Posted: 7/30/2013 5:48:16 PM EDT
We've got a mold infestation in our basement. Fortunately most of our stored items were in plastic bins and other solid containers. Unfortunately some pictures/frames, award plaques, and two rucks (read as Dana and Kelty packs ) are infested. I need advice on the best way to clean these items and short of cleansing my basement with fire, is bleach going to be useful in my endeavor?
You guys always deliver, don't let me down...... |
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Just curious, how did the mold develop? Do you have central heat/air? Are the walls waterproofed and dry? Sorry to hear about this, and unfortunately, I have no advice. The residence was built in the mid to late 60's, the basement is finished, however due to the recent rains, portions of the basement walls have appeared to be leaking and or sweating. The central unit was recently upgraded, but upon close inspection there's black mold visible on some of the basement insulation. |
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+1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. Quoted:
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Bleach +1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. Done squared. Pallet idea is money. |
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Use tsp. it is the ONLY thing that will kill the mold on the inside and out.
Tsp |
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+1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. never mind, just saw your basement is finished. Now you got big problems. Quoted:
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Bleach +1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. never mind, just saw your basement is finished. Now you got big problems. Splain??? |
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Splain??? Quoted:
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Bleach +1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. never mind, just saw your basement is finished. Now you got big problems. Splain??? Depends how finished your basement is. Is it finished as in insulated and sheet rock and flooring or carpet? If so the mold has most likely found a foothold behind or under just about everything. Is it typical southern basement walls made of cinder block? If it is, the mortar between the bricks has probably started to deteriorate letting water thru, coupled with hollow cinderblocks, who knows what is growing down there. Good gutters and drainage can help,. but speaking from experience I will never buy another house with a cinder block basement. |
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The right black mold is toxic.
See a professional. http://www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm |
| White vinegar. Spray it on and wipe mold off. You don't need to wash vinegar when you are done. Wear a respirator if you are concerned, or just open all the windows and doors. I wouldn't do it for a living, but wouldn't call someone for my home. I think that will always be something you have to disclose during a home sale if you have to call. I would bet it is SUPER expensive. How much cleaning would a house need to be negative on a mold test. I bet everyone's house here would test positive right now. |
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Quoted: We've got a mold infestation in our basement. Fortunately most of our stored items were in plastic bins and other solid containers. Unfortunately some pictures/frames, award plaques, and two rucks (read as Dana and Kelty packs ) are infested. I need advice on the best way to clean these items and short of cleansing my basement with fire, is bleach going to be useful in my endeavor? You guys always deliver, don't let me down...... Eta tear out all the dry wall that was damaged or just call a pro.
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Depends how finished your basement is. Is it finished as in insulated and sheet rock and flooring or carpet? If so the mold has most likely found a foothold behind or under just about everything. Is it typical southern basement walls made of cinder block? If it is, the mortar between the bricks has probably started to deteriorate letting water thru, coupled with hollow cinderblocks, who knows what is growing down there. Good gutters and drainage can help,. but speaking from experience I will never buy another house with a cinder block basement. Quoted:
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Bleach +1 Stick a dehumidifier in your basement, don't stack stuff against your basement walls. Get some used pallets to keep stuff off the basement floor as well. never mind, just saw your basement is finished. Now you got big problems. Splain??? Depends how finished your basement is. Is it finished as in insulated and sheet rock and flooring or carpet? If so the mold has most likely found a foothold behind or under just about everything. Is it typical southern basement walls made of cinder block? If it is, the mortar between the bricks has probably started to deteriorate letting water thru, coupled with hollow cinderblocks, who knows what is growing down there. Good gutters and drainage can help,. but speaking from experience I will never buy another house with a cinder block basement. You nailed it, we're punching out as soon as we can find another place. |
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Old lady is in mold remediation and said anything porous need to be discarded. And anything high value or sentimental needs to be taken to a restoration expert. Before you do any work you. Need to fix the water intrusion. Eta tear out all the dry wall that was damaged or just call a pro. Quoted:
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We've got a mold infestation in our basement. Fortunately most of our stored items were in plastic bins and other solid containers. Unfortunately some pictures/frames, award plaques, and two rucks (read as Dana and Kelty packs ) are infested. I need advice on the best way to clean these items and short of cleansing my basement with fire, is bleach going to be useful in my endeavor?
You guys always deliver, don't let me down...... Eta tear out all the dry wall that was damaged or just call a pro. ......packs aren't considered "porous" are they????? |
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There is a lot of info out there suggesting bleach is not effective at eliminating mold on porous materials like wood -- just hard surfaces like tile. It can help remove the stuff on the surface, but mold has roots that grow down into the material. It will grow back, and the water from the bleach can actually help feed it. Bleach can get rid of mold stains, though, but that's not the same thing. |
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Don't go for any of the home recipes. Bleach, vinegar, baking powder mixed with various things, hell, even TSP somebody mentioned says it's great for mildew but "is ineffective at permanently removing mold".
Go to your local hardware store and buy the specialized chemicals they recommend to remove mold. Super pricey at around $30-35 per gallon but really work. You need something that not only kills it, but kills it long-term and prevents it from growing back in the future (i.e. the spores are always in the air and it will most likely re-grow in the area where it grew initially) source: having to rip down all my dry-wall, twice, after trying all the home remedies and having them fail. |
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Vinegar to kill the mold.
Bleach / TSP / Hot water solution to remove stains. The recipe is on the side of the TSP container found at your local hardware store. Dehumidifier to bring the humidity level down so that mold no longer grows. Check the wood framing, drywall, etc in the area and make sure that is not harboring mold growth. Get the roof runoff and surface rain runoff away from the house with gutters and downspout extensions. |
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THE REAL DEAL:
It's there because of moisture. No moisture, no mold. Cleaning won't help if you don't fix the moisture. If you clean with bleach or dimethylmoldkiller it will come back if you still have moisture. Check outside for drainage issues first. If that doesn't work, maybe a dehumidifier. I run a dehumidifier at 55% humidity. Problem solved. ETA: Mold is everywhere. You can't get away from it.....If you collect an air sample outside, there will be all kinds of mold in the sample. The difference is YOU have high moisture inside, which allows an overgrowth. |
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Lots of advice here, and it ranges from uninformed, (bleach kills mold) to wrong, (tsp is the only thing to kill mold) to terrible.(a bunch of others)
Mold spores are tiny, and they spread like dandelions. If mold starts drying, the mold releases the millions of spores en masse, into your air system, carpet, air, everywhere. You have to kill the mold not the surface, but the root. TSP works but biocides will prevent regrowth for a while, and can penetrate porous materials you cannot tear out. Bleach only kills mold on hard surfaces, like linoleum steel or Formica/tile. It won't do shit for concrete, wood, etc. You have to remove porous materials. When doing this you can inadvertently spread mold all over. So, you need hepa vac and filtration. You also need to create negative pressure in the area you are remediating. AFTER cleaning, you have to eliminate the moisture problem. It's doable, I've done it, but there are certain step ,that need to be followed in order, or you just make it worse. |
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Lots of advice here, and it ranges from uninformed, (bleach kills mold) to wrong, (tsp is the only thing to kill mold) to terrible.(a bunch of others) Mold spores are tiny, and they spread like dandelions. If mold starts drying, the mold releases the millions of spores en masse, into your air system, carpet, air, everywhere. You have to kill the mold not the surface, but the root. TSP works but biocides will prevent regrowth for a while, and can penetrate porous materials you cannot tear out. Bleach only kills mold on hard surfaces, like linoleum steel or Formica/tile. It won't do shit for concrete, wood, etc. You have to remove porous materials. When doing this you can inadvertently spread mold all over. So, you need hepa vac and filtration. You also need to create negative pressure in the area you are remediating. AFTER cleaning, you have to eliminate the moisture problem. It's doable, I've done it, but there are certain step ,that need to be followed in order, or you just make it worse. This is right kinda. Bleach will kill mold, but bleach won't penetrate porous surfaces like drywall. The water will soak in, but the SH will stay on the surface. So unless you are using it to kill something on a surface that doesn't absorb water, it isn't going to work 100%. TSP won't kill mold. Where did that come from? However I suspect the mold problem is overstated. If was always there, it just grew when it had the right conditions. I mean you can get it to grow damned near anywhere by adding water and darkness. That tells me it is just about everywhere, so this whole remediation thing is kind of an overblown money making scare tactic. I'm sure someone will call me FOS, but lawyers used to have seminars titled "Mold is Gold". lol I would be wiling to be we could take any place that had just been "remediated" by the best tactics used by anyone and reapply the water and leave it in the dark for a month and guess what will be back? |
| So, my wife's lung damage, that the pulmonologist stated was from mold exposure (and was confirmed through blood tests), really was not and we just wanted to sue someone. Fucking funny how once we moved out of the mold infested house her symptoms almost completely went away within a month. There is no one to sue when you own the house yourself. |
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So, my wife's lung damage, that the pulmonologist stated was from mold exposure (and was confirmed through blood tests), really was not and we just wanted to sue someone. Fucking funny how once we moved out of the mold infested house her symptoms almost completely went away within a month. There is no one to sue when you own the house yourself. I'm sorry to hear about the medical issues. How long was the exposure period, and is she doing Ok now? |
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So, my wife's lung damage, that the pulmonologist stated was from mold exposure (and was confirmed through blood tests), really was not and we just wanted to sue someone. Fucking funny how once we moved out of the mold infested house her symptoms almost completely went away within a month. There is no one to sue when you own the house yourself. Sorry to hear about you wife, but mold is everywhere. You can't escape it by moving. I have no idea what caused what, but mold is everywhere and the chances of living somewhere without mold is just about zero unless you are in one of those clean rooms or a place that has been completely sterilized and no germs at all exist and all of the air is filtered. |
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I'm sorry to hear about the medical issues. How long was the exposure period, and is she doing Ok now? Quoted:
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So, my wife's lung damage, that the pulmonologist stated was from mold exposure (and was confirmed through blood tests), really was not and we just wanted to sue someone. Fucking funny how once we moved out of the mold infested house her symptoms almost completely went away within a month. There is no one to sue when you own the house yourself. I'm sorry to hear about the medical issues. How long was the exposure period, and is she doing Ok now? Exposure was years, she developed a severe allergy to the type that was growing in our walls. (100 yr old farmhouse) she is much better now she still has to take medication. The house was dozed 6 months ago. Her symptoms began to alleviate within two weeks of being out. Thre are those that say its bs and mold causes no problems, they are dead wrong. |
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I was a property adjuster in AL for a couple of years and I have a home where the walls can sweat in the basement at times.
First a few things. Isolate the molded area so it won't spread. Tear out any drywall or carpet out if it's covered with mold. Spray and scrub the mold with bleach or vinegar and peroxide. Bleach won't kill the roots in most cases. Then begin the drying process. Once you've killed the mold and dryed everything else you have to figure out what to do to take care of the moisture infiltration issue. Oh and typically none of this is covered by your insurance In case anyone is interested. Here is what I did after we dried it out. - keep a box fan or ceiling fan on to move the air. This allows the air to absorb the moisture so you can get it out through you AC system or a dehumidifier. - think about all the water coming off your roof. Where does it go? Do you need a fence drain to get water off your foundation wall? Do you need boots to pipe your downspout runnoff away from your house. - you may need to have your hvac guy cut a vent into your basement to create air flow to your AC unit. Mold is naturally occurring but it can become toxic in confined spaces. It's important to get it out and stop or contain the moisture issue so it doesn't get worse. Mold releases carcinogens, etc. If your in Bham I can recommend a good water mitigation contractor and tell you the ones to stay away from. |
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I was a property adjuster in AL for a couple of years and I have a home where the walls can sweat in the basement at times. First a few things. Isolate the molded area so it won't spread. Tear out any drywall or carpet out if it's covered with mold. Spray and scrub the mold with bleach or vinegar and peroxide. Bleach won't kill the roots in most cases. Then begin the drying process. Once you've killed the mold and dryed everything else you have to figure out what to do to take care of the moisture infiltration issue. Oh and typically none of this is covered by your insurance In case anyone is interested. Here is what I did after we dried it out. - keep a box fan or ceiling fan on to move the air. This allows the air to absorb the moisture so you can get it out through you AC system or a dehumidifier. - think about all the water coming off your roof. Where does it go? Do you need a fence drain to get water off your foundation wall? Do you need boots to pipe your downspout runnoff away from your house. - you may need to have your hvac guy cut a vent into your basement to create air flow to your AC unit. Mold is naturally occurring but it can become toxic in confined spaces. It's important to get it out and stop or contain the moisture issue so it doesn't get worse. Mold releases carcinogens, etc. If your in Bham I can recommend a good water mitigation contractor and tell you the ones to stay away from. Thank you, very helpful. It's actually a place that we're renting, the basement is block, no carpet or drywall. |