Found black mold in the basement, what to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Black mold is not an invention of HGTV. It can cause very real health problems in genetically susceptible and immunocompromised people. This area is terrible for mold.

OP, you can buy an inexpensive mold testing kit on Amazon, swab the mold, and send it in.

And for people buying a house - please get the infrared imaging for water issues. If we would have we would have saved ourselves some serious health problems and thousands of dollars in remediation.

You seem to not understand the difference between mold and black mold.

[Anonymous]

We just had a very large mold problem. We all got very sick. Ended up moving and much better. I’d just have your husband clean it as men don’t seem as susceptible and then have a company come in to see how it formed. You’ve got a water intrusion and need to address that so more doesn’t grow. All our mold was behind walls, and yes stachybotrys was one of the molds. It made me and the kids super sick and we showed it in our urine testing for months. Don’t underestimate health impacts if you genetically happen to be susceptible to things like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably is black mold. The advice above is terrible

Troll.

Not troll.

Look up previous mold threads.
The definitive guide is ANSI. Not one mention of bleach.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/fcstores/stores/435276/3932/606129_S520.pdf

[Anonymous]

It’s shocking that people keep spreading bad advice. Is it because you want everyone’s house to be a dunk, smelly and dangerous as yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While cleaning the basement, I moved a bunch of boxes snd found black mold in corners and areas where the baseboard isn’t attached to the wall.

Vinegar and bleach clean it? No water is leaking through; I don’t know how this happened. Is this dangerous? Will it spread? Infect other boxes (not near the wall or affected area).

I’m so grossed out right now.

It's likely just mold that is "black". Real black mold is slimy and you will know the smell and never forget it if you encounter it.

Spray with 50/50 bleach5%/water mix and let that set for a couple hours. Wipe with fresh 50/50 mixture and then plain water, and dry it well afterwards with a hair dryer if it was on wood or drywall surface.

That's it. Just leave airflow and prevent moisture in the future. Always check basement humidity levels.

This is terrible advice. The bleach will kill mold on contact, then evaporate very quickly, leaving the water behind to feed the mold.

Mold needs: a food source which is an organic material, usually wood. It needs a proper amount of moisture, and dark conditions. Rob it of those and it can't grow. Testing mold is a waste of time. It may be interesting to see all the different names they have for mold but what difference does it make? Are you going to ignore the mold if it isn't "black mold" which is likely? No mold is good and if you have mold, you need to act.

You need to rip the baseboard out and remove the wall covering in that area. Drywall, paneling, whatever it is, it has mold on the backside and needs to be disposed of. Then you need to find the source of the water coming in. If it's a poured concrete wall, it could just be a single crack that is leaking. Call a good foundation repair company that offers a lifetime warranty on their crack repair. If it's block wall, then there is most likely water in the the porous blocks giving them a high surface moisture content and water leaking in from the cove joint where the wall meets your basement slab floor, then soaked into your woodwork wall framing allowing the perfect environment for mold to grow.

Again, a good foundation repair/basement waterproofing company can guide you on how to treat the mold and remediate the water intrusion to permanently stop the mold. You may also need a good, industrial grade dehumidifier for the basement if it doesn't have treated air. Look for a company with a high Google rating and no less than an A+ rating with the BBB, lifetime of structure warranty, and 100% money-back guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just had a very large mold problem. We all got very sick. Ended up moving and much better. I’d just have your husband clean it as men don’t seem as susceptible and then have a company come in to see how it formed. You’ve got a water intrusion and need to address that so more doesn’t grow. All our mold was behind walls, and yes stachybotrys was one of the molds. It made me and the kids super sick and we showed it in our urine testing for months. Don’t underestimate health impacts if you genetically happen to be susceptible to things like that.

Where did you get that ridiculous idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just had a very large mold problem. We all got very sick. Ended up moving and much better. I’d just have your husband clean it as men don’t seem as susceptible and then have a company come in to see how it formed. You’ve got a water intrusion and need to address that so more doesn’t grow. All our mold was behind walls, and yes stachybotrys was one of the molds. It made me and the kids super sick and we showed it in our urine testing for months. Don’t underestimate health impacts if you genetically happen to be susceptible to things like that.

Where did you get that ridiculous idea?

Probably a feminism journal or blog. There's a reason why 97% of work place related deaths are men and only 3% are women.