Understanding Mold and Fungus

Mold (mildew or fungus) is an essential part of life on planet Earth. Mold plays almost the same role as the vulture plays in the natural recycling system.

Vultures eat dead animals before they become putrefied and cause wide spread disease buy contaminating the water supply. They also release the nutrients stored in the dead animal back into the ecosystem and creating new top soil.

Mold eats fibrous materials like wood, vegetation, and leaves releasing their nutrients back into the ecosystem while creating new top soil and reducing the danger of wild fires.

Mold growing on wood is generally a fact of life. It comes in various colors from black to light brown, white, yellow and other colors. It actually feeds on the softer fiber portion of the wood.

Some forms of mold have been used to make rather minor products like penicillin while others are used to make the odd bowl of mushroom soup or the black truffle on your steak. Still others are deadly poison. The expectation that we can eliminate mold (even the evil "Black Mold" of which there are many strains, very few of which are actually deadly) is simply not realistic. Even if we could eliminated mold, it would be an environmental disaster.

Mold requires two elements in order to survive and prosper. Food, and water. Darkness or shade and low levels of oxygen greatly increase its ability to prosper. It would seem that since most teak boat decks and teak furniture sit out in the bright sun for hours per day, mold would not be a problem but that is not the case. Mold is amazingly resilient. Besides, it is dark for about half the day and during those same hours the humidity goes up significantly and the temperature goes down providing the needed environment for growth.

Mold is nearly everywhere, spread far and wide by the fungi spewing millions of microscopic spores into the air. Even a slight breeze can carry spores for miles.

As Teak, Ipe, Ironwood, Cedar and Cyprus wood users (owners) we would prefer that mold of whatever color did its work on something else. TeakGuard's polymer resin finish can actually make it happen on a small scale. TeakGuard contains nothing that mold can live on, and provides an excellent shield for our beautiful wood for long periods of time without hiding the woods beauty.

The key is to remove the mold and mold spores from the surface of the wood before treating it with TeakGuard. There are several reasons for this.

1. Because TeakGuard breathes, water vapor can move thought the TeakGuard finish. This saves the finish from pealing but also feeds any mold that was left under the finish.
2. TeakGuard can not polymerize with the mold or the dark residue left by the mold. This causes adhesion failures between the wood and TeakGuard and causes the TeakGuard to come off..

The obvious solution is to clean off all the mold and mold spores and apply TeakGuard before new spores accumulate on the woods surface and take root. This implies that timing is everything. Cleaned teak should not be left for more than a few hours before coating with TeakGuard finish.

A while back, we had a good example of how important timing can be. A customer near NYC hired a guy to clean and finished about 20 pieces of teak furniture with TeakGuard. The guy called TeakGuard's help line and was instructed to put the first coat of TeakGuard finish on as soon as the piece dried after cleaning. Knowing more than the help line person, the guy waited (3 days) until all the furniture was cleaned before applying the first coat of TeakGuard because it was more convenient for him. Four months later all the horizontal surfaces had black spots under the finish. Needless to say, the furniture owner was not happy and wanted to know why this had happened. After questioning the contractor, the answer was clear. Ultimately, the TeakGuard was sanded off, the wood re cleaned and finished as instructed and the furniture continues to look great without mold growing under the finish.