I had a bad situation in the last house I was renting from and I wanted to know how serious is this mess & cost to clean it up. What is it that I can do to start cleaning this mess up. I have been in the property for only a month.
Let me try to answer your questions in order.
Q. How serious is this mess:
A. As to the extent of the problem I can’t say without doing an on site inspection as anyone who knows anything about mold remediation and cleanup will say. I can say that Depending on the type of mold and the levels it could be a very serious problem. There are a few things that you should know about mold though. 1st mold is everywhere, we are constantly breathing it in and dealing with it. Most of the time this isn’t a problem, however there are certain types of mold that can cause very serious health problems. To see a list of symptoms association with mold go to http://www.moldrx4u.com/Symptoms.asp . 2nd Mold doesn’t grow with out a source of water. This could be humidity if you are in a high humidity state, or it could be a leaky pipe, or roof, or any number of things. Hence the importance of a site inspection to locate potential sources of water and areas of problems. So to sum up it could range from extremely serious to only mildly serious it all depends on the species and levels. (also a note, you can’t tell species by color, spores need to be sent to a lab to verify species)
Q. Cost to clean it up:
A. This can vary from almost nothing to 10′s of thousands of dollars. Again this goes to the extent of the mold problem, the cost of sampling, which can range from $300-$2000, to the type of mold and where it is located as well as what form of mold remediation you use. I would go into detail about this but this would take a very very long time and most of us would probably loose interest about a third of the way through lol.
Q. What can I do to start cleaning this mess up.
A. First thing that needs to be determined is if there is an active leak in the house. More than anything else you need to resolve the source of water before you try to clean this up. Second you need to have sampling done in the house, I would recommend spore trap samples taken at a volume of 150 cubic meters of air per minute for 10 minutes to get a representative sample, both inside and outside for comparison, and tape lifts of any visible mold that might be hazardous. From here it’s up to you what you do if you have the landlord reimburse you for the costs, move you, or you proceed with the cleanup. However it is good to know that there is a problem and have proof of that problem so that you can contact your landlord to either deal with it or break your lease.
There is a lot to know about mold and unfortunately it is hard for people to find the time to really learn about what it is and the problems it can cause. I know a great resource is the site I listed above: http://www.moldrx4u.com There is a lot of information on mold and how to remove it in a safe non-toxic way.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You don't know what kind of damage has been done to the inside of the walls, so if I were you I would get the owners to clean it up.
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added 26.08.09
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Let me try to answer your questions in order.
Q. How serious is this mess:
A. As to the extent of the problem I can't say without doing an on site inspection as anyone who knows anything about mold remediation and cleanup will say. I can say that Depending on the type of mold and the levels it could be a very serious problem. There are a few things that you should know about mold though. 1st mold is everywhere, we are constantly breathing it in and dealing with it. Most of the time this isn't a problem, however there are certain types of mold that can cause very serious health problems. To see a list of symptoms association with mold go to http://www.moldrx4u.com/Symptoms.asp . 2nd Mold doesn't grow with out a source of water. This could be humidity if you are in a high humidity state, or it could be a leaky pipe, or roof, or any number of things. Hence the importance of a site inspection to locate potential sources of water and areas of problems. So to sum up it could range from extremely serious to only mildly serious it all depends on the species and levels. (also a note, you can't tell species by color, spores need to be sent to a lab to verify species)
Q. Cost to clean it up:
A. This can vary from almost nothing to 10's of thousands of dollars. Again this goes to the extent of the mold problem, the cost of sampling, which can range from $300-$2000, to the type of mold and where it is located as well as what form of mold remediation you use. I would go into detail about this but this would take a very very long time and most of us would probably loose interest about a third of the way through lol.
Q. What can I do to start cleaning this mess up.
A. First thing that needs to be determined is if there is an active leak in the house. More than anything else you need to resolve the source of water before you try to clean this up. Second you need to have sampling done in the house, I would recommend spore trap samples taken at a volume of 150 cubic meters of air per minute for 10 minutes to get a representative sample, both inside and outside for comparison, and tape lifts of any visible mold that might be hazardous. From here it's up to you what you do if you have the landlord reimburse you for the costs, move you, or you proceed with the cleanup. However it is good to know that there is a problem and have proof of that problem so that you can contact your landlord to either deal with it or break your lease.
There is a lot to know about mold and unfortunately it is hard for people to find the time to really learn about what it is and the problems it can cause. I know a great resource is the site I listed above: http://www.moldrx4u.com There is a lot of information on mold and how to remove it in a safe non-toxic way.References : http://www.moldrx4u.com
Its impossible to give you an estimate without knowing more information, what area is contaminated, what is the spore count, what will need to be removed and demoed and after rebuilt, how long will it take??? As you can see there are a lot of variables to work with here. If you fill me in a little more I would be happy to give you my best estimate at what the cost of repair should be. However, without doing a professional mold inspection its even tough to give that estimate because as the previous person stated in their answer it could be throughout the walls and without an inspection we would have no way of knowing this. If its bad, whatever you do, don’t try to remove it yourself. This could spread the spores and potentially make it even worse. If you would like me to help with anything else feel free to ask, its my job.
Aaron Chapin
Disaster Masters: Flood and Mold Restoration Specialists
http://www.disastermastersaz.com
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