White bloom on my furniture and floorboards

[michael]

Dose anybody know what might be the cause of and a remedy for, a white dusty type fungal bloom which is appearing on the lower sections of my furniture close to floor level and also on adjacent floorboards. The best way I can describe it is like a fine cigarette ash that has been blown onto the furniture but it is most certainly some type of fungal growth that just sits on the surface and is easily wiped away with a damp cloth.

I live in a large and airy 19th century property situated on the south coast which has predominantly bare sealed and waxed floor boards. I’ve resisted turning the central heating on to date and have relied on huddling around our small wood burner in the evenings so the property is a bit cool at the moment but certainly not cold.

 

[Lime]

I used to see this a lot years ago.
I would suggest it is probably caused by the use of spray waxes, such as Pledge - Mr Sheen etc, as they support a fungus in even slightly damp conditions.
Ordinary wax does not usually give the same problem.

 

[michael]

Thanks for your suggestion Lime. I’ll keep an eye on this and see if that’s the cause. Whilst we do use the spray type polishes you mention, my wife assures me that she has never used it in the areas where the fungus has shown itself i.e. on the feet or corners of furniture where it meets the floor. The sprays are generally used on the large flat dust gathering surfaces of the furniture and these surfaces are not affected. Likewise we have a glass display cabinet which never receives the spray polish treatment, just dusted over with a dry duster and yet the six spindle type legs of this cabinet, close to the floor, have been affected.

 

[Lime]

I don't use the spray polishes at all because of this problem.
The mould you have must be growing on something, it rarely grows directly on polished wood unless the wax (or something on the surface) supports growth.
You could try a good quality wax on the lower part of a table and compare over time.

 

[MdB]

I don't know if the following is helpful at all but there was a lot of white mould in the caravan I'm in the process of demolishing. I am sure the cause was down to rain coming in through a hole in the roof and not much ventilation internally.

Most mould was inside cupboards and other closed areas where the air flow would have been restricted more than in the main part of the caravan. The worst areas was unpainted unvarnished wood but there was also some on varnished and painted surfaces.

Here's a picture of the fold away bed which shows some of the mould though other areas were a lot worse:

 

[JMartin]

We had mould like that on the untreated wooden doors when we moved into our house. It had been left empty for four years.

We believe it was down to the temperature and lack of ventilation. Floor wood was fine (well there was wet rot but that's a different matter) as there is plenty of ventilation under the floor.

We wiped the surfaces and cranked up the heating and haven't had it off all year...things are just starting to dry out now just over a year after we moved in.

If your house was empty before you moved into it, there may be some merit in sticking the heating on for a while to try and dry things out.