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Q. I live in an apartment and I have
moved into this place since last July 2004. Ever since I moved in, my 2
kids have been nonstop sick. My boyfriend has developed asthma at 37
years old. My kids are constantly having fevers, runny noses, congestion
and cough. I definitely have not been myself. My boyfriend's mother states
that every time she leaves our apartment her chest hurts for several days
after. My own mother complains of headache and that she smells something
toxic every time she comes over. What do I do? [April 14, 2005]
A. Your health problems may be mold
related. Learn the top mold health symptoms.
You would be wise to mold test your entire apartment and the
heating/cooling system using
do it
yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home improvement,
or safety store. You would
be smart to move to a mold-safe place to live as soon as possible. Don't
move your clothing or personal possessions without first doing mold
decontamination by thoroughly washing the items with Borax laundry
detergent, a natural mold cleaner, in warm water. Learn about
landlord
mold liability
.
Q. We have been living in an industrial factory/converted loft apartment for over 10 1/2 years. The owner of the building has never cared about nor
done any remedial maintenance in regard to continuous roof leaks, as well as the facade of the building leaking, etc. The entire building is in very poor
condition with every roof leaking, plus all external walls and the hallways of every floor. We have both been experiencing repeated and continuous health
problems associated with our respiratory systems, severe sinus infections, sinusitis, itchy rashes and redness, headaches, itchy throat and eyes, and more.
The most severe symptom that occurred to me in December 2004 was a seizure and loss of consciousness. I have not been able to find the cause of this
episode through any of the regular testing at the hospital. Is it possible this could be a result of mold contamination? A friend of mine told me to contact you
regarding the gross colonies of orange/red mold growing on my entire front wall from water leakage. I once painted over the orangey color thinking it had
something to do with brick-moisture, and now it is back bigger than ever and spreading, taking over the wall. I also observed white fuzzy mold around the
raw and rotting wood joists that are our ceiling. I am enclosing 5 photos in jpeg format for your review. Please advise as we are very worried and have
ceased even being able to utilize that room. We are concerned about our clothing and possessions we have there as well as, most importantly, our health.
[March 26, 2005]
A. Your photo's depict very serious mold infestation growth,
which will be regularly discharging into the air mold spores that will
travel in air currents
to mold cross contaminate your entire apartment [and not just the one room
in which the mold is currently growing] and harm the health of your
family.
The widespread roof and wall leaks, the extensive mold infestation, and
your family's health problems all tell you that you need to move
immediately to
a mold-safe place to live. The seizure is even possibly mold related
because living in mold infestation damages one’s central nervous system.
Don't move any of your clothing or personal property without first doing
safe and effective mold decontamination of those items prior to moving
elsewhere to avoid mold cross-contamination of where you move to. You can
also use low-cost Mold Home Remedy Recipes available at Mold
Mart. Wash and scrub the items thoroughly outdoors with Borax laundry detergent,
a natural mold cleaner, in warm water. You can also use . Mold spores are too small to be seen with the
naked eye. If you want to make any mold claims against your landlord,
visit:
Landlord Legal Liability. Learn the 25 steps for safe and effective
mold remediation that your landlord can do for your moldy apartment
AFTER you move out. You cannot live in the apartment safely during the
mold remediation process. As you have already learned, painting over mold
does not kill or stop mold growth.
Q.
I'm writing you because I believe I have mold growing in the ventilation
system in my apartment at _____ Apartments in San Antonio,
TX. I began feeling ill, having
headaches, sinus congestion, swelling eyes and other symptoms. I first
spoke to an agent at the apartment management office on Sat. Jan 22, 2005,
and was told I would have to wait until Mon Jan 24, 2005. When I didn't
receive a call from anyone, I scraped some of the matter that was growing
in the vent in the master bathroom and took it to the leasing office. I
spoke with _____, who told me she would talk to _______, who I believe is
the Manager. After not receiving a call on Monday or Tuesday morning, I
called the leasing office and spoke with ______ regarding the substance.
She informed she had spoken with and had shown the substance to ______ who
said that it wasn't mold it was dust. I asked if they had it tested to
determine what the substance was and was told "No, we don't where to have
it sent to be tested.” In February 2003, I began to have really bad
headaches, periods of confusion and weakness to my legs. I ignored the
problem until I had to be hospitalized suffering from severe headaches,
loss of sensation on the left side of my body and the inability to express
my thoughts verbally. In the former apartment I had previously
lived in, I came into close contact with was a black moldy looking
substance that was growing in my ceilings, and on my walls. I began to
recover while in the hospital, I had to undergo physical therapy to learn
to walk with a walker. After my release from the hospital, I returned
home and immediately began to experience the same symptoms. i told my
neurologist about the recurrence of symptoms and what I was around when
the symptoms recurred. He instructed me to inform my apartment manager,
and move out of that apartment. The apartment manager came to the
apartment, saw the substance and within 2 weeks, I was transferred to
another apartment. The manager of my present apartment complex has
dismissed the subject without her or one of her representatives even
inspecting my apartment. What advise can you offer me. I do not wish to
live in anymore of these apartments, however I'm under lease until April
30, 2005. I do not want to experience the severity of the illness I
suffered in 2003. Which means I don't want to be here until the end of my
lease. [Jan. 26, 2005]
A.
The severity of the mold growth and the severity of your health problems
[which may well have been caused or worsened by your living in mold
infestation] are good reasons for you to do what you want---to move as
soon as possible. Most moldlords don’t care about the health damage caused
to tenants living in moldy apartments, and they won’t spend money for mold
inspection, testing, and remediation. Document the mold health threat with
good close up mold photo's and with mold test results from our do it
yourself mold test kits, available from our online mold products catalog.
Follow the suggestions provided at
Landlord Liability. You ought to engage the services of a local
landlord tenant attorney or environmental attorney to pursue any legal
remedies you may have against the landlord for damage to your health,
health care expenses, and the costs of replacing or mold decontaminating
your clothing, furniture, and possessions once your possessions are
removed from your moldy apartment and prior to your moving said items to
your new place to live.
Q.
I have a rental property and there has been an enormous amount of rain in
the last week. Along the building there are now several areas as large as 2
to 3 feet in diameter of what appears to be a white mold substance coming up
through the concrete. This substance cakes up 2 to 3 inches high. My manager
has tried treating this with bleach and it has not stopped it from
re-occurring. I would like to know: What it is (I assume it is fungus). What
agent to treat it with (i.e., kill it), and how to treat it. How dangerous
it is for my tenants to be in its proximity.
[Jan. 18, 2005]
A.
Congratulations on your being a responsible landlord who wishes to protect
both your tenants and your property investment from mold infestation and
mold health threats. Yes, the substance is likely to be mold, and airborne
mold spores from mold growth can make your tenants very sick, a potential
landlord legal liability you need to protect yourself against. Your first
step should be to test the mystery substance to confirm that it is mold
growth. Collect some of it and place it in one of our do it yourself mold
test kits and watch for mold growth over a 7 day time period. You should
also mold test the air of each room of each apartment and the air flow out
of each heating/cooling duct register, and the air of the attic, crawl
space, basement, and garage for the possible presence of elevated levels of
airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold control test. If you
want to know the mold species of the grown molds, you can then send the mold
test kits [one or all] to our mold lab for mold lab analysis and mold
species identification [$49 per mold sample analyzed].
Use do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store. Learn the
25
steps for safe and effective
mold remediation.
Q.
I am a U.S. Public Health Service
Officer. There is an employee here who has personal mold issues in her
rented home. Seeing your prior Public Health Service, I feel comfortable
referring her to you. Can you help? She is looking for advice in getting
out of a lease agreement and what approach she can take with her landlord.
Any help is appreciated. [Dec. 1, 2004]
A.
Congrats on working for the nation's health in your important job at the
U.S. Public Health Service which I was also proud to serve. Suggest that
your co-worker document the mold problem in such ways as: (1) color
photographs of the mold growth [using a photo developing service which
puts a date on the face of each photo, or by using a digital camera with a
video overlay on the photo as to date and location---e.g., kitchen wall;
(2) mold testing [using the Scotch tape lift sampling method to collect
the samples---see mold
test kit instructions] of visible mold growth, whether by a
Certified
Mold Inspector, or use
do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store, with either self-observation
of the mold test results or mold lab submission for actual, precise mold
species identification; and (3) mold air testing of the air of each room
of the rental unit, any basement, crawl space, attic, garage, and the
outward air flow from each heating/cooling duct register, and an outdoor
mold control test done 5 feet beyond the roof drip edge [done by either a
mold inspector or your friend using our mold test kits]. The next step is
to send copies of the photo's and mold test results [photo's and/or lab
reports] with a complaint letter asking for whatever landlord remedies are
needed by your friend. Your co-worker can also use the very effective
Tenant Notice to Landlord about Mold. Your friend
should also learn how difficult it is to get rid of mold infestation by
reading the 25 steps for safe and effective
mold remediation
Q.
My husband, myself and our 6 month old daughter just moved into an
apartment almost 3 months ago. It started getting colder and we noticed
a large amount of condensation on the window ceil. So much that there's
yellow puddles. Black mold started forming all over and around the
windows and sliding glass door. We contacted our renter's office and
told them, they said that they get a lot of condensation on their window
ceil too. They sent a maintenance man up and he wiped off it off with
bleach. Well, it keeps coming back, just noticed that in our bedroom
where we all sleep mold started develop on the walls near the floor. I
am very scared, I was reading on your website that mold is very
dangerous for infants. She has been coughing lately and is congested,
I've been giving her medicine and hoping it doesn't have anything to do
with the mold problem. Our neighbor was telling us about his mold
problem as well, they have a young child. He had a health inspector come
out and check it, there was mold growing on everything including
furniture... We are planning on speaking with our landlord on Monday but
I am scared that they will not help us. Also month or so after we moved
in I noticed a large discolored dark spot on the ceiling of my daughters
bedroom that wasn't there before. They came in and painted over it, I'm
thinking that it was mold and has been previously painted over?? What
can you suggest? Are the landlords obligated to fix this problem? We
cannot afford to move right now and have signed a year lease? Can you
please help? or give me a suggestion on how to remove this mold?
[November 29, 2004]
A.
You are living in a mold hell which can have devastating health effects
on your young daughter and on you and your husband. The advanced state
of mold infestation in your apartment would require extensive mold
remediation while your family and possessions are not present. Learn the
26 steps required for safe and effective mold remediation at
Mold Removal The high costs
involved for effective mold remediation are the expenses of your
landlord, not yours to pay as the tenant. Learn about landlord liability
at
Landlord
Liability You need to document the mold health threat throw
close up photographs you take.
Use do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store.
Use the Landlord Tenant Notice To Landlord about Mold. You need to be
moved by the landlord to a mold safe place right now. If he refuses to
do so, find an attorney who specializes in landlord-tenant law to help
you. If you cannot afford an attorney, there are free or low-cost legal
services clinics in many cities and towns in the
USA. Whatever you do, don't stay in the mold hell much longer!!!
Q.
I have been renting a home here in Cincinnati for the last 7 years. My
health, which has now resorted to me having been diagnosed w/ asthma &
chronic migraine headaches, which is all documented with my Family
Physician. I have told the landlord about the leaky basement, which by the
way is where my bed room is. I have also told him about mold on the floor
& on the visible areas of the wall we can see, there is wood paneling up
also. I am currently looking to be moving since my job is being affected
with the ongoing migraines. I can forward you pics of the walls, which by
the way I scrubbed with a bleach mixture, then sealed & repainted, the
black & fuzzy grey mold is growing back. I know it is the mold making me
sick, I never suffered from any of this before in my life. My teen
daughters also show some of the symptoms. This so called landlord took 5
years to put a roof on the house after I told him that it was leaking too,
so just think of the mold in the insulation! I have to use FMLA just to
keep my job at FedEx cause I get so sick. I stated taking allergy
injections just to see if that will help, but those take awhile to work. I
am also behind on my rent, since I miss so much work it is not paid time
off , but he says nothing, most likely since he knows he is in the wrong &
does nothing to keep up the home. He had the home appraised this year &
that was before I sealed the worst exposed area so I know for a fact the
appraiser & he both saw with their own eyes the black & grey crud that
grows. I hate to see what is under the paneling! Also there was a 6 month
period where the soil pipe to the bath tub had rotted thru & when called
about that he advised me to wrap some plastic around it & run it to a
garbage can to catch it till he could fix it. Daily the water ran for 6
months!! So obviously it is a leaky basement & the foundation is cracked
all the way down on one side. I just can not afford to do the mold testing
myself, but since my & my family’s health has been so affected I am
thinking about retaining a lawyer to see what my rights are. I have just
become aware of the effects mold has on your health since starting to see
an allergist. Your site has been a great help in helping me see some of
the things I was missing! Thanks for your time! [November 22, 2004]
A.
You are living in true mold hell. You owe it to yourself and your family
to move immediately to a mold-safe place to live. You have no choice to
protect your family health. Read about mold health problems in the mold
health sections of
Mold Health and
Mold Health
Symptoms . Do not move any clothing or personal
possessions without first doing complete and thorough mold decontamination
by washing your clothes and possessions with Borax laundry detergent [a
natural mold cleaner and killer]. Make sure that your new place is
mold-safe by testing it thoroughly with our do it yourself mold test kits
prior to agreeing to rent. Most landlords, as you have learned, don't care
about the health harm caused to mold tenants living in mold contamination.
Learn about landlord legal liability at
Landlord Mold
Liability If you want to
pursue any rights you may have against the landlord, document the mold
infestation with many well-lighted, close up color photographs and with
written mold lab analysis of mold samples and air samples [taken with our
do it yourself mold test kits] you collect from your moldy apartment.
Learn about do it yourself mold inspection and mold testing at
Mold Inspection You would be wise to read the in depth
book Mold Legal Guide, which includes a section how to
find a good environmental attorney in your area. You can buy how to mold
books at our
online mold products catalog.
Q.
I live
in Central Florida where many additional mold problems are presently
occurring due to our hurricane season. It has recently been brought to
my attention that a company which is subcontracting to build condos in
Satellite Beach, FL is aware of an existing mold condition, and rather
than removing the mold problem by replacing the affected materials with
new treated ones, this company is moving forward in the building process
by currently installing drywall, thereby temporarily concealing the mold
issue. I would like to know whom I should contact in this jurisdiction
to make them aware of the aforementioned. Additionally, I broke my
apartment lease approximately seven months ago after residing in an
apartment for six months prior to realizing it was infiltrated with
mold. (I am not a native Floridian and have NEVER dealt with mold until
recently.) That apartment complex requires that all residents
effectuate a Mold Addendum Agreement as well as a lease prior to
occupancy, so all tenants have done so. I work at home and began having
breathing problems which markedly progressed within a brief period of
time. I contracted allergies about seven or eight years ago while
residing in the Puget Sound area in WA state, so I initially dismissed
my respiratory problems believing them to be simply allergy related.
However, shortly thereafter, I noticed my two children beginning to
wheeze while sleeping, so at such point I began to pay much more
attention to our home environment. Those particular apartments were
constructed approximately five to six years ago, and a newer phase was
built nearly two years ago. Pink and green streaks of mold began to
bleed through the sheetrock and my walk-in closet and its contents
became rapidly mold infected. I called the complex office and they
bleached and painted with Kilz in my closet, in the master bath, and in
the corners and lines of the bedroom ceilings. Shortly thereafter, I
discovered mold growing on the FURNITURE, in the corners of the
ceilings, and on the baseboards in all three bedrooms as well, and dark
mold seeping through and around some of the electrical outlets also. It
should come to no surprise that these electrical outlets began
disfunctioning. The maintenance guy came again to bleach, Kiltz and
paint my master closet and areas of my bedroom as well as the other two
bedrooms in which I found circles of mold not only coming through the
walls in several areas, but in the corners of the ceilings and
especially around and under all the window sills. He also "treated" my
front foyer coat closet and placed products which absorb moisure under
the internal air unit and in all three bedroom closets. These were
nearly completely filled with water within approximately three to four
weeks. My children and I became worse in regard to respiratory
problems. My eyelids turned bright pink and began to itch and swell
dramatically. I visited my physician and began to use an inhaler
frequently I am severely allergic to Penicillin, so when I analyzed
what occurred, it dawned on me that Penicillin is comprised of mold. I
made the apartment manager aware of my intent to break the lease and
began searching for a new residence. I was actually throwing up blood
the last few days we lived there, and it took several weeks for my body
to flush out the toxins. I discovered your website during my tenure at
those apartments, and did not pursue complaints toward that apartment
complex because not only was I able to break my lease with no such
related costs after initially being told it would cost me a great deal
to do so and that I was the sole cause of the mold, but I received my
full deposit upon signing an extended medical/lawsuit release.
Moreover, several weeks later via post, I received yet another full
deposit which I immediately returned to them stating I had already
received my deposit money. I have been informed by friends which still
reside in that complex that since we vacated the premises, they have
rented the same unit to new tenants. In a nutshell, I believe the
appropriate authorities should be made aware of not only the torts of my
former apartment complex, but also the apparent negligence of the
subcontractors who are currently installing walls over an existing mold
problem. "Brand new" condos are going to be sold in the near future to
unsuspecting purchasers, obviously. Latent mold doesn't dry up nor
dissipate; rather it continues to silently grow and is not only the
proximate cause of a myriad of health problems/disorders, but may also
ultimately cause death. Thus, I am inquiring as to whom I should
contact regarding same in order to prevent others from enduring any mold
related harm and/or illnesses which I have come to realize truly exist.
[November 21, 2004]
A.
The first step is to document the mold infestation problems with
do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store
[or to hire a
Certified Mold Inspector], and/or many close up color
photographs of the mold growths. Because you are no longer a tenant, you
don't need to utilize the Tenant Notice to Landlord about Mold. As a
former tenant and/or as a concerned good citizen, you should send copies
of your mold lab test results and/or color photographs, along with your
detailed complaint letter which needs to include the moldy property
address and owner's name and full contact information, to your choice of
as many of the following offices as you decide is best: (1) city
building inspector [find out name and address of the boss]; (2) city and
county health department [find out name and address of the boss];
(3) city and state business licensing agency for the apartments and/or
condo builder; (4) city mayor; (5) your state Environmental Protection
Agency; (6) your state Occupational Safety and Health Administration;
(7) the city news editor of your local daily newspaper; and (8) the news
editor of your local radio and TV stations [who are very interested in
mold news articles]. Also very attention-getting would be to find from
public records the name of the mortgage lender of the moldy property and
then send the lab reports, photo, and complaint letter to the lender
whose mortgage collateral is imperiled by the mold contamination
problem.
Q. My husband and I
were married a little over 2 years ago and since then we
have moved into a home (rental) at the moment. The only
problem is this year. First of all.... we are having
severe mold problems. This place is an old (cape cod
type style) rental home with even the shaker shingles.
We also have a good bit of trees, a lot of rain this
year, a pond (water right behind the house), and even
frogs are on our porch (to tell you how damp it is)- -
- especially "this" year. In the house I have noticed
an awful stench! I have found so much mold, that I
cannot keep up with it!!! I have found it in cupboards,
up the walls, on baskets, fabrics, etc..... I have a
black leather coat in the back of the cupboard that was
covered in ringlets of mold/fur/etc... The more I
clean, the more I find. It seems almost like an
impossibility. The other day we purchased
dehumidifiers. I have thrown out so much right now -
- - shoes, papers, etc, etc..... Some things were
"fur" covered!!! Is this our fault for not keeping up
with all of this mold--- or is it an endless cycle? We
rent this place, so it is not even our home. We also
have noticed many things with our health. My husband
now has asthma symptoms this year (just started), he
also gets rashes a lot. I on the other hand (which I do
not know if this has anything to do with "mold") started
having vocal problems. I had to get a vocal polyp
removed. And not to name other things. Can you give me
some input on what you are even thinking? We cannot
move for another season (next summer/spring). [Sept. 1,
2004]
A. If your house
were on fire right now, would you be thinking "no, we
cannot leave this burning house until next spring or
summer"? I don't think so. Your rental house is on fire
right now---a mold fire that can burn your good health
and scar your health permanently with long-term
mold-related health problems like asthma and destruction
of brain tissue. You need to find immediately a
mold-safe place to live and get there quickly. Do not
move any of your personal property and clothing without
first doing safe, effective, and complete mold
remediation in accordance with the detailed instructions
provided for each type of personal property in our book
Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection,
Testing, and Remediation [
Mold Book ]. Learn
about landlord mold liability at
Mold Legal
Liability
To document the types of mold species growing in your
rental house and to determine how widespread the mold
contamination may be, you should test your entire home
with
do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store.
Q. I recently had my apartment's
HVAC unit cleaned by the management staff. Attached are three of the
before photos. [one of which is posted above on this webpage] The
HVAC unit is in my apartment's laundry room. While the filter is
at the bottom of the unit, the return air comes from open exposure to
the laundry room more so than from the appearance of a return air vent
which leads to my apartment's foyer My questions: How much
influence do my washer and dryer have in the potential for mold in the
HVAC unit? I greatly appreciate any information you can provide.
Thank you for your time. [August 2, 2004].
A.
Learn about landlord mold liability at
Landlord
Mold Liability. The possible
problem of the washer is that if there is any water line or machine leak,
that water problem will enable mold to grow. Similarly, if the dryer
exhaust is NOT directly vented to the outside, the operation of the dryer
will cause high indoor humidity which facilitates big-time mold growth.
The "before" laundry room photo's [one of which is published above]
illustrate a serious mold health problem which is likely to be still all
over your apartment and its entire heating/cooling system [because of
likely ineffective mold remediation steps taken]. You need to do your own
mold test results to know the mold truth about your apartment. Your
first and most affordable mold investigative step
to learn the severity and the extent of the
possible mold infestation is to use our
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. You can buy mold test kits at a
large hardware or home improvement store. 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.
Mold test kits come with detailed use
instructions to make your tests
informative and helpful in mold problem diagnosis. Learn how to do your
own, self-observation analysis of mold test kits results at
Reading Mold Test Results. You
can also read online the copyrighted form “Self-Analysis
& Interpretation of Visible Mold Growth in Do-It-Yourself Mold Test kits.”
Learn the
steps required for safe and effective mold remediation at
Mold Removal
Q.
Toxic mold was recently found in my apartment. My
veterinarian suggested that I look for mold when I took
my cat in for vet treatment because my cat’s fur fell
out, and the vet’s tests for ringworm were negative. I
hired the microbiologist whose inspection and testing
found stachybotrys and numerous other molds in the walls
and floor of my apartment. My landlord has put me in a
hotel until remediation is done. However, I am very ill
with joint pains (I can barely walk) and numerous other
problems. I have been to the emergency room twice and
they treated me like a nutcase and would not treat me.
I need to know what kind of tests, blood tests, etc.
that should be taken to see if this mold has had a
deleterious effect on my health. I know that it has as
I can feel it in my bones, but what TESTS can prove it?
[June 13, 2004]
A.
Because most landlords and most mold contractors are
untrained or poorly trained about safe and effective
mold remediation procedures, do NOT move back into the
apartment until the apartment passes what are called
"clearance tests" by an independent [unrelated to
landlord or mold contractor]
Certified Mold Inspector. You can
also do your own clearance testing using
do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store.
Learn the steps
required for safe and effective mold remediation at
Mold Removal In
reply to your medical mold questions, the types of
physicians who will be of most value to you are:
neurologist [for possible brain damaged caused by mold
growth, especially because the deadly toxic mold
Stachybotrys has been growing in your apartment],
ear-nose-throat specialist or allergist for possible
sinus mold growth [very common], and pulmonary physician
[lung doctor]. Some of the possible tests include: MRI
brain scan of your brain and/or sinus cavities,
ultrasound testing of your sinus cavities, nasal swab,
chest xray, lung biopsy, mold antibody blood testing
and/or any other mold medical diagnostic procedures
recommended by your attending physicians. If you want
to know all about mold medical diagnosis and possible
mold medical treatments, please read the in depth book
Mold Health Guide [
Mold Health ]. As to potential landlord
liability to you because of your serious mold health
damage from the apartment mold, please visit:
Landlord Legal
Liability
.
Q.
We have a 300 year old house in Massachusetts. Our tenants have done tests
to determine if there is "black mold" there. We DO have a damp-- and at
times wet-- basement. The house is also not air tight by any means. They
have seen signs of mildew or mold, which we did occasionally while we
lived there. We were there for 18 years until last fall. BIG QUESTION:
they had "black mold", and ill health from it in themselves and their
pets, where they lived before moving to our house. What are the chances
that they "brought it with them"? Also, they know that they have
developed a sensitivity to ANY mold since becoming sick. One lab I have
spoken to says that if they never were symptom-free, they may very well
have never gotten rid of the mold on their personal belongings. Their pets
are better but they are not. Do you have any idea as to how transferable
the "black mold" is? [May 20, 2004]
A. Your
damp and sometimes wet basement means that your home is going to
be heavily mold contaminated. Basement mold can easily grow into the
ceilings and walls above. In addition, basement mold airborne mold spores
can travel in air currents to mold cross-contaminate your entire house and
its heating/cooling system. In view of the mold test results paid for by
the tenant, you need to have the home carefully inspected and tested by a
Certified Mold Inspector. Alternatively, you could do
a mold presence screening of your entire house with our do it yourself
mold test kits. Your first mold investigative step is to use our 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.
Use do it yourself mold test kits available at a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store. 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 “Analyzing
Results of Mold Test Kits.” Of course, it is possible that the tenant may
have transferred some mold into the house on their clothing and personal
possessions because they had just moved from a mold-contaminated place.
But when you have known water problems, you can rest assured that
the primary problem is your building itself. Learn the steps required for
safe and effective mold remediation at
Mold Removal If you are concerned
about a possible mold lawsuit against you as the landlord, you ought to
read our in depth book
Mold Legal Guide.
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