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Anonymous
You do need to kill the mildew. Go to a hardware store and look for a 2-5 gallon bucket of it and get a spray attachment. You need a dehumidifier, too - sometimes some window newer, better air conditioning units have a dehumidification setting. This is not sufficient - you're going to be dehumidifying this for the rest of your house's life. While you're there, look for and price Killz or Bullseye sealer - it comes in one color: White. You need the full 5 gallons of it.
Call a contractor for an estimate - have them come over and give you their outlook on your room. Then do it again for a second opinion. If those two still conflict, do it once more. This is critical. It disinvolves a government inspector but also gets you a realistic outlook on your situation. 274703 is right. If you don't stop it, your house WILL fall down, and it's really bad for resale when that happens. Determine whether it really is just mildew, or if it's dry rot or wet rot.
If it IS just mildew, kill the mildew with your mildew solution. If nothing else, your house's air quality will improve. If it's wet rot or dry rot, your contractors will advise you accordingly.
If the contractors' opinion is IT'S NOT ROTTED, then buy and use the sealer after you kill off the mildew (should take about 4 days to a week with that much). The sealer is going to prevent the mildew from coming back, but not if the wood is already too rotted. Your basement will also be shiny white.
Both Bullseye 123 and Kills sealer are EXCEPTIONALLY fumey - you need lots of ventilation while you're using it. Expect 2-3 fans and that window open and yeah, seriously look into a gas mask.
But there you go.
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