Last week the Reporter told how hundreds of homeowners in Scotland were lining up for a multi-million pound legal battle with whisky makers, like Dumbarton-based Chivas Brothers.

That’s because homeowners believe the release of baudoinia compniacensis — a fungus which germinates on ethanol — is blackening their homes with mould.

Stuart MacDonald, of Otago Place in Dumbarton East, near to the Chivas maturation site, spoke to us about the problem, known as ‘whisky black,’ saying the whisky industry’s denial of the problem is the most galling factor.

He told the Reporter: “The whisky industry says the mould is just a microflora problem, that we just have natural mould on the side of the buildings.

“But this is above and beyond the normal problem we would expect to see in Scotland. There is so much that’s frustrating about the whole thing. The denial, the concerns over the affect it has on the integrity of the house, the aesthetics of the house.” Stuart, 57, and his family have lived in the house for 17 years and first noticed the problem about four years after they moved in.

He believes the change to the roofing of the maturation warehouses nearby has something to do with the problem, but is under no illusion it would still have been a problem for households in the area whatever the material of the roofs.

Stuart believes the problem stems from the evaporation of the whisky in the casks. This results in whisky levels reducing around four per cent during the maturation period, with the vapours released from the alcohol going into the atmosphere around the warehouses.

This creates a build up of the highly flammable gas, ethanol — to ensure the gas does not react to any source of flame — a spark for instance — the warehouses are vented almost nightly, releasing the ethanol vapour into the atmosphere outside.

And it is this process homeowners want to see changed.

Stuart told us: “Chivas could burn off the ethanol and convert it into a bio-fuel – that would help and stop the problem of the mould, but that costs too much.

“I would like to see them do that and to take responsibility for the by-product of the whisky.” In the long-term, Stuart and other homeowners, would like to see is the whisky industry washing down the houses affected down and then treating them with a special coating, that would repel the mould meaning it wouldn’t stick to brickwork.

But drinks chiefs told the Reporter they don’t agree the problem is unique to their operations.

A spokeswoman for Chivas say the firm is committed to maintaining the “highest possible” environmental standards, but say naturally-occurring microflora are not confined to areas where whisky is produced and can be found in environments across the UK.

But this explanation doesn’t wash with Stuart, who says he has concerns about having his grandchildren, nieces and nephews round to visit.

He told us: “None of my family have ever had any problems with asthma, or breathing, and I have never had any problems. But I now have to take an inhaler for mild-asthma. I’m not sure if it’s connected to this, but it’s certainly a problem I now have to live with. A lot of the older people in the area that I speak to say they have problems with their breathing as well.”