments:

  1. I feel your pain--our shower in our master bath gets moldy spots on the ceiling too. I hate it!! What is TSP and where do you get it? I have just been using bleach.

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  2. We had that problem in our place in Lethbridge....it was gross! It even dripped from the ceiling one night.

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  3. I've had that happen before and came to the same conclusion that you did. TSP, though toxic, is totally the way to go. Don't forget to wear gloves.

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  4. Michelle!
    Don't fret, Porter's ceiling is not moldy at all! That happens most often in Bathrooms that aren't well vented and quite steamy. It's caused by particulates in the air, and sometimes from "surfactants" (not harmful) in the paint. But basically it's just dust etc. from the air that get deposited on your ceiling by humidity. It's likely that the paint on the ceiling isn't a flat finish, and therefore slippery causing the humidity to form droplets rather than just sticking evenly. You generally don't even need TSP or much to get these marks off, just warm water and your favorite regular cleaning product, it should wipe right off. You can paint the ceiling with flat paint to help it from happening as often if you want. Don't worry, Porter is not being poisoned. Love you!

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Straight up now tell me...