Have you ever dealt with black mold?

wifeofadam · October 2014

We're renting a condo from my FIL. We've been here about six months now and the kids and I have been sick non-stop. I've chalked it up to a change in environment - new allergens in the air ducts and stuff. I figured that eventually our bodies would adapt and we'd get better.

Lately we've been noticing a really moldy smell coming from the master bathroom. The tub in there is really old and is literally being held together by duct tape in a spot. There also isn't a window or proper venting in there. I've always used natural cleaners, but I've been having to scrub that shower out with bleach to keep it feeling clean.

In the last week I've had a hard time breathing and so has my oldest son. DH, who has asthma, is also wheezing. It could just be allergies, but I never have breathing issues like this. I deep cleaned that bathroom yesterday, scrubbing every crevice. I washed all of the mats and everything. It smelled clean for the rest of the day, probably because of the bleach, but this morning it's back to the moldy smell. I think it's behind the walls.

I shouldn't have googled because now I'm terrified it's black mold and my kids could die or something. FIL, who lived here for 12 years before we moved in, developed a rare lung disease in the last five years and now I'm worried that it could have been from living with the mold or something (although I'm sure his doctors would have ruled that out, right?)

DH and I are willing to fix the bathroom for FIL. I just don't know what the first step is. If you have suspected mold, do you need to call in someone to have it evaluated before you rip out the tub and expose the spores to the air? Is it fine to just call a contractor and have him start the work? Anyone dealt with this?

I'm seriously considering moving in with my parents until this is sorted out.

wifeofadam · October 2014

I also should add - I sometimes wonder if my breathing issues are from having to use the bleach. I haven't used it in like a decade, so when I do use it I have a hard time breathing for a while.

tamarar5 · October 2014

What BBB said. Start cutting a small section out around your faucets. Do it carefully and try not to make dust. You can also check under the flooring by the tub.

Or call a mold remediation team and have them do an air test or evaluation.

ericalee27 · October 2014

Not all mold is black mold, and some of it you could handle yourself vs. others that you wouldn't want to handle. I would have a mold remediation service come out (and get two quotes). If you have it bad or need to rip out installation, etc, it can be extremely spendy so be prepared...

SummerLove21 · October 2014

I would call a mold remediation team to test. It's the safest way to go. Then you can decide whether it needs professional attention or you can do it yourself.

colinsfebmommy · October 2014

DC2London said:

I'm convinced that there is mold growing behind the tile walls in our shower because, no matter what I do or how often I clean it, we still get spots. In fact, we were starting to get dark spots in the caulking that no amount of topical cleaning (even with bleach) was resolving, so I had DH completely remove the caulk, I scrubbed it with an anti-mildew cleaning agent, and then he recaulked it. In 24 hours, the new caulking had dark spots in it. It HAS to be coming from behind the walls (which would make sense because, hello, this is Virginia and there is virtually no insulation in this house). The only way to mitigate it would be to tear out the tile wall, remove the mold completely, and put in a new shower. There's no way landlord is going to do that so I just do my best to keep it clean but really, that stupid shower is the bane of my very existence.

I swear by tilex in my shower for mold....as much as I hate harsh chemicals, I only bring it out when I start to see spots every so often. Open window, spray, run fan let it sit an hour or even overnight if you can keep window open and boom.....mold gone.

Rynleigh · October 2014

My cousin has five boys - the home she was living in with her first four had mold, and I had to convince her to check for it based on the illnesses she was consistently posting about every damned week. Their mold was not "black mold", but it was toxic, it was inside the shower wall, it was severe, and it was the cause of their respiratory and sinus illnesses that seemed to never stop. They had to rip out the entire shower and surrounding wall, and they had to have their carpets professionally cleaned and treated all of their clothing to kill / remove residual spores... it was a pain in the ass, but definitely necessary.

wifeofadam · October 2014

Rynleigh said:

My cousin has five boys - the home she was living in with her first four had mold, and I had to convince her to check for it based on the illnesses she was consistently posting about every damned week. Their mold was not "black mold", but it was toxic, it was inside the shower wall, it was severe, and it was the cause of their respiratory and sinus illnesses that seemed to never stop. They had to rip out the entire shower and surrounding wall, and they had to have their carpets professionally cleaned and treated all of their clothing to kill / remove residual spores... it was a pain in the ass, but definitely necessary.

This is my fear. My closet shares a wall with the back of the suspected shower. I wonder if we do discover toxic mold if I'm going to have to treat all clothing and carpets, too.

I just moved everything out of the master bathroom and into the kids' bathroom and sealed the moldy one off. Until we get someone in there to look at it, I don't want anyone in there.

Rynleigh · October 2014

It might be a time saver if you can clean some of your clothing and bag it up in plastic to protect it when you have to take the shower apart, to prevent getting loose spores in every little thing. Vinegar will kill most species of mold, so you may not have to use any fancy products to treat your clothes and carpet with, depending on the kind of mold it is - but it is probably safest to have any visible mold tested before you start ripping things up. Anyone who works on it is going to need to be properly protected before getting started, and you guys really don't want to stay there with the kids while it's all being fixed up. You won't be able to treat the drywall or surrounding wood with vinegar. Drywall will need to be removed and replaced all together, and wood typically needs to be inspected to evaluate whether or not it can be treated or if it needs to go completely.

djm31012 · October 2014

You need to have a specialist come in and do a mold and moisture test. If thats what it is, everything needs ot be ripped out and they need to come back and properly dry everything out. The bathroom will be literally ripped down to the studs, all walls open etc. Then they will clean everything out and try it out with special machines and then you can reconstruct however you wish.

wifeofadam · October 2014

Ugh. This is sounding like a lot for a rental. Perhaps we will just let FIL handle this and this will be the catalyst to help us make a decision about where to go sooner than we anticipated. There are several houses we've looked at that we kind of like. Perhaps we need to look at them again.

This just sounds like opening a huge can of (moldy) worms...

MommyAndHerLatte · October 2014

There are some home mold testing kits on Amazon. We suspected there might be mold in our house too (rental), so I bought a $30 test on amazon. It can detect mold spores in air, which a lot of tests can't do. I haven't used it yet, but that might be a quick way to determine if you have mold.

We also had a specialist come by for a different issue, and she had a fancy gadget that could detect mold. She just had to point at the mold and the gadget would tell her if it was positive or negative. We had her do a few sections of our house and most was negative, but apparently we have mold under our sink, gross.

I would definitely hire a specialist to test for mold, and then hire an experienced contractor to take care of everything. We were told not to disturb the mold, because it's dangerous and could result in mold spores flying everywhere. I really hope you don't have mold. Mold is so scary!

ally2011 · October 2014

I would absolutely have someone in there ASAP and would also consider moving out until it is fixed. I know that is a huge pain, but this sounds really concerning I think. I am so sorry

brachysira · October 2014

I am pretty sure we have some kind of black mold in the wall behind our shower. I read up and the CDC says that there isn't proof that any type of mold will make you sick from living near it and that most companies are scamming you... We still will probably have to do something--not because of the mold, which is annoying b/c it does colonize bath toys, etc. quickly--but because the water leaking into the walls will eventually cause the wall to completely rot.