Last year (i.e., last month) I blogged about having a live Christmas tree for the first time in a long time. He was a rental, and his name was Milton.
Milton was in a pot. He smelled amazing and looked lovely. We gave him a few quarts of water every 2-3 days to keep him from drying out. If a little water seeped out, it was caught by a large, circular plastic tray under the pot.
We didn’t have to worry about Milton tipping over (too heavy!) or the cat playing in the water under the tree.
We didn’t have to mess with a stand. Milton was delivered to our living room and picked up from our living room. Easy-peasy, I thought.
Until I was on the floor, cleaning up pine needles after Milton’s departure.
I flipped back the rug.
There was MOLD. Nasty dark green mold in a few places on the rug, but mostly on the wood floor.
How could this be?!
Milton’s tray didn’t leak. I was always checking to make sure the floor and rug were dry.
I did some internet sleuthing and discovered that the lack of air circulation between the heavy pot, the plastic tray, the rug, and the floor most likely created a fantastic mold biome on our old hardwood floors. (This is one reason why couches and beds are built on legs—to allow ventilation and avoid mold. Also one of the reasons why Germans are notorious for throwing open their windows in the winter.)
I’m not sure why this didn’t happen with previous potted trees in the exact same spot. Maybe the trees were smaller. Maybe the humidity was higher this year (we had many foggy days in the second half of December). Maybe it’s because we had to remove the backing from our living room rug when we had it cleaned years ago. Maybe the seal on the wood flooring eroded over the last decade.
Probably it’s a bit of all those things.
We tried to remove the mold multiple recommended ways: cleaners, bleach, vinegar, a peroxide paste with baking soda and Dawn. The paste worked on the rug, but the mold had gotten into the grain of some of the wood (original flooring from 1954 that had been refinished several times). There was nothing for it but to sand.
Handy Andy got out his mask, his sander, his little shop vac, and went to work. After sanding, Andy used polyurethane to seal the wood. We turned up the heat to decrease the humidity and speed up drying time. Once the polyurethane had cured, Andy lightly roughed up the area with sandpaper again and applied another coat of polyurethane.
Three coats and three days later, the floor looked like this:
The hardest part was probably keeping the animals away while the polyurethane dried. Tankie, especially, was determined to huff polyurethane at every opportunity. He had to be outside or locked in a bedroom for several hours each day.
I check the floor and rug daily. It’s been almost a week, and no sign of the mold reappearing.
But I’m sure I’ll look again. Daily. Obsessively. For the next year.
I thought my frugal husband would use Milton and the mold as ammunition to not spend money on a Christmas tree next year. Instead, he’s merely planning a modified dolly for our next tree.
A raised platform for the tree (maybe that’s what Andy is planning, will work. Way back my cat Jake peed on boots that were drying on our hardwood floor. Left a funny blackish spot (mold?) and smell that I couldn’t remove, only lighten. The smell eventually went away after a thousand oxy treatments. Fortunately it was at a spot that wasn’t noticeable. It passed inspection when we sold the house.
We have a dolly for Dalton uses to take his tuba to school. I suspect it’s going to be pressed into service. Cat pee smell lasts FOREVER. I am very impressed you got rid of it.
Or used to it? 🙂
I can always smell it if I leave and return. Like skunk!
Oh, mold is the worst. But it sounds like you did everything right and hopefully Milton won’t be the gift that keeps on giving.
I found out from our neighbors that back in the 50s or 60s, some teen boys put a hose through the mail slot of this house and turned on the water. The floors were refinished, but I think maybe more susceptible to mold than some.
Now that’s a horrible prank.
Oh, that’s straight up vandalism and destruction of property.
I’m glad the mold hasn’t recurred. This also reminds me that we need to refinish the floors at our rental property. Ugh. I don’t want to be a landlord anymore.
Owning just one house is so much work. Owning two, ugh.
I’m supposed to know so much more now that I own a house! It’s frankly terrifying.
It is! Luckily, we live in the age of YouTube and home repair blogs.
Houses take so much care. It’s never-ending. It sounds like you and Andy did everything right to get your floor back in shape.
My little cut tree is still sitting on its little table. The village association will be collecting on Wednesday. I haven’t peeked under the pad to see if the table is still okay. Fingers crossed.
Your little tree was very cute. I had an orchid do bad things to a sideboard recently. Even though it was in a plastic pot inside what I thought was a non-porous pot and I only ever gave it a very small amount of water.
Thought you’d like to know that Handy Andy is South Africa’s most well used cleaning product: https://www.unilever.co.za/brands/home-care/handy-andy/
LOL, I chose wisely! I wonder if it works on mold…
It definitely works on a lot of things.
This sounds like the title of a very unpleasant Dr. Seuss book.
But don’t give up! I believe in you two.
You’ll get rid of that mold if it’s the last thing you do.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant:
A living Christmas tree is worth every cent.
That mold wasn’t big
It was really quite small
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.
But because they got mold, all the mold-holding floors
Would brag, “We’re the best kind of floors by the shores!”
A Seuss-off! he thought. Now this could be fun.
Trading quips about mold ’til the long day is done.
Perhaps if we’re lucky, we’ll dish about mud
And dirt and debris – and all kinds of crud!
Like cobwebs and spills and crumbs on the floor
To think that this started with one lonely spore!
I’d destroy you in battle, be it rap or a musical
Hand you your ass in prose or in Suessical
But I’m afraid, my dear boy, I’ve lost all desire
To fight when my whole fucking city’s on fire.
Gauntlets were thrown, our face-off was nigh
The stage was alls et for a Seussian drive-by
But then those damn Santa Anas kicked in
Good luck with the fires (but know that I’d win)
The Midwest talks a good game
But the game? It’s Bingo.
While Cali’s the house dealing poker
To a mere plastic flamingo.
I do not even know how I ended up here but I thought this post was great.
What a bummer! But well done, Andy!
Loving the Seuss-off with Mark! 🙂
Sorry to hear about Milton making his mark in a negative way, but delighted to hear that Andy is not put off the service and is already designing a way to prevent it next year.
Flamingo Man Mark is pretty hilarious.