can dead mold, in an older moble home, that has not been cleaned up, make someone ill?
Yes it can. In a palace, a cardboard box, or a mobile home.
If the person is allergic to mold of any type the mold spores (that she calls dead) go airborne and can cause medical issues. It doesn’t matter what kind of mold it is, if you have a sensitivity. If it is a small area you can clean it up with Lysol or even Boraxo (laundry section of market) diluted in water. It may also depend on where it is located and what you need to use in order to minimize damage to the surface. Hopefully it is in a bathroom wall on tile or something sturdy enough to sustain a wash. It is always best to call in an expert, a remediation company. Without inspecting it is difficult to be more specific. Dead mold is when spores can be more harmful because of the airborne issue.
An allergy has nothing to do with whether or not the allergen is alive. The allergy is usually a physical response to the material the spores are made of.
Fungi cell walls are made of chitin. That's why so many who are allergic to shellfish and dust are also allergic to mold. Biologically most animals are genetically programmed to recognize chitin and eliminate it via an enzyme called acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase). Sometimes this enzyme causes inflammation, and an allergic response to chitin. So dry dead mold wafting in the air can cause an allergic reaction.
If stachobatrys black mold spores our found in the home does it get on furniture ( fabric) wood tables. If so how do you clean it & cloths?
Mold can settle anywhere, so yes, they mold can settle on wood. On wood is usually fungal spores on the surface Wet wiping and scrubbing will remove the mold. But to keep from releasing spores into the air, wet down the mold prior to removal. Mild detergent and water works for most mold clean up or bleach and water in a solution of 10 parts water to one part bleach will clean mold from surfaces.
To remove the discoloration caused by mold, a solution of one part household detergent, 10 parts bleach and 20 parts warm water can be applied and a bristle brush or sponge used to scrub the surface of the wood.
If normal laundering does not clean the affected clothes, they should be discarded.
Is stachobatrys ( black mold ) dangerous to be in the home?do you need to throw out fabric furniture if the home had pores ? What about matteress ?Is Landlord responsible for the disposable of furniture ?
You have to be careful about calling all mold that is black stachybotrys, because all black mold may not be THE black mold that is stachybotrys. But as far as stachybotrys (of which there are at least 50 species) yes, it can be dangerous to live with. It does tend to love living in houses because it feeds on cellulose, and if there's one thing a normal house is composed of, it is plenty of cellulose. The list of symptoms of mold allergy/chronic activation of the immune system is quite terrifying, including "chronic fatigue or headaches, fever, irritation to the eyes, mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and throat, sneezing, nausea, vomiting, rashes, chronic coughing, nosebleeds, bleeding in the lungs..." all of which is worse if the immune-compromised or very young are involved. Even though most doctors believe there is a direct connection, legally, this might not be very useful, because science and the law are very careful about declaring decisively the direct links between mold exposure and health, since mold exists in nature in outdoor air.
If fabric can be absolutely laundered, it can be saved. If you have hard furniture which can be cleaned completely, it can be saved. But if you have fabric upholstered on furniture, if you want to save it, you might have to recover it after throwing out all porous material--it just means that most furniture is not worth salvaging. Mattresses are porous and only have a relatively short recommended lifespan of five to seven years anyway, so there's no question but they should be replaced if they've been infested with mold.
Whether or not a landlord is responsible is a legal issue that would be determined by the courts case by case. Local laws vary regarding landlord responsibilities and the burden of proof. If mold infestation comes about as a result of landlord's action or negligence, then everything must be well documented. Keep records. Keep qualified records. If mold testing is required, make certain that the company doing the testing follows the legal procedures for chain of custody so that the documentation will stand up in court.
2003.breast cancer,2007,moved to this house,rental,never been well,x left after nine yrs,have a roommate,choose the room downstairs,this home was built kansas style basement,cyinder block,concrete,I found bubbles in the walls, can you help!
The fact that you have been in ill health puts you at risk of being in a vulnerable category.
Many people are not affected by mold, but most physicians agree that children and people who are immune-compromised and/or sick are the most vulnerable to the effects of mold.
If you are in our area we could inspect for mold. You did not say in your missive whether or not you actually have discovered mold. (We're not sure what you mean by "bubbles" but it does seem to imply water damage and where there is water damage, there can be mold.
What we would do is test for mold, taking a baseline from the outside air. If you have more mold inside than out, you may have something to be concerned about, especially in a basement property. The lab we use provides a scientific report, and we follow all chain of custody directives as required by the court.
We can tell you if we find mold and how much of it we find. We do not do remediation.
The information of what kind of mold and how high the concentrations are can be useful for a doctor who is testing you for allergic or other reactions; and may be useful in either motivating a landlord, or to you in court. There is no way of knowing ahead of time though, what we and the lab will find.
This is our service area: http://byebyemold.com/sa.php
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We hope you feel better, and find a speedy solution to your issue.
mold is behind one piece of sheet rock from a window seal leak. The seal was repaired. An inspector said the mold was dead, no longer growing, and a non toxic variety. Can he just paint over the wall without removing the Sheetrock?
Certainly he can just paint over the wall, but that isn't necessarily the best option. How experienced was the inspector? Were they hired by a landlord to keep costs low or affiliated with a renovation company trying to bring in work? These are factors that matter.
You don't want to find out the hard way that the mold is viable if the leak reoccurs and the mold starts growing again. If it were my window, I'd replace the drywall if the degree of mold damage were significant. If the mold was superficial, then replacement is an unnecessary expense.
Frankly, this is one of those assessments that we'd have to see and/or test to be able to give a definitive answer.
On Long Island due to hurricane Sandy, about a foot of seawater came in to our house. The mold is OUT OF CONTROL! There is pink, yellow, white, black and green mold. What is the most effective product on the market to kill all these species?Thanks
The most effective cleanser is a mold solution. Bleach can kill virtually every species, even those colorful varieties you describe. It kills the spores and leaves a sanitized surface resistant to future mold growth as long as you are cleaning non-porous material. For killing mold with bleach use a ratio of one cup of bleach per gallon of water (about 1 part bleach to 10 parts water)
A borax solution can also work: 1 cup of borax per gallon of water.
Tea tree oil is effective in the ratio of 1 tsp to 1 cup of water.
However, given your situation, you need to have a professional inspection done. If your house was inundated up to a foot, you should probably have the drywall up to the waterline removed and replaced with uncontaminated drywall. It is likely that you may have colonies of mold growing inside your walls from lingering moisture.
If you hire a professional inspection company to come in and check the extent of the damage and to make suggestions regarding what remediation should be done, make sure they are not affiliated with contractors.
there is wallpaper in the bathroom and are in old conditions, the swab sample test result show Penicillium.
How do we clean it? Is it possible that Mold will continue to grow behind wallpaper since the bathroom is steamy during sure on daily bases?
If there is a live mold colony behind the wallpaper and you are providing an environment where mold can grew, then yes, mold could grow behind the wallpaper.
If the mold is superficial it can be killed and removed with a bleach solution. Of course, that might not work well. It could ruin the wallpaper. (In fact it probably will.) The trend in contemporary bathrooms is to have hard scrub-able surfaces like tile or stone so if mold occurs, it can be handled easily. Of course, you mention you are in an older home.
If the mold is in the wall, the wallpaper situation is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to address any leaks, or figure out what the source of the water is that is feeding the mold, and eliminate it. Otherwise any measures you take in regard to handling the mold will be pointless.
If your bathroom is properly ventilated (vented to handle steam and excess moisture), any mold problems are likely to be mild and superficial. You may want to consider an inspection to see how deep the mold problem goes, and whether or not the wallcovering needs to be stripped. (A moot point of an inspection indicates you need to replace the wallboard!)
what color is cladosporium, & Penicillium mold?
There are a number of Cladosporium species which have different colors ranging from olive green, brown, gray to black.
Penicillium may have colorless hyphae and may have green conidiospores but species color may vary. This is a range of Penicillium from blue-green to black.
I suspect mold in my home possibly coming from the bathroom going into the basement growing up through the walls and carpeting and also from the old, old Acoustical ceiling tiles. I rent here, and don't want to move, just want everything fixed?
If you are renting an apartment which is contaminated with mold through no fault of your own, you should be able to get immediate response from the management company(or landlord) handling your rental.
You need to send a certified letter documenting the damage and asking for repairs done in a timely manner. The landlord can be held liable for damages resulting from a mold-related illness if a violation of the building code of the source of the problem. The landlord is responsible for problems from a roof, wall, or window leak that caused moisture build up, an interior plumbing leak, deficient bathroom or kitchen ventilation, failure to dry out carpets or other materials that may have been soaked by flooding, plumbing leaks or overflows, fire clean-up, or failure to address written complaints in a timely manner.
Your potential remedies vary by state. Questions can be answered by your state attorney general's office and/or a mold lawyer.
I sold a bar with a walk in cooler. Mold Masters quoted the buyer with $2500 mold clean up but didn't do any samples. Is toxic mold possible in a walk in fridge with no black mold growth?
Mold is possible but here's the thing: I don't think you're asking what you think you're asking.
If the inside of the walk in fridge does not have visible mold growth, it can mean that there is no mold, or that there is trace mold, or mold growth that is not perceptible to the human eye. A good rinse with a bleach solution would kill any mold on surfaces anyway.
But your question asks about mold IN the freezer. The mold problem is likely to be OUTSIDE of the walk-in, where condensation or leakage can occur.
If the drain line of your evaporator coil drainagesystem becomes plugged or obstructed at any point, water will back up and spill over the edges of the coil. That leakage can lead to mold. If the coil assembly is not pitched back towards the drain hose, water can pool in the front of the drain pan and leak from screw holes. The details behind a leaky cooler system can vary according to the system. If you have any leak, it should be repaired before any remediation is done, because otherwise, the problem will reoccur.
Samples are useful if there is a court case or in any situation requiring before and after levels. Otherwise how can you compare to verify the degree of decrease in mold levels, or determine if there are pathogenic species growing?
