During the time that a third of my barn roof was waiting because of my son's kidney stone issues, some water came inside along the wall and some of it apparently caused mildew (mold?). This, unfortunately, is in the corner where the kidding stall will be. Today, I went out to ready it for babies next month. I did spray those walls with bleach water but am wondering if I should also try to brush it off. Should I paint over it? Should I put up an interior wall over all of that section? Of course, because new babies are going to be there, I want to ensure that it is healthy for them.
I have also considered putting fiberglass insulation there and covering the interior wall with siding. I don't plan to insulate all of the interior but should that one corner's outside walls be insulated?
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Thank you, Deborah. I will brush and spray again and then paint. My gut kinda told me that would be best though it is more work but a lot less now than later after it's all in use. Thank you for mentioning the paper backing on the fiberglass insulation; I was not aware of that. What I would really like to use is hemp but that isn't available. Of course, were it practical, my barn would have been built with hemp. Maybe in another ten years or so, it will be readily available. At least we will soon be able to grow it in Washington. I had no idea what the foot dragging is all about; legalizing growing it would instantly add hundreds of thousands of jobs, grow our economy and be good for the environment - a win all the way around. Time we export it rather than import it all.
I'll check out fiberglass, maybe there is some without paper backing. Perhaps I can get some foam strips from our recycle store, our electronics store that accepts block foam. Would those styrofoam sheets sold in lumber stores (I think) work as well or better than fiberglass? I detest that neither is eco-friendly. I thought of newspapers but they would also mildew/mold and draw mice.
If you do insulate, use something that won't mold. The paper backing on fiberglass insulation is terrible about molding.
Funny you should ask this question because I've been reading a lot lately about mold due to my own health issues. Spraying bleach on it should have killed the mold. I would probably brush off as much as possible, spray it again, and then paint it after it dries.
I've been saying for years that I want to insulate the exterior walls in my kidding pens, and it hasn't happened yet. We got down to -20 this winter. I'd still love to do it, but I suppose it's more for me than the goats. However, I did notice that it was much harder to get kids nursing in a timely manner when it was so stinkin' cold. We actually put Vera and her quints in our barn office because they were born on one of those crazy cold nights. It sure was nice working to get those kids to nurse in a room that was only 50 degrees! :)