Protect your home, apartment, or rental house against toxic mold infestation, black mold contamination, and/or any type of mold growth by following the mold prevention methods
found in the in depth mold book Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing, and Remediation Guide.

Entire Home Testing
Effectively test your entire home for toxic mold, black mold, and/or any type of mold growth by hiring a Certified Mold Inspector.

Basement Mold Problems

       Q. I finished a basement last year and moved in December. The last few months in Ohio have been very wet. A wet sour smell started in my wall near the sliding door. I could not stand the smell. We ran the dehumidifier in the room all the time, pulling 2 gallons out a day. I know that when we put up the insulation in the month of July, we noticed that the vapor wrap around the door had moisture behind it. I went to the Internet to make sure what we were doing was the right thing. I was confident enough to go ahead and continue putting up the vapor wrap. I have since had a 3x3 foot hole cut into the drywall. The dry wall was very dry. Behind the plastic in-between the double layer of insulation near the door in the middle was very wet and the start of mold, but down on the foundation stud was a strange and smelly pile of mold. I have seen mold grow in a way of looking like spores. This was really weird to be in a pile about 2 inches with a very wet content. I was able to just pick the pile up with a bag. It almost looked like a very large pile of mouse droppings but very moist and it would almost break apart. At first sight I thought it might be something dead but there were no bones. I do think that the initial mold on the insulation would be from the seem around the door. We are going to reseal around the door on the out side. This other thing has me upside down. I don’t know where to go with it. Any ideas? [August 18, 2003]
      A. You need to send a mold sample both the wet mold and the other discovered mold growths to a mold laboratory of your choice for mold lab analysis and mold species identification. There is a serious possibility that the wet mold is the deadly toxic mold Stachybotrys which thrives in on-going wet conditions. You also need to mold test the air of all rooms of your basement, rooms upstairs, attic, and the outward flow from heating/cooling ducts for the possible presence of elevated levels of airborne mold spores, which, if present, are an indication of a possible mold infestation problem. In the area of the water intrusion around the sliding door, you need to remove and discard all affected building materials, seal the area against future water intrusion [seal from the outside of course]. You can use a low-cost Mold Home Remedy Recipes available at Mold Mart. Follow the mold remediation and mold abatement tips.  Use do it yourself mold test kits available from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store.

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