Mold infested cottage cleanup help

[ericher69]

Ok I have the opportunity to buy a cottage/camp on a 5 acre parcel with 1 small pond and a bigger pond/lake (don't know the size transition from pond to lake)

Anyway the structure was built around 1990;
2 story
Basement
2 washrooms
Kitchen
4 bed
Around 2000 sq/ft
I can purchase this for $40k Canadian dollars

Problem is it was rented out and used as a grow operation about 10 yrs ago (wires used for drying are still in the basement)

There is mold everywhere on surfaces and have not investigated to see if it goes deeper

It would probably be a full gut and redo

Now is this feasible to do myself?

My plan is the following;

1. See if I have more than surface mold
2. Use a respirator
3. Enter and spray everything with a sodium hypochlorite and water solution (1:3)
4. Let air dry
5. Ventilate building
6. Gut re-insulate
7. Vapor barrier
8. Drywall
9. Paint

Any advice/direction are always appreciated

 

[radioman]

what about airflow on hepa filter ?

 

[tcartwri]

First off you should find out if the house was ever under the scrutiny of law enforcement, because that will be recorded somewhere and fat chance in getting a builders loan or reselling it without disclosure.

Second; In order to do the demolition, you will need a builders permit. They might ask you if mould remediation is the reason, in which case it becomes a non-diy.

 

[DAY]

Yesterday I saw an attic mold removal on "This Old House". They used a hepa filter- and "sand" blasted with dry ice!
It is now probably on you tube- everything else is. . .

 

[ericher69]

what about airflow on hepa filter ?

You mean have a building negative pressure Hepa filtration system?

 

[ericher69]

First off you should find out if the house was ever under the scrutiny of law enforcement, because that will be recorded somewhere and fat chance in getting a builders loan or reselling it without disclosure.

Second; In order to do the demolition, you will need a builders permit. They might ask you if mould remediation is the reason, in which case it becomes a non-diy.

Builders loan not needed; cash

Reselling; plan on keeping in the family to hand down to kids and possibly rent out weekly

Builders permit; won't know it's being done!

 

[ericher69]

Yesterday I saw an attic mold removal on "This Old House". They used a hepa filter- and "sand" blasted with dry ice!
It is now probably on you tube- everything else is. . .

I too saw that show in the past...

Looks to be for more than cosmetic/surface mold

 

[Otto Syracuse]

We just went through this on a building and the work was done by a professional crew. Wearing tyvek suits and respirators, Their procedure was to tape off all the windows doors and gaps, use a HEPA fan ducted outside to create negative pressure, spray with (I'm not sure, but it smelled like bleach) a solution, wait 24 hrs, then remove all drywall, wood and any other porous surface. Respray with solution and leave HEPA running for 48 hours. Afterwards, we used dry-lock to seal the masonry, rebuilt the walls with PT lumber and hard foam insulation and green board. Hopefully this will stop our issue.

I would check with a building professional regarding the vapor barrier, it was not recommended by our architect. Google "vapor barrier" for the pros and cons.

$40k for a cottage and average in Ontario sounds like a great deal. Vacation property in Canada is on fire the last few years. I have a place near Plevna, ON and the value has easily doubled in the last 5 years.

 

[Western]

I have used an Ozone machine to kill mold on a small remodel project and it worked great, you should research it , it may be an easy alternative.

Here is just one site I Googled up
Mold-Kill.com - Kill Mold with Ozone Generators

 

[BeezFun]

My plan is the following;

1. See if I have more than surface mold
2. Use a respirator
3. Enter and spray everything with a sodium hypochlorite and water solution (1:3)
4. Let air dry
5. Ventilate building
6. Gut re-insulate
7. Vapor barrier
8. Drywall
9. Paint

Any advice/direction are always appreciated

I'd do the "gut" part of step 6 first, then do your mold remediation. Why would you remove mold from materials you're just going to throw out? Throw it all in a big pile and burn everything when the wind is blowing away from humans. I wouldn't spray everything, I'd do a damp wipe. The last thing you want is more water collecting to start more mold growing, that's how the whole problem got started. Mold needs food, moisture, and something to grow on. The most important thing to control is the moisture, so I'd be real careful about the vapor barrier. I doubt you use central A/C up there but if you do that complicates things. If you just do winter heating that makes it a lot easier, just prevent any warm moist air from hitting cold surfaces. You might put a HEPA filter on your HVAC system to help control the dust circulation, that's what mold needs for food. And finally if you can use mold resistant material, like some drywalls, that would help. I think the whole mold thing is over hyped. Yeah it's a problem but it's not like Ebola.

 

[777777]

Hi,

You can get some good reference material from the CMHC site

Search Results | CMHC

and many people have some success with asking these types of questions in the Mike Holmes forums.

http://www.mikeholmesfanforum.com/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=14&sid=4f405be751a6ec3b3c5d09c687e3a54c

Would also think that some U.S. govt sites would have lots of info on this topic that would help you out.

Good luck with it. Big job.

 

[ericher69]

I'd do the "gut" part of step 6 first, then do your mold remediation. Why would you remove mold from materials you're just going to throw out? Throw it all in a big pile and burn everything when the wind is blowing away from humans. I wouldn't spray everything, I'd do a damp wipe. I think the whole mold thing is over hyped. Yeah it's a problem but it's not like Ebola.

I was thinking of spraying and let air dry to get rid of most mold before beginning

Burn pile; I figure (hope) that it will be mostly sheet rock and insulation

I agree; I think most of this mold remediation is just a big money maker for contractors and another excuse for insurance companies not to pay! They sure like us to pay our premiums

 

[riptides]

I gutted a single story 1000 square foot builing about 7 years ago.

I took everything out inside, down to dirt.

I spent about 50k.

We wore protective equipment during the process.

 

[ericher69]

I gutted a single story 1000 square foot builing about 7 years ago.

I took everything out inside, down to dirt.

I spent about 50k.

We wore protective equipment during the process.

Thanks for the "estimate"

 

[riptides]

We did not burn, either.

It was disposed of properly. I am a burn person, but somethings just don't feel right.

 

[tcartwri]

Dont forget the duct work will be garbage as well.

 

[Mousefield]

I gutted a single story 1000 square foot builing about 7 years ago.

I took everything out inside, down to dirt.

I spent about 50k.
We wore protective equipment during the process.

Wow 50K and ericher69 is looking at buying the house and 5 acres for $40,000. May be cheaper to insure it and have an accidental fire.

 

[woodlandfarms]

We had mold remediation done on our LA house when, well, it s a long story but it cost some cash..

The reason it is expensive is the risk. Employees have high insurance issues (Like asbestos removal) and they have a lot of rules they have to follow in the states that make the work slow and tedious.

Procedure was to enclose the house, get proper filtrated air going, send some guys in with full whites and facemasks and demo. Then come in with bleach (they called it something else but it was bleach) and paint all the exposed wood and floor with it.

In the end it is not that expensive to do yourself, but you do want to be careful. Opening a window might just put the mold on your window sill and the outside of the house, assuming that it is a bad mold.

I guess that is the one thing to wonder, how mold sensitive are you and what type of mold are you dealing with. Our house in Washington is held together with mold. Musty sometimes but no health issues. Not worth our money to fix as we plan tobuild in the near future.

 

[Otto Syracuse]

I'd do the "gut" part of step 6 first, then do your mold remediation. Why would you remove mold from materials you're just going to throw out?.

Because when you do remove the material you expose the mold spores to other parts of the building that are not removed, thereby spreading the problem beyond where it is now. That is also the reason to tape off doors and windows and create negative air pressure to exhaust any remaining spores.

 

[ericher69]

Wow 50K and ericher69 is looking at buying the house and 5 acres for $40,000. May be cheaper to insure it and have an accidental fire.

Would look good on a professional firefighter!

90k in all said and done would still be very good for a house and property of this size pretty much anywhere!

I know a lot of people are into insurance fraud but I am not one of them!

Even though I believe these big companies really rip us off