Black mold on my Boler's encilite interior

[Steve Iles]

Hi, I have a 1974 Boler (with the Eco label, Nebraska) From what I've read it has the textured encilite interior on the inside walls. From what I've learned Ray Olrecho had an encilite manufacturer make a half-thickness version of the product to use as an insulated wall covering for his trailers. Okay, whatever? The darn stuff gets sticky with age like vinyl wall paper. Mine is so sticky it attracts small bugs, gnats and noseeums like fly paper. It also grows plenty of black mold here on the humid Oregon coast. I scrub it down with a very stiff bristle brush and spray bleach foam. It works great and cleans it up real nice. But the black mold grows back within months. Short of gutting the trailer, popping all the rivets, removing cupboards, closet and storage bins then peeling off allthe old sticky encilite and finding something else to replace it.....has anyone got any other suggestions or remedies? Has anybody else experienced a similar problem with it black-molding? At the very least has anyone else had the sticky, fly-paper like problem with the old plasticized surface of their Boler's interior wall covering? It's great for eliminating the bothersome little bugs but I'm at my wits end and tired of the tedious job of bleach-scrubbing the entire interior only to have the black mold grow back in short order. HELP!

[Darwin Maring]

I use this to keep mold from growing.

https://www.amazon.com/KANBERRA-GEL-.../dp/B008JHX846

[David Tilston]

My Ensolite has never been sticky. I have had six Trilliums. Maybe try painting it with a vinyl based paint.

[John in Michigan]

Our Boler 13 ensolite was initially somewhat sticky. TSP seemed to remove the stickiness.

[David Tilston]

Interesting. Please speculate for me. Is this possibly related to humidity? Do other vinyl products get sticky as well? Are vinyl sided houses also prone to stickiness?

[John in Michigan]

The "theory" is that vinyl products contain plasticizers to provide to flexible quality. More flexible vinyls contain more plasticizers. The plasticizer can migrate to the surface, resulting in a sticky residue.

If you google this problem, you'll find that it may be possible to wash off the plasticizer, such as here:

https://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-...ue-from-vinyl/

[Mike_L]

Interesting situation. I have seen plastics "sweat" plasticizer and get sticky as they decompose, often after exposure to things like bleach, solvents, cleaners etc.
As to the mold growth, this may or may not be a separate matter. Mold, a fungus, needs three things to grow; (1) spores to initiate growth, always present in any non sterile environment, (2) a food source like dust, dirt, bugs etc. again always present in any non sterile environment and (3) moisture.
You can scrub a porous surface as much as you want. You will remove some of the growth but even if you get it all, there will be spores left. You can use something to kill spores (ie bleach) but you have to get them all and even if you do, more will drift in even before the item is dry. Residual products may work temporarily but often have additional considerations.
A mold problem is always a moisture problem, no moisture, no mold. Find and eliminate the moisture to eliminate the mold.
I have seen black mold growth in buildings that was slimy and somewhat sticky.
A porous substance in which repeated mold growth has occurred should be discarded for health reasons.

[floyd]

Most "black mold" is just ordinary mold which happens to be black and pretty much innocuous.
Zinsser makes a great paint called "Perma White" which sticks to anything without primer with a 15 year film strength and a 5 year mold free warranty.
It is cheap and can be tinted to any light pastel.

[ordjen]

It is easy to kill mold, but the problem is that the spores are always in the air waiting for the right humid conditions to return.
You might try treating the Ensolite with a product call Concrobium, which is sold at Home Depot. It is clear, harmless and tasteless, but leaves a fine residue on the fabric which prevents the mildew from returning. It is actually a type of salt dissolved in the liquid. The salt acts like a desiccant that kills the mold by drying it out.

[Darwin Maring]

Originally Posted by Darwin Maring

I use this to keep mold from growing.

https://www.amazon.com/KANBERRA-GEL-.../dp/B008JHX846

This stuff kills the spores that are floating around in the air. This stuff floates around in the air also.

[Mike_L]

Adding additional contaminants to the air to address those already present usually results in air that is even more contaminated.
I would also wonder what effect an airborne chemical of sufficient concentration to kill mold spores has on the respiratory and other body systems.
The most effective way to improve air quality is to remove the contaminants present, not add more.

[Glenn Baglo]

Read the Kanberra ad. I think they are selling bafflegab. Big selling points are that you can put it in an old jam jar and that the product container stands up on its own.

[Joe MacDonald]

When I first got my trillium, the Ensolite was sticky, I think it was a combination of old cooking residues, and some cigarette smoke.
I spent a couple days cleaning it well with Butcher's speedball cleaner, followed by lots of rinsing, the stickiness went away and never came back.
For mold- I always ensure there is air flow through the camper, ie a window and the roof vent. very rarely I need to do a touch up with speedball clener

Joe

[Darwin Maring]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Read the Kanberra ad. I think they are selling bafflegab. Big selling points are that you can put it in an old jam jar and that the product container stands up on its own.

Glenn, After your post I asked that company and here is their reply.
I habe been using it and based on their reply, I will not order any more. Thank you for your research.
==========
Their answer is first and my question at the bottom.
--------------------
Several years ago yes, but EPA restrictions required us to remove that verbiage.

-----Original Message-----
From: Darwin Maring <darwin_maring@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2022 4:19 PM
To: Susan O'Shei <SusanO@Kanberragel.com>
Subject: Re: Mold

Ues I am talking about the Kanberra Gell. Did it once state it killed mold?

[Marty Smiltneek]

I finally killed the mold problem in my boler by restoring the trailer completely. I discovered the mold "lived" between the closet flange and the ensolite. My standard practice of scrubbing the ensolite every other year had been stopping the mold to a dormant stage. I "cured" the problem by stripping every thing that was installed in the trailer with the exception of the ensolite, I used Soft scrub tub and shower cleaner with a scrub brush and a new weed sprayer full of warm water as a rinse. I then used a toothbrush and scrubbed with soft scrub in all the ensolite seams rinsing again. Next I re-glued any loose ensolite with contact cement. I sealed the ensolite with a good commercial sealer (I used Zinsser), filled all the seams with caulk and finish painted with a water based white bathroom paint that would tolerate a shower. A total rebuild of everything else. We were at the 50th with the camper and have not stopped enjoying our little boler (or stopped changing) since!

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by Marty Smiltneek

I finally killed the mold problem in my boler by restoring the trailer completely. I discovered the mold "lived" between the closet flange and the ensolite. My standard practice of scrubbing the ensolite every other year had been stopping the mold to a dormant stage. I "cured" the problem by stripping every thing that was installed in the trailer with the exception of the ensolite, I used Soft scrub tub and shower cleaner with a scrub brush and a new weed sprayer full of warm water as a rinse. I then used a toothbrush and scrubbed with soft scrub in all the ensolite seams rinsing again. Next I re-glued any loose ensolite with contact cement. I sealed the ensolite with a good commercial sealer (I used Zinsser), filled all the seams with caulk and finish painted with a water based white bathroom paint that would tolerate a shower. A total rebuild of everything else. We were at the 50th with the camper and have not stopped enjoying our little boler (or stopped changing) since!

How long since you did this please?

[Marty Smiltneek]

The fix I used to rid myself of mold was in February thru early August 2018. In addition to the interior mold mitigation I filled all the cracks with a good caulk, painted the interior then replaced all the fiberglass cabinets. I then finished the exterior with two stage paint for the bottom half to match my F150 and used a single stage paint to finish to top in Wimbledon white auto paint and to keep the interior heat down. I did the total refit as I discovered a crack in the original frame. I tend to get into some extremely rough countryside so I over-built my frame using custom made 3" x 6" 3/16" thick tapered side frame rails tied together with 6" x 6" x 3/16" torsional frame elements separated by the camper footwell (front and rear ). The rest of the cross ties are 4" x 4" x 3/16"
I have a ton of photos but posting photos are a PITA. I do have a few on flicker if you want to look. I tend to abuse the old girl a bit in the spring of 2020 I towed down a gravel road for over 40 miles and now have a speckled paint job. Next I will sell my 4 year old torsional axle, all 3) 13" ET mags and tires and replace that with a new 15" torsional axle good for 3000 pounds with electric brakes. Adding (an additional 2" of lift) and a bit of capacity. My body shop was sold so I will have to find a new place for a refinish after I buy a new F150. I will attempt to add photos today.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/martys_pictures/

[FJ40Jim]

Like Marty above, we would clean the sticky ensolite using spray Fantastic w/bleach, scrub with bristle brush, dry with clean towel, rinse with clean water, dry again. It worked for a year, then sticky would start coming back, followed by bugs & mold stuck to walls.

The ultimate fix was a thorough cleaning, caulking seams, a coat of Kilz stain blocking primer, then a coat of semi-gloss alkyd paint.

After 2 years, there was no sticky residue and no mold. I fully expected the sticky that emerged from the vinyl surface would just push off the paint, but it did not.

HTH

[kip22]

I had a mold problem in my boler. I live on Vancouver island so plenty of humidity here and I park it outside. Here is what you need to do.



Clean the ensolite and any other obvious spots with bleach. Remove all fabric dishes etc and then buy the concrobium from the depot and rent the fog machine from the tool rental dept and fog the crap out of the boler. It will get the concrobium into everything.


Paint the ensolite AFTER the fogging with the above recommended zissner paint its good stuff.


Now when you are storing your boler I'd guess you have all the windows and doors closed shut? This is actually a bad idea. I keep mine tarped in the winter but loosely and all the windows are open. The reason for this is humidity is not actually the issue. Condensation is the issue. As the humidity and temps go up and down you want the inside of the boler doing the same. If you go from a week or so of high humidity then it drops along with a temps drop the humid air in the boler won't have time to exchange out and you get condensation. I usually do a few camp trips over the winter and make sure to run my furnace and dry it out really well.


This doesn't completely solve condensation but its goes a long way. No more mold in my boler anyways.



The only other options for outside storage would be air drying of some kind like those bag things or powering a dehumidifier. HTH

[DannyHardin]

I had a similar problem with mold in my old RV, and man, trying to keep it at bay was a nightmare.
I tried all sorts of DIY remedies, like scrubbing it down with bleach foam, just like you're doing. And sure, it worked for a while, but like clockwork, that pesky black mold would rear its ugly head again in no time.