Meet The Neighbours
April 23, 2006
I’m not going to waste everyone’s time with what I did today, because…well I did nothing today. I actually had a topic I wanted to discuss….
Mold. The mold that’s in the spare bedroom no one goes into (it smells really bad). It’s from the bathroom that leaks in the next room over. So far it doesn’t appear to be spreading anywhere but that room, but the smell is more defined.
Does this look very healthy to you? What sorts of sicknesses could you get if you lived in a house with this stuff?? Come on, tell me! I can take it!!!
I watched a CSI show where the guy’s face collapse because there was mold in his house, he died - obviously. It was a different kind of mold though, he had shot some hooker in his house and some of her flesh was on the bullet that went through the wall and the moisture from a leaking pipe caused the mold to grow and over time it made his face collapse. When they were trying to figure out what was wrong with him, they poked in his “swollen” eyes and this black goop came out of them, a sign of mold or something! So now I keep poking at my eye to make sure no black goop is falling out.
This hasn’t been fixed yet because my dad has been very busy working. Plus, it’s going to be very expensive to tear out pratically three rooms to fix the problem, and right now that’s money we don’t have. I understand that’s why it hasn’t been fixed, and I’m trying to be patient but it’s kind of hard with all these horrors running through my mind. I know mold is unhealthy, and this room is right beside my room. What if it starts leaking into my room? Then what? I constantly check behind my dresser and desk to make sure there’s nothing there - so far so good.
My dad gets mad when we remind him because he wants to get it fixed but we just don’t have the money at the moment. I made the mistake of reminding him tonight, I timidly suggested that the reason why we all get sick so easily is because of the mold. Well, he’s in a mood now.
I just wanted to know from my readers (who are educated in this)…should I be concerned about this?
April 23rd, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Temp fix? BLEACH and water in a spray bottle, scrubbed…wear gloves and a mask. You won’t be able to get into the walls without Dad doing it though. And if it’s there - it’s in the air too.
We had the same black mold in the townhouse we lived in before we bought our house. I had it tested (it was in all the units) and it affects the mucus membranes of people, including the reproductive system, lungs, nose, mouth, ears….the list goes on. It isn’t healthy at all. My friend Jen (who lived in the same townhouses as us) and I were trying to get pregnant for over a year and had to do fertility treatments because that mold affected our reproductive systems. Her oldest daughter had ear infection after ear infection too, and so did alot of the other kids in our complex. We left as soon as we had enough for the down payment on the house. Don’t panic though - it’s common and managable.
I’ll talk to Daren, Granny and Papa and see if we can come up with a plan to help get it fixed asap. I’m sure Daren wouldn’t mind helping but he won’t have a weekend off until July. Maybe I can come up without kids, in his place and help out. Joel too.
April 24th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Depends on the mold species.
Your parents should check their homeowner’s insurance policy to see if it covers mold damage.
Stopgap measures:
Find out where the water’s coming from, and keep it from returning. If there are no leaks, install a dehumidifier. Low humidity will stop the mold in its tracks.
Scrub the affected areas with a solution of 1 cup chlorene bleach added to 1 gallon of water (1/4 litre bleach to 4 litres water).
More info can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm
(I used to do fire and water disaster restoration for a local ServiceMaster franchise.)
April 24th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Oh, and MAKE SURE NOBODY BREATHES THE MOLD, especially when your parents decide to open the walls up.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
[...] be…for several reasons. A small part is that I’m concerned about my health as that mold is still in the downstairs bathrooms…and it’s worse and spreading. And I know that writing this will just piss my parents [...]