Mold Remediation in Chimayó, New Mexico

Chimayó sits northeast of Española along NM 76, the start of the High Road to Taos, in the Santa Cruz River valley below the Sangre de Cristos. It is best known for El Santuario de Chimayó, one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the United States, and for generations of weaving families and heirloom chile grown in the valley bottom.

It also has some of the oldest continuously occupied adobe in Northern New Mexico, and that is the whole story of mold work here.

Why Chimayó buildings get mold

Very old adobe, very thick walls

Adobe walls two or three feet thick hold an enormous amount of water once they get wet, and they release it slowly. That is a feature for temperature and a problem for moisture. A wall that takes on water through a cracked parapet or a failed roof edge can stay wet at the core for months while the surface looks fine. Interior plaster grows, paint bubbles, and the stain comes back through every coat you put on it.

Cement stucco and cement patches on historic walls

Well-meaning repairs over the last several decades put hard portland cement over walls built to breathe through mud and lime plaster. Water gets in through cracks and cannot get out. The National Park Service has warned about exactly this for years. The result on the ground here is wall base deterioration, salt bloom through the plaster, and interior growth on exterior walls.

Valley irrigation and the Santa Cruz River

Chile fields, orchards and acequias mean irrigated ground close to buildings through the whole growing season, plus spring runoff off the mountains.

Roofs added over older structures

Many older buildings here have had pitched metal roofs added over what were originally flat earthen or low-slope roofs. Where that transition was detailed well it works beautifully. Where it was not, water gets into the space between old roof and new roof and sits there, out of sight, for years.

Wood heat and winter closure

Wood stoves, closed houses, and humidifiers in a very dry winter add up to condensation on the coldest surfaces in a thick-walled building.

What is different about remediating here

Three things.

Drying time. A saturated adobe wall does not dry in three days. Depending on thickness and how much surface is open, it can take weeks. Any contractor who promises to have your historic adobe closed back up by the weekend has not done this work. Documented moisture readings against a dry reference are the only honest way to call it.

The finish that goes back. Sealing a damp adobe wall behind an impermeable coating restarts the problem immediately. A vapor-permeable plaster system is not a preference here, it is the technical requirement.

Restraint. On a historic building the goal is to remove what is contaminated and no more. Aggressive removal of original fabric is not remediation, it is damage.

What to check on a Chimayó property

• Wall bases inside and out for coving, softness and salt bloom.
• Parapets, roof edges and any place a newer roof was added over an older one.
• Canales and where discharge lands.
• Grading and irrigation against the walls.
• Interior plaster on exterior walls, especially north-facing rooms and behind furniture.

Getting somebody out there

Chimayó is roughly forty minutes from Santa Fe by way of US 84/285 and NM 76, and there is no travel charge. Free written estimate before anything starts. Neighboring coverage includes Española and Nambé. For the technical side, see containment and removal and moisture source repair.

Frequently asked questions