Help me get rid of mold

[Lancey]

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of mold besides using the bleach/water solution? I've got a pretty bad infection of mold in my house.

Thanks!

[Jim Morrison]

Move.

[Terence McCann]

Move.

Well that was short and to the point.

Can you give us a little more information such as where the mold is located? Also, if you can post a picture it would help.

If you do a search of the forums here it should turn up some of the liquid products that are used in mold remediation as well.

[mgbinspect]

Move.

I was thinking before anyone had posted - how does one respond on the internet to something like this?

And, then Jim comes up with the only response that doesn't require an army of attorneys by your side....

[hausdok]

Tsk,

Not nice, Cuz.

Lancey, go here. http://www.epa.gov/mold/

Whatever you do, if, after you review the stuff on the EPA site, you think it's bad enough to need to hire a specialist, don't hire any home inspector claiming to be a mold specialist. None of us really knows squat about mold, regardless of what any of us claims to be our qualifications, and you'll just be wasting your money. If it's that bad, instead of someone with a three-day seminar under his belt, you'll want to hire a reputable indoor air quality firm with a real scientist on staff who is really qualified to look at what you've got going on there, help you determine what's causing it and guide you in how to get it taken care of.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Terence McCann]

Move.

I was thiking before anyone had posted - how does one respond on the internet to something like that?

And, then Jim comes up with the only response that doesn't require an army of attorneys by your side....

I've been blasted a few times here, and have had posts deleted, for doing this exact type of thing - not being helpful to Mr/Ms. Homeowner. I think I said once, "God forbid you should call a qualified contractor".

Ah well.

[JeremyDP]

Though remediation is needed. You also need to identify the cause, and fix it. Otherwise the mold will come back.

[mgbinspect]

Move.

I was thiking before anyone had posted - how does one respond on the internet to something like that?

And, then Jim comes up with the only response that doesn't require an army of attorneys by your side....

I've been blasted a few times here, and have had posts deleted, for doing this exact type of thing - not being helpful to Mr/Ms. Homeowner. I think I said once, "God forbid you should call a qualified contractor".

Ah well.

Terry, You're absolutely right. I was going to delete my comment, but it's too late now that it's quoted, so if you wish to clean things up, Mike, you have my approval.

Actually, before anyone had posted, I was tempted to offer help and then thought any response could be dangerous. There's no way to even know if the initial post is genuine and sincere.

What Mike has said it good.

Apolgies to all.

[kurt]

Asking about mold can elicit a lot of responses, most of them wrong.

There's some interesting new counter-intuitive information indicating that the use of biocides and cleaning agents doesn't reduce the incidence or spore counts of mold. IOW, bleach or no bleach gets you about the same thing.

After that, Jeremy has the process wrong. Remediation doesn't even begin to start until after you've identified the source of the water that is allowing the mold to grow, and fixed it completely. You'd be surprised how many "professional" mold remediation companies don't do that. They go for the mold, over and over again, on your dime.

After that, what Mike said. This topic has been so completely confused by all the "certified" mold experts, real information is hard to find. Unless someone has advanced degrees in mycology, IAQ certifications, industrial hygienist training or degree, or some similar advanced environmental training, don't believe anything they have to say.

More is not known about mold than is known, imho.

Put some pic's up, provide some information, because what we have so far isn't enough to provide anything other than the most basic fundamentals.

[Marc]

If you can smell it or see it, skip the mold inspector and go straight to the remediation contractor. Why pay some mold inspector tell you what you already know?

Marc

[Caoimhín P. Connell]

Hello Lancey –

Jim’s response was funny, Hausdok’s was prudent, and Jeremy’s strikes a chord with me that was echoed by other responders.

Your post contained two parts, both indicated a lack of foundation. So let’s look at your post:

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of mold besides using the bleach/water solution? I've got a pretty bad infection of mold in my house.

1) For a start, one would NEVER get rid of mould in an house by using bleach (or any other “sanitizerâ€

[hausdok]

So – in deference to the other posters, I have to say, Hausdok’s post gets the winning nod.

Cheers!

Caoimhín P. Connell

Forensic Industrial Hygienist

www.forensic-applications.com

Kewl!

Is there a prize? Don't suppose you could make it a personal visit by yourself to Olympia to testify against a hare-brained bit of insanity that a very ill-informed Senator keeps trying to push through that will require home inspectors in Washington State to inspect for mold.

It's SB5644 - Senators Parlette and Kohl-Welles

The language of the bill goes thusly:

Sec. 1. RCW 18.280.030 and 2008 c 119 s 3 are each amended to read

as follows:

A person licensed under this chapter is responsible for performing a visual and noninvasive inspection of the following readily accessible systems and components of a home and reporting on the general condition of those systems and components at the time of the inspection in his or her written report: The roof, foundation, exterior, heating system, air-conditioning system, structure, plumbing and electrical systems, and other aspects of the home as may be identified by the board. The inspection must include looking for mold and certain fire and safety hazards as defined by the board. The standards of practice to be developed by the board will be used as the minimum standards for an inspection. The duties of the home inspector with regard to wood destroying organisms are provided in RCW 18.280.190.

Last year, I went to Dr. Fallah at Veritox and IDEHL and they prepared a pretty good response to the idea but this year she's back again and hasn't changed a word of her bill. That tells me that she's probably got some kind of heavy hitters lined up to testify in favor of the bill at the public hearings this year and thinks that she be able to bulldoze it through.

We're going to need to line up additional heavy hitters to beef up Dr. Fallah's rebuttal.

If the thing goes through, I'm in favor of the board directing that every home inspection report must report the presence of mold in every single home and recommend follow up by an IAQ lab and remediation as necessary prior to closing. After all, there's some of that alleged "toxic" mold in every cubic centimeter of air that we breath so it's got to be on every single surface, No? Can you imagine the amount of excrement that will hit the proverbial fan if that were ever done? Whooey! The building industry association of Washington and the Washington Realtors (WAR) will bury those two legislators like an old turd that's stinking up the lawn.

Oh well, my apologies to Lancey, I seem to have drifted a bit. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Download Attachment: VeritoxMoldRebuttal.pdf

280.32 KB

[Jim Morrison]

The Best Mold/Mould advice?: Laugh at me, listen to Caoimhin.

Slan agat,

Seamus

[hausdok]

The Best Mold/Mould advice?: Laugh at me, listen to Caoimhin.

Slan agat,

Seamus

Fuirseoir !

Aon Foireann - Aon Troid!!!

Mícheál

[Lancey]

Wow guys, thanks for all the comments. That was all a lot to take in

The mold is on an interior wall, starting where the carpet meets the wall/baseboard and up the wall a few inches. This also means it could be in the carpet.

I don't know what the source is, since it's an interior wall. I've been looking around for possible leaks and just possible culprits in general and haven't found anything, but something obviously has to be there.

I think I may just go with a remediation company. Thank you for all your advice on making sure they're indoor air certified and all that stuff; I've been making sure the companies I research have that. I ran across a company that seems really good: IndoorRestore. Has anyone heard of them? I checked with the Better Business Bureau and they checked out as legit, and seem really good. So, anyone heard of IndoorRestore or have any experience with them?

Once again, thank you for all the comments!

[Jim Katen]

Wow guys, thanks for all the comments. That was all a lot to take in

The mold is on an interior wall, starting where the carpet meets the wall/baseboard and up the wall a few inches. This also means it could be in the carpet.

I don't know what the source is, since it's an interior wall. I've been looking around for possible leaks and just possible culprits in general and haven't found anything, but something obviously has to be there.

I think I may just go with a remediation company. Thank you for all your advice on making sure they're indoor air certified and all that stuff; I've been making sure the companies I research have that. I ran across a company that seems really good: IndoorRestore. Has anyone heard of them? I checked with the Better Business Bureau and they checked out as legit, and seem really good. So, anyone heard of IndoorRestore or have any experience with them?

Once again, thank you for all the comments!

$10 says it isn't mold.

- Jim Katen, San Francisco

[hausdok]

Wow guys, thanks for all the comments. That was all a lot to take in

The mold is on an interior wall, starting where the carpet meets the wall/baseboard and up the wall a few inches. This also means it could be in the carpet.

I don't know what the source is, since it's an interior wall. I've been looking around for possible leaks and just possible culprits in general and haven't found anything, but something obviously has to be there.

I think I may just go with a remediation company. Thank you for all your advice on making sure they're indoor air certified and all that stuff; I've been making sure the companies I research have that. I ran across a company that seems really good: IndoorRestore. Has anyone heard of them? I checked with the Better Business Bureau and they checked out as legit, and seem really good. So, anyone heard of IndoorRestore or have any experience with them?

Once again, thank you for all the comments!

$10 says it isn't mold.

- Jim Katen, San Francisco

Yeah, it kind of sounds like dust being sucked into the carpet from the walls by the ventilation fans.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Les]

or thermal bridges

[Marc]

If I understand you correctly, Les, you're suggesting that thermal bridging in a San Francisco wood framed dwelling may be resulting in interior condensation?

Marc

[Les]

Marc,

why not?

[Lancey]

I used a mold testing kit on the section I thought was mold and the test kit said it was mold. I think I'm just going to use the professionals on this. Like I'd mentioned before, IndoorRestore looks like it's a great option. I've read some good things on them and it looks like I'll be using them.

[Marc]

Les, I didn't think it got cold enough in SF for thermal bridging to manifest itself. According to my wife who's lived up and down the CA coast, SF doesn't get much, if any colder than coastal Louisiana where we live now.

Of course, you can correct me on that.

Marc

[hausdok]

I spent a year at the Presidio of Monterey about a hundred miles south of San Francisco learning German back in 1983. I can attest to the fact that it gets pretty danged cold there.

What is it Mark Twain once said? "The coldest winter I ever spent in my life was spent in Monterey" or some such.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Les]

Hey Lance,

I really can understand your concern, however can't get too excited about having a professional mold company get involved at this time, given what you have written.

Please understand I own a speciality mold control remediation company, so am not slamming the clean up business.

There is just so much more to mold remediation than I can write in a simple post. I would be interested in their proposal and findings. My profile has contact info for me.

Marc, thermal bridge is my catch-all word for lots of conditions, including surfaces that may be a different temp and subsequently attract/hold particulates. Maybe soot from candles or oil from plug in air freshners, etc. Of course it also means surfaces that hold moisture.

[Lancey]

Les, before I saw this message I'd agreed to have IndoorRestore come and do an estimate and get mold samples. So far, they've been very helpful and thorough, and the full remediation will be cheaper than I was expecting. So far I'm very happy with them and don't see a reason not to go with them. I'll let you all know how this goes with them. Thanks for all the thoughts and comments everyone!