Moldy drywall spackle

[Tyler Holm]

I bought some spackle about 5 months ago. It came in a while gallon sized tub. I was going to fill a few holes in the sheetrock in the garage tonight and noticed there was mold covering the top of the spackle when I opened the container. It seemed that the lid was on air-tight. Is this normal? Is the stuff going to work OK? I just scrapped the top 2-3” off and the stuff below was good as can be.

What do you think?

[hitthebricks]

Dump it! you would be creating more problems down the road from now. htb

[Down Deep]

I'm no biologist, but I had some mold in my basement and did a fair amout of research on how to remove it and keep it from growing again. Without getting into a 10 paragraph response the simple answer is mold will only grow where the conditions are right. Generally moist, dark and consistent above freezing temperatures. The conditions were right on top of the spackle. I would say that if you scraped the mold off and applied it would be ok.

[iffwalleyes]

Scrap the top off and the spackle underneath will be just fine. It does this from time to time not sure why.

[Tyler Holm]

Thanks,

I scrapped it off and used it. If it continues to get moldy, a new tub will be in store for this guy.