mold/mildew
 

Ok, so i moved into a house about two months ago, and i'd say it's about 20+ years old (that's what you get in tallahassee, university area), and the place is covered in mildew on the outside. the thing is, i've developed this thing where i am completely congested every morning and have to blow my nose about 10 times (all clear - just so you know). but this is a very new thing for me, as i've never had any major allergies of any kind.

i've asked the landlord to pressure clean the house, and hopefully he'll get it on it soon. My roommate also has a dog, but i have a cat at home, so i don't think animals are the problem.

Has anyone ever tried one of these home mold tests? i haven't seen if home depot or some place has them, but i've seen them online and you send them in and they do the labwork. i have a feeling this place has mold up the ying yang, b/c i can't figure out what else would be causing these symptoms..

suggestions? thanks.

do you have a basement?

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ight=pnuemonia

^^ there's a lot of good info on everything in this thread (including mold and mold tests) As you can see I learned the hard way that mold is not something to F with. I'd get it checked out. Good luck :toocool:

Mold = very bad and expensive to get rid of properly. Your landlord will sit on his ass. I think you have a good case to break the lease and leave.

mold is a very serious issue for landlords and tenants. i'll see if i can dig up more info when i get to work.

we had a mold problem in a unit and we sent the tenant to a hotel for a few days while we had a company come in to tear up half the sheetrock in the place, clean it up and replace the sheetrock. not cheap, but the property has a big budget.

usually mold will cause upper respiratory problems like sheezing, coughing and asthma in susetible individuals. there is a more serious type of mold called mycotoxin which is toxic.

in the recent years, many landlords have been sued for big money by tenants who claimed they got cancer and blah, blah, blah... i just read the results of a study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that stated that mold will not cause other health risks including: cancer, immune diseases, neurological problems and asthma. That study was used succcessfully in defending a landlord.

does the air in that part of the house feel damp? maybe the exterior mold has penetrated into the walls. how's the carpet? mold growth under the carpet is common and everytime someone steps on it, it releases mold into the air. pressure washing the exterior to remove the visible mold is the primary step. the most important steps are to the find the source of the mold and eliminate it.

good luck.

^^ the builder I work for had a similar problem like this. By time the owners moved into their homes there was mold hanging from the basement ceiling. I'm pretty sure they got sued so now they have to install de-humidifier's in every house (and I have to run a seperate wire for the plug they use :annoyed: The de-humidifier's worked well, so Supermegaglossy you might wanna pick one of those up or request your landlord for one...

I had mold in a portion of my basement (along with 30yr old rat feces, but that is another story). In order to get rid of it I ripped out all of the drywall and insulation, then mixed up a cocktail of bleach, tsp, ammonia and water. I put that in a garden sprayer and sprayed every exposed surface. Then I followed up with water to rinse it off after an hour or so - the mix is pretty corrosive to pipes, nails, screws, etc. Then I put dehumidifier and fans in the room in order to dry as quickly as possible. Oh yeah and goggles and respirator were a must if I had any intention of living.

It got rid of the mold... But I made a big mistake. I moved a bit of the debris from one area to another and left it there - now the mold is in that room.

The bottom line is dry and ventilated is poor growing conditions for mold. Damp and stale are good growing conditions.

^^ dude, you're not supposed to mix ammonia and bleach!

and no, there is no basement, thankfully. i'm going to try and pick up a kit, and chlorinate the outside at least. i'll go from there and see what happens. i'm also thinking of spraying the insides of the air ducts w/ some lysol stuff that kills everything.

thanks for everyone's input.

Damn, Scratch the ammonia... Great, I just killed someone... Caustic Soda (Bleach) and Ammonia is bad! I knew that - I should have rememberd that. It was something else - but anyway the bleach and tsp is enough to kill everything anyway.

Hope it all goes well. HEPA filters can help too.