MOLD!!! (beware, a rant is approaching....)

[druthb00]

First, AaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHH! Ok, now that that's out of the way.....

So, as some of you already know, BF and I recently moved from IN to FL. We ended up with a great remodeled condo on the ground floor that's facing a lake with a huuuge patio. It's gorgeous and remodeled on the inside. The only carpet in the place is in the bedroom....and so the trouble starts. For the past couple of weeks, I've noticed (but only recently came to pay much attention to) that it seems to be oddly damp in the bedroom. When we go to sleep, even the sheets have felt damp. I think I just brushed it off because, well, we're in FL. The humidity here has got to be worse than Indiana, right? Well as I was stripping sheets off of the bed last Friday I noticed a white powdery substance on the headboard....and the bottom of the fitted sheet, near the headboard.....MOLD. And then I start pulling things out from under the bed (we have VERY limitted storage area so BF keeps his guitar cases, a small amp, our blow up mattress, a couple of suitcases under there.) Mold on the amp, mold on the fabric guitar case, mold on the fabric duffle bag that I JUST HAD OUT a couple of weeks ago and looked FINE. So by that point I was in full freakout mode. I lifed the matress off of the frame and guess what? Mold on the supports where the wood is porous instead of smooth and finished! Thankfully the mattress is that memory foam (totally synthetic) and the cover on it is polyester, so no mold has grown on it anyway. Mold on the bottom of the nightstand....mold on the alarm clock cord running down the wall to the outlet. And then? I lift a magazine basket near the window and the carpet is a DIFFERENT COLOR (ie clean) The outside wall in the bedroom is facing north and it stays relatively dark in there, so not until I had something to compare the color of the carpet near the window to did I notice that it's turning grey/green/whitish !!!! OMG..... So, at this point I'm almost having a nervous breakdown, at which time I go over the closet on the other SIDE of the room. I just glanced around and low and behold, three pairs of shoes on the floor had ...you guessed it, MOLD growing on them. I lost it. Completely and totally LOST IT. So I call the landlord. He's concerned and asked me if I found it on the carpet and where. When I told him, he said that a few years ago when he bought the place (condo) there was a sprinkler outside that window that was spraying directly onto that wall, and caused the carpet to mold. So I went on to tell him I've found it throughout the bedroom on various surfaces. He says he'll be here tomorrow (Saturday.) So he drove from Coral Gables which is 3-4 hours away to take a look. Today he contacted the building maint. for the association and they came out (clueless individuals from what I could tell, said the building mgr. would come out.) He also contacted a company who specializes in indoor environmentals and they are coming in an hour to take samples of things and test the moisture levels and such. He may have the window company come out and check the seal on that window because since we've moved here, I've been cleaning condensation as well as a different type of mold, off of the window sill probably weekly. Again, I thought it was normal down here and just kept it clean. Apparently, not normal. This has just been such a nightmare This weekend was BF's birthday and we were going to head out to the beach on Sat., do mini golf at a cool course that night, I was going to make buffalo chicken pizza & brownies on Fri night but when he came home early at 4 PM I hadn't eaten anything all day because I'd been cleaning mold and just wasn't hungry, and burst into tears. So needless to say, the weekend didn't go as planned. We spent Saturday night with face masks, rubber gloves and spray bottles of vinegar cleaning the bed frame and tearing it apart. Not exactly how I wanted us to spend his B-day. So, we called this weekend a wash and we're doing the B-day stuff next weekend. I'm just so ready for things to go back to normal Thank's for reading...

[Darlene]

Sorry for the problems but glad the landlord isn't blowing you off. Hope you all can find a solution that really works. Keep us posted,ok? Dehumidifier would be of some help too. Good luck!

[Lady_V]

Take it from someone who had to have the bio-hazard team in here to tear down my bathroom and kitchen walls... mold is nothing to ignore.

We had it growing on the INSIDE of the walls. For years I complained about the water in my bathroom and the condo association brushed me off as a crazy lady... well, when it got to the point I could SEE the mold, and my daughter was getting sinus infections all the time, I told them to DO something to fix it and I was going to go to the Health Department.

Turns out the idiot who lived upstairs installed kitchen cabinets and drove a screw through the plumbing pipe and slowly but surely, water was dripping down my wall.

The haz-mat people had to put plastic up all over the condo and told us we were damn lucky to catch it when we did.

Your landlord seems to want to stop this before it gets worse, but as an owner, it is the owners responsibility to make sure the walls are properly cleaned. Vinegar won't cut it. The carpet HAS to come up. Accept no less... let him deal with the brain-dead condo management.

I would seriously scrap the bed and ANYTHING the mold got on to, sleep in the living-room if you have to, and if it gets worse, MOVE.

Getting rid of everything that was molded may be a costly replacement... but it sure as hell beats getting lung infections!

[druthb00]

Take it from someone who had to have the bio-hazard team in here to tear down my bathroom and kitchen walls... mold is nothing to ignore.

We had it growing on the INSIDE of the walls. For years I complained about the water in my bathroom and the condo association brushed me off as a crazy lady... well, when it got to the point I could SEE the mold, and my daughter was getting sinus infections all the time, I told them to DO something to fix it and I was going to go to the Health Department.

Turns out the idiot who lived upstairs installed kitchen cabinets and drove a screw through the plumbing pipe and slowly but surely, water was dripping down my wall.

The haz-mat people had to put plastic up all over the condo and told us we were damn lucky to catch it when we did.

Your landlord seems to want to stop this before it gets worse, but as an owner, it is the owners responsibility to make sure the walls are properly cleaned. Vinegar won't cut it. The carpet HAS to come up. Accept no less... let him deal with the brain-dead condo management.

I would seriously scrap the bed and ANYTHING the mold got on to, sleep in the living-room if you have to, and if it gets worse, MOVE.

Getting rid of everything that was molded may be a costly replacement... but it sure as hell beats getting lung infections!

We have been sleeping in the living room. The walls don't have it on them, at least not any I can see on the outside anyway. I've tossed the sheets, several pairs of shoes, the duffle bag and the guitar case. The bed frame I think I'm going to work with, but I won't be putting the mattress or new sheets anywhere near it until the underlying issue has been resolved. The amount of mold in between the supports on the bed frame was very very minimal. It looked almost like chalk dust. I've washed it once with vinegar, "rinsed" it with a sponge wrung almost dry, and set an oscilating fan in front of it for the better part of 24 hours. I went in to check it out this morning and it seems to have taken care of everything except where the support attaches to the finished frame. So I will be unscrewing the supports from the frame and making sure there's nothing in between the two where I can't see. We'll be sleeping on the futon in the living room for a couple of weeks if I can help it, just to make sure it's really gone for good. We've considered buying a house but BF would really like a raise first and I'd like to be working at least part time, as I think we'd have a hard time getting a loan on a single income. I hope we don't have to move because I really do like it here aside from this problem.

[IntlMom]

good suggestions Lady_V

When I read this, I began wondering about the health issues myself, but had no idea how to address them (or if they were even truly a concern - tho my gut screamed they were)

good luck and keep us posted

[2ndGenGranola]

Since you are in Florida, I must assume you have refrigerated air. Turn it on until you can purchase a dehumidifier. The ref air will pull the moisture out of the air.

[druthb00]

Since you are in Florida, I must assume you have refrigerated air. Turn it on until you can purchase a dehumidifier. The ref air will pull the moisture out of the air.

The guy from the indoor environmentals co. just left. He, too, says that for the next several days, I need to keep it cooler than normal so that the A/C will act as a dehumidifier. Meanwhile, he is going to persuade my landlord to purchase an actual dehumidifier for my unit. He was very knowledgable and has been in the business for 30 years. He had a "gun" of some sort that he kept pointing at the walls around my window and checking for moisture in the walls. It was wayyyy too high around the window and near the floor (where the moldy carpet is.) The condo maintenance guys came by again and turned the sprinklers on outside, at which point I ran through them over to the window to see if they were spraying the building or ledge of the window. They were. Even though one of the guys assured us before turning them on, that they did not. So now that the sprinkler head is turned the way it should be, our moisture problem should be solved. He took samples of the mold I found on the shoes and on the carpet and will get back to me in a few days about what kind it is, and how much of it there is, which will be the deciding factor in whether or not anything more needs to be done. He doesn't think the problem is extreme, which makes me happy LOL. My A/C has a hard time keeping up with the moisture in the air, though. Once it turns off, the humidity level in the apartment sits at about 72-74%, which is too high. I was told that it should be at 45-50%. So that's the reason he will be trying to get us a dehumidifier. Even if the landlord won't purchase it (which I think he will,) I am going to do it anyway. He also gave me some biocide, a "green" variety, to spray on my bed frame and anywhere else I may find mold. He assured me that everything I've found is salvagable, and that the carpet is merely stained (it's dry, dead mold.) As far as health problems, they happen, but usually in more severe cases (probably like yours, LadyV,) and usually to people with a mold allergy. I also found out that being exposed to it for a prolonged period can *cause* a mold allergy. It can also cause headaches, which I've had several of lately. The vents A/C vents in my apartment are also pointing downward, like they have been since we moved in. They are on the walls right below the ceiling. He told me to point them straighter so that the air bounces off the wall across the room, to inprove circulation. I am also to "unpack" my closet in the bedroom. Unfortunately, we only have ONE closet in this entire place, save for a few shelves above the water heater cabinet. So many items got packed into it, from floor to ceiling. I am going to get a sort of shoe rack, to keep at least those items off of the floor, to improve circulation, as the closet was built improperly for FL climate, with no ventilation. All in all, I am in a much better mood about this whole thing than I was this morning Thank's for listening everybody.

[ktsmama]

I work for an environmental engineer and we deal with mold (among other things). Everything that the environmental guy told you is dead on. Your apartment should stay at 50% humidity to prevent mold and growth. The solution that he gave you to clean with will kill and inhibit any mold present. I would definitely keep on the sprinkler issue!

Good luck.

[druthb00]

I would definitely keep on the sprinkler issue!

Good luck.

I most certainly will, especially since the management company was so delusional about having no part of the problem. That's part of the reason I darted through the sprinklers to see for myself if it was hitting the window sill. I didn't want him to get to it first and sneakily adjust it before telling me everything was just peachy. That's the kind of feeling I get from the management company. I don't trust them one bit.

[fernykins]

Glad you caught it. I just had my bathroom gutted because of mold. come to find out that the pipes for the shower was leaking into the wall...........no fun
Fern

[Teresa T]

I feel so bad. I hope everything in the end turns out OK. I was at least relieved to read you rent vs. owning. But this is bad enough. I hope all of you will be alright. Best wishes.