Q.
I have a damp basement. There is no mold present on the walls/floor etc.
Once in a while, there will be mold sometimes on a cardboard box. This
does not occur on all boxes, though. When my son who is 11 goes down
there, his eyes get red and itchy and he sneezes. Is there something I can
do to find out the culprit? We do have carpet in the basement. The
basement is damp and we do have a dehumidifier. [Nov. 22, 2004]
A.
A damp basement provides plenty of moisture for mold to grow well in your
basement. Basement mold can easily grow into the floors and walls above.
In addition, airborne mold spores from the basement mold can travel in air
currents to mold cross contaminate your entire house and its
heating/cooling system. Your first step is to mold test the air of the
basement, each room above, the attic, garage, and the outward air flow
from each heating/cooling duct register for the possible presence of
elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold
control test.
Use do it yourself
mold test kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store,
or hire a
Certified Mold Inspector. Learn the 25 recommended steps for safe and
effective
mold abatement and
mold remediation. Become your own effective
mold expert to improve your personal home or apartment environmental
safety and/or the environmental health of your investment properties by
reading all three of our mold advice, email delivered books [Mold
Health Guide, $15;
Mold Legal Guide, $15; and
Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, & Remediation, $15].
Q.
I had to relocate the incoming water pipe two years ago. At the time,
the basement wall leaked only when sustained downpours occurred, and quite
frankly, they are rare. In fact, I have had boxes of odds and ends stored
in the basement area for several years prior to the water pipe relocation.
The problem is, now that the pipe has been relocated to the west basement
wall, I have discovered that water is infiltrating the basement, some
through the crawl space, and some directly through the wall. It doesn't
happen all the time, but newfound evidence indicates that when it does
happen, that it has soaked into the boxes and much of the odds and ends in
the boxes. I discovered this earlier this spring when I started cleaning
the basement out (to have a yard sale). Several weeks ago I made a
concerted attempt at ridding the basement of the affected, obviously once
wet materials, and for my effort I ended up with little sores on the back
of my hand that when popped (they itched like nothing else), they then
bled, scabbed over, and healed. After they disappeared, I again attempted
to clean the basement, only I went into the job intent on removing
everything from the area. The sores haven't returned, but now my wife is
suffering a systemic itching--at first (two weeks ago) a rash appeared all
over her and the doctor put her on corticosteroids. The itching went away.
This last weekend I again went downstairs to tackle the cleaning--broom in
hand. Now my wife is itching again--no rash--but itching much more intense
than before. Now I fear that working in the basement has stirred up some
bad buggies caused by the wetting of the basement since the water pipe
relocation. I'm actually considering tossing everything coming out of the
basement and hiring somebody to complete the cleaning before calling an
inspector--but I'm still concerned that the itching currently driving my
wife crazy could be caused by the basements damp condition, however, there
is no mention (among symptoms) of itching being among them, although a
rash is possible. Your opinion please, and I apologize for the long-winded
story leading up to the nitty-gritty. [May 11, 2004]
A.
Your family's serious mold-like health symptoms and the existence of both
a wet crawl space and a wet basement mean you are going to have a large
scale mold infestation in your home. Mold in basements and crawl spaces
can easily grow into the floors and walls above. In addition, airborne
mold spores from both areas can travel in air current movements to
mold cross-contaminate your entire house and its heating/cooling equipment
and ducts. For these reasons, your wise action is total mold testing of
your home with do it yourself mold test kits from a large hardware or home
improvement store. Your first mold
investigative step is to use do it yourself mold test kits [self
observation of results over a 5 to 7 day time period, or send in for mold
lab analysis] to mold test the air of each room, attic, basement, crawl
space, and the outward air flow from each heating/cooling duct register
for the possible presence of elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in
comparison to an outdoor mold control test which you should also do. If
you see any visible mold growth, from each moldy area, scrape some of the
mold particles into a separate mold test kit per testing location for
observation over a 5 to 7 day time period, and/or for mold lab analysis.
When scraping mold into a test kit, you would be wise to use a breathing
air respirator [Home Depot or Lowe’s or a safety store] so that you don’t
breathe in extra mold spores that you put into the air by scraping some
mold-like substances into each mold test kit. The mold test
kits come with
detailed use
instructions to make your tests
informative and helpful in mold problem diagnosis. You can also read
online our copyrighted form “Meaning
of Mold Test Results.”
Use do it yourself mold test
kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store. You may
have to do expensive [digging out the dirt] on the outside of your
basement walls to adequately waterproof the wet basement wall[s].
Alternatively, you can build a 3 inch thick concrete liner [full of
waterproofing compound] just inside your present basement walls and above
the present floor to make your basement waterproof. Your crawl space [once
mold remediated] should have a concrete floor [with adequate waterproofing
compound] to stop water from rising out of the ground to cause high
humidity and mold growth on crawl space wood. You may also have to install
in the crawl space an exhaust fan that turns on when a certain temperature
OR a certain humidity level [e.g., 50%] is reached inside the crawl space.
Learn the steps required for safe and effective
mold abatement and
mold remediation.
Q. I
think I have found black mold in our basement shower. I don't want to
turn a claim into our insurance company because I fear it will cause our
insurance price to raise. Our basement has flooded a couple of times in
the past few years. I've been using bleach to take off the mold. Is this
sufficient? I've been reading some of the stories on your Q&A section and
we have also had to snake our drains once a year for the past several
years. We have many old trees around our house and my husband says the
roots are the problem but should I be concerned about mold there as well?
The shower is concrete slab and the bleach is slowly removing it. I'm
also removing mold from the basement ceiling and removing carpet that it
was under. Is this something I can continue on my own using bleach and
thoroughly cleaning or would it be best handled professionally? June 30,
2003
A.
Bleach
is too weak to be an effective mold killer. Learn why bleach is ineffective for
killing mold on porous surfaces like building materials, please visit:
Bleach and Mold.
Learn the 25 steps for safe and effective
mold remediation. Even more important to you is to
find the water source that enables mold to grow in your basement. You
cannot continue to have basement floods if you want to rid your home of
mold. Stopping water problems must be your number one mold remediation
step! You also need to remove all visible mold in accordance with the
precise steps recommended at
Mold Abatement and
Mold Remediation. You also need to
inspect and mold test the rooms above the basement, your attic, and your
heating and cooling equipment and ducts for the possible presence of
elevated levels of airborne mold spores, which, if present, would be a
sure sign of a serious mold infestation problem. With as much flooding and
mold growth as your house has experienced in the basement, your upstairs
is possibly mold-contaminated through cross-contamination by airborne mold
spores.
Basement mold growing on the floor and walls.
Basement mold growth.
Do-It-Yourself Mold
Prevention,
Inspection, Testing, & Remediation