Impact of paint and wall-paper on mould growth on plasterboards and aluminum

Biocide-free and biocide-treated plasterboards as well as aluminum plate as a reference material normally considered as being insensitive to mould growth have been used as substrate to check the influence of different common wall coverings, i.e. paints and wall papers, on fungal growth. The results described in this paper show that any non-biodegradable material (such as aluminum) can become a substrate to fungal infestation once painted or wall paper applied, depending on the type of paint or wall paper used. Moreover, a biodegradable material treated with a biocide (biocide-treated plasterboard) offers partial resistance to fungal growth at a biodegradable surface covering. The main conclusion of this study is that composition of the surface covering applied on building materials is as important as the substrate itself when considering the bioreceptivity of this material to potential fungal infestation. Accordingly, any discussion on the ability of a given building material to resist or not to fungal infestation must refer to the exact composition of the surface covering (paint, varnish, wall paper, etc). This has not often been the case in many of the previous studies published on the topic.