Mold abatement or paint?

[exploreparadise2]

Everything but the floor in this 1911 basement is spray-painted white. I'm not certain if it is a mold abatement treatment or a poor paint job. The spray on the pipes, ducts and wiring looks like flat paint, but the spray on the concrete and wood is thin and covers poorly. The mold abatement spray that I've seen in attics has a milky look.

The basement was dry and didn't have a musty odor, but we've had a stretch of dry weather. The concrete floor was recently painted, which could be to cover stains. I'll be advising to buyer to ask the seller, who has owned the house since 95, if the basement was treated or painted.

Does this look typical of mold abatement treatments to you?

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[Terence McCann]

Any signs of a past fire?

[Brandon Whitmore]

They typically do that after a house fire(primer such as Kilz). Fire restoration contractors will remove damaged wood, and then spray everything that stays in the attempt to seal in the smoke smell.

[exploreparadise2]

I didn't see signs of fire. All the wood components are original and weren't charred. It's possible that there was smoke damage from a fire in stored items though.

[hausdok]

Some of those old basements are covered with coal dust and spraying them kind of brightens things up. Any sign of an old coal bin?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[exploreparadise2]

Yep, there was a coal chute in the basement wall.

[kurt]

Yeah, I'm kinda curious which one it is too.

It looks very similar to the "mold abatement paint" that's used around here. If it was a crappy paint job, there's usually multiple signs of crappy painting like runs, drips, and uneveness.

This one looks remarkably thin and even.

I think your call of telling the customer to ask the seller what's going on is what I'd have done.

[RobC]

The word grow op comes to mind.

[Paul N Frey]

My guess would be that it was painted to cover the smell of an old fire. See it quite a bit here. Also, we had a crew of Ruskie "re-habbers" a few years back that did this - they literally came in and painted anything that didn't move white (furnaces, water heaters, panels, toilets, floors - I mean literally everything in the damn house!) I think that the paint was the only thing holding some of them up! You know that they have gone too far when they paint the sub floor and basement to hide the S.T. tubes - almost but no cigar! The owner of the com[pany was really pissed when I told the buyer that approximately 60% of the subfloor and 1 entire kitchen wall was infested (the little guys went all the way to the second floor). Funny thing is that they purchased the damn thing anyway and then turned around and sued the seller and contractor - go figure!!!