Mold in basement of house

[AlanB]

We are looking at buying a house with some land etc.

The basement is damp, very musty, garage door opens onto ground level but the rest of the house is surrounded by dirt to within 3 feet or so of the floor level.

There is black mold visible on the basement walls.

The bathroom has some mold showing, and I am sure when we rip out the tub, we will find more under and behind it.

How afraid of this should I be? Standard half mask respirator or do they attack problems like this with forced air or just spray it down with clorox?

Anyone out here in this business and care to share some insight, or been down this road before?

Thanks for the help.

 

[rlk]

Alan, you need to have the mold tested to determine if it is hazardous or not. In the Triangle area of NC, you can have someone come to your location and measure the indoor air; the outdoor air; take mold samples from the walls, floors, etc.; and have everything analyzed in a lab for around $300. (The reason they take indoor and outdoor air samples is to measure how much mold is in the air you are breathing).

You can take mold samples yourself, and assuming you follow the protocol of the lab, have the samples analyzed for about $50 per sample. This way is cheaper, but you can't take the air samples yourself. Also, you may miss taking a mold sample of a key area.

The way I have taken samples is with 2 inch wide clear tape. Cut a piece about 6 inches long, and lightly lay it against the mold. Turn a ziplock bag inside out. Remove the tape from the mold and stick it to the inside of the ziplock bag, then turn the bag right side out and seal the bag. One mold sample per bag. Label the bag as to the location of the sample, then take the sample to the lab for analysis.

Based on the info you provided, I would take at least one sample in the basement and another sample in the bathroom. If you rip out the tub and find mold there, take a sample there as well.

I have done it both ways and perfer to have the lab do everything.

When you get the report from the lab, they will tell you how "dangerous" the sample is, and will recommend remediation methods.

The most important thing to remember prior to starting remediation: you must fix the moisture problem first, otherwise, the mold will return. Only after the moisture problem is fixed should you worry about removing the current mold.

Bob

 

[EddieWalker]

Mold is a living organism and as such, it will die. The trick is what to use to kill it.

I like to get swimming pool shock. It's a very high concentrate of bleach. I put it in a squirt bottle and spray the mold and every other surface around it. Just spray and spray and spray!!!!

Eddie

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I'm dealing with this right now. To my way of thinking, the mold is merely a symptom of the real problem, a moisture problem. You need to find out where the moisture is coming from.

Fixing the moisture problem can be either cheap or expensive, depending on the source. Don't assume anything -- it could just be leaking plumbing that is easily fixed, or even just pipes sweating. Or it could be rainwater or surface water, which can set you back quite a bit. If it's groundwater seeping in, there may not be a viable solution.

If you don't get rid of the moisture you will never get rid of the mold.

Around here (coastal New England) it is very humid in the summer and a lot of people think the humidity causes mold. Not so. Buildings that don't leak don't have mold. The humidity does make the mold worse, as buildings that leak never dry out.

I would bet that the baths with mold are leaking.

My house was leaking everywhere when I bought it, and needed a lot of work to get it dry inside -- reside and reroof, new gutters, retile two leaking showers, fix a handful of plumbing leaks, and insulate all the plumbing in the basement. But now the basement is dry and the mold no longer grows.

On porous surfaces the mold grows into the material. Drywall should be replaced, and wood should be replaced or sealed. Non-porous surfaces like concrete can be scrubbed. I've had good results using detergent to scrub my concrete basement.

I know nothing about what makes mold toxic. I do know that treating the mold as bio-hazard gets very expensive very quickly. When I bought my house the seller had a environmental remediation company do an estimate for just removing and disposing of the section of drywall in my basement under the leaking showers. It was $26,000. I told the seller to let me take care of it. So far I'm still alive.

 

[riptides]

Didn't extreme makeover air a show on a guy who died because of a toxic reaction to mold he was cleaning up?

I never knew it was that serious, and now would opt for a more complete service to get rid of it.

-Mike Z.

 

[scott_vt]

Didn't extreme makeover air a show on a guy who died because of a toxic reaction to mold he was cleaning up?

I never knew it was that serious, and now would opt for a more complete service to get rid of it.

-Mike Z.

Mornin Mike,
Yes they did, also saw another CSI program that had the same thing happen. I would think the best course of action is to get it analyzed !

 

[tallyho8]

In the hot humid areas of South Louisiana we have dealt with mold our whole lives. In most places if you just keep the shower curtain closed it will get mold within a week or two. Tens of thousands of people are dealing with mold in the New Orleans area at this time. I believe that "toxic mold" is very rare and that people it affects are even rarer. True, some people are allergic to mold, and some are allergic to raw oysters, cats, dogs, milk, peanuts etc. If you know you are allergic to something then stay away from it. Many have been using a simple mix of bleach and water to clean up mold for years. Of course, in some cases, leaks must be repaired to prevent the mold from returning. Now that most asbestos cases have been settled, mold cases are the next top money makers in the courts now and this is what's causing mold to make the news. We now see people with no health problems at all suing for tens of thousands of dollars because they found a little mold under their sink and driving up our insurance rates even more. People claim their home is worth $50,000 less than they paid for it because they found mold in it and sue. (Of course they refuse to sell it for $50,000 less) If I could buy homes with a little mold in them for $50,000 less than the appraised value I would be a land baron in no time, and bleach is still one of the biggest bargains in the market. I predict fiberglass insulation will be the next big moneymaker for the lawyers.

 

[hazmat]

you can fight it with bleach - that's cheap

Correcting the underlying problem of why the bathroom & basement is too damp may prove expensive.

I'd walk away unless the house is really, really cheap.

 

[Kendall69]

This is nothing the average guy can play with.
I just watched a show ( with that Ty Pennington guy EXTREME MAKEOVER) they tore down and rebuilt a house for a family where the dad went to bed on Christmas eve complaining of not feeling well - then died from mold.

He has been working for month in the exact same situation you are talking about.

Seek professional help NOW.

 

[Tig]

Yikes get profesional help. Black mold is BAD from what I have read. (I'm not a profesional) Houses can be condemned based on mold. Stay away, stay away, stay away!