So we found mold in our house. And a lot of it. This is partly why there have been no posts in awhile.
Mold comes in many shapes and sizes. I found the mold underneath the vanity in our downstairs bathroom. Once I took the vanity out, it was very clear. See the small black fuzzy spots? Yes, this is just the beginning. Turns out we had most covering the inner walls of both bathrooms, likely from a leaky shower that was never repaired in years.... This picture is a picture of the wood framing in our walls and the baseboard nailed to the concrete floor.
My first call was to our insurance agent for a nice surprise. Mold is typically not covered in normal homeowners policies! Mold is not a 'sudden loss' and as such is not covered by insurance. Mold is a slow problem that develops over time, a result of negligence or ignorance. So no help from our insurance...but he did recommend a company for me to use to get it all cleaned up.
So the second call was to this company which is normally a carpet cleaning company but they are also certified for cleaning up mold. Mold is not something you want to handle on your own. I'm up for at least attempting nearly anything when it comes to fixing up a house but this is not something to mess with. If the mold is still active, it can make you very very sick. Plus the mold spores can then escape into your ventilation and suddenly you have mold over your entire house! Leave it to the pros.
This company responded very quickly and was willing to get started the next day. Which was terrific because the next week we already had our new carpet and windows coming in to be installed! We needed to get this resolved, fast. Then comes the next surprise, we need to get our bathroom flooring tested for asbestos... Our house was built in 1982, which is prime for asbestos tile. Asbestos is also something you don't want to take lightly. And mold remediation in combination with asbestos is...well... way more expensive than normal remediation.
The test for asbestos is quick and required by state law in Colorado. It cost about $270 for us. Fortunately, the linoleum is asbestos-free! Which is very fortunate otherwise I would have been up very late trying to take the tile up myself. This meant the remediation started the very next day!
Because mold spores can so easily spread, the contractor put the affected area of the house under what he called 'negative pressure.' This means that all of the ventilation is blocked off and the area is constantly forcing air out of the affected area. The rest of the house needs to be sealed. These four pictures show how the sealed off the downstairs and upstairs of our house....
As if this wasn't bad enough...some of the plywood subfloor was rotted out in the upstairs bathroom and some of the studs in the downstairs bathroom. These all needed to be replaced. I could literally take my hand and dig the wood apart....not very solid.
Mold comes in many shapes and sizes. I found the mold underneath the vanity in our downstairs bathroom. Once I took the vanity out, it was very clear. See the small black fuzzy spots? Yes, this is just the beginning. Turns out we had most covering the inner walls of both bathrooms, likely from a leaky shower that was never repaired in years.... This picture is a picture of the wood framing in our walls and the baseboard nailed to the concrete floor.My first call was to our insurance agent for a nice surprise. Mold is typically not covered in normal homeowners policies! Mold is not a 'sudden loss' and as such is not covered by insurance. Mold is a slow problem that develops over time, a result of negligence or ignorance. So no help from our insurance...but he did recommend a company for me to use to get it all cleaned up.
So the second call was to this company which is normally a carpet cleaning company but they are also certified for cleaning up mold. Mold is not something you want to handle on your own. I'm up for at least attempting nearly anything when it comes to fixing up a house but this is not something to mess with. If the mold is still active, it can make you very very sick. Plus the mold spores can then escape into your ventilation and suddenly you have mold over your entire house! Leave it to the pros.
This company responded very quickly and was willing to get started the next day. Which was terrific because the next week we already had our new carpet and windows coming in to be installed! We needed to get this resolved, fast. Then comes the next surprise, we need to get our bathroom flooring tested for asbestos... Our house was built in 1982, which is prime for asbestos tile. Asbestos is also something you don't want to take lightly. And mold remediation in combination with asbestos is...well... way more expensive than normal remediation.
The test for asbestos is quick and required by state law in Colorado. It cost about $270 for us. Fortunately, the linoleum is asbestos-free! Which is very fortunate otherwise I would have been up very late trying to take the tile up myself. This meant the remediation started the very next day!
Because mold spores can so easily spread, the contractor put the affected area of the house under what he called 'negative pressure.' This means that all of the ventilation is blocked off and the area is constantly forcing air out of the affected area. The rest of the house needs to be sealed. These four pictures show how the sealed off the downstairs and upstairs of our house....
Turns out the mold was much more invasive than originally thought. They ended up taking out about 6 walls and 1 ceiling around our bathrooms...See these pictures:
And now finally, after clearing out all of the affected drywall and rotted framing, the actual remediation is performed by 'soda blasting' and then applying an anti-bacterial layer which kills any remaining spores. All in all the process took two full days to do the remediation, and that does not include any of the rebuilding.
Somewhat fortunately, we were planning on gutting the bathrooms anyway! But not nearly to the extent that they ended up being gutted..... The rest of the week the drywaller was in the house putting up new walls for us. We used a contractor to put up the drywall because we were stretched for time to get the carpet installed later in the week. Plus it was a big enough job that we didn't want to mess with it.
All in all the total cost was a little over four thousand dollars, plus all the time and labor lost. But overall, besides the budget, our plans have not been put off too much. We didn't have to reschedule any of our big jobs and now we have new carpet and windows and walls in our bathroom, all mold-free!
