mold inside walls and can't get help!

10 years ago

Hello and thanks in advance for reading. IÃ¯Â¿Â½ve found your website to be useful and informative.

I live in France where most professionals (and my landlord) still believe that mold inside your home is never an issue. Thus, I am forced to remediate the problem on my own. However, I am stuck now:

There was a plumbing leak and floors were flooded in my apartment. I cleaned up all visible mold on my own Ã¯Â¿Â½ now my landlord has put in new floors and new paint on walls. But, there is still one wall that smells really strongly of mold/musty. IÃ¯Â¿Â½ve pulled back some of the wallpaper and no mold is visible. I suspect the mold is inside the drywall.

My question is: is there anyway to solve this problem without having to replace the drywall completely? I am doing this without any help, I am a renter, and everything costs more in France than in the U.S.

Would anti-fungal paint on the surface be okay? Or an air purifier? Or Ã¯Â¿Â½..? I donÃ¯Â¿Â½t know what else to do without involving myself in a very expensive fix.

Also, if itÃ¯Â¿Â½s contained, are mold spores still cirulating throughout the apartment?

Thank you!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

southerncanuck
10 years ago
I've seen people in Europe living in homes with mold everywhere and it just doesn't bother them. Not all molds are toxic. Not knowing what mold abatement firms or labs to test for toxins exist in France if they do exist I wouldn't know who to recommend you to get the mold tested. That would be my first step, know what you actually have.

When in Rome............

Good luck. Wish I could be of more help.
jcalhoun
10 years ago
Mold loves to grow inside drywall. I hate to say it but I think you will have to replace the drywall. Covering it will only keep the mold in it.

Before you get far along, realize that some people are very allergic to some molds and you should take the appropriate safety measures.

When you take down the drywall, treat the studs and frames in the wall with a mold treatment chemical. I used BoraCare with mold care on my subfloors. Let it soak in and repeat the application.

Also, here in the USA there have been lawsuits regarding Chinese and some German made drywall that contains high levels of chemicals that will cause the household wiring to corrode and create a fire hazard. Keep that in mind when you buy the new drywall.

If you want someone else to do the mold treatment, many pest control companies and water damage repair companies will do it.
Related Discussions
I can't stop the jade tree leaf drop! Help! (pictures inside)
Q
Comments (38)
carrieabalch This thread has a posted comment that reaches seven years ago prior to your post Your northern corner of the US would allow the blinds to be open during the day the lack of winter rain fall from out side could be replaced with tap water that's been allowed to set at room temp for 24 hours or more. ummmmm I don't know either but how does anyone get rain water from the outside to three floors up inside? Yes green is good but it is a bit on the stringy side sparse,thin and slightly on the side of etiolated. I imagine some pruning of your jades weaker growth and cutting would be in order, as to where you'll find some ideas as to where or what to cut could be a little difficult to look up after all the other soil mixing and idea searching you'll be doing. mind if I use your pic ? Start with the red lines and cut away as best as you can if you happen to find some info on your relentless 1000's and 1000's of jade threads You may also want to attempt to root the cutting as as well which also has 1000's and 1000's of searchable info on how to do as well. Side note which has very very little to do with any of your 10000's of searching information results The pot is a bit to big.
...See More
Help! white mold inside the shower wall?
Q
Comments (1)
I took pictures of them. Hope it helps to diagnose what it is...
...See More
Still can't get it right!!! Please help!
Q
Comments (60)
I found them sold individual on Art.com and everything over $150 is 50% off...so you could do 4 they are 20” squares..........but 9 is to big for over the console....and you pick the frame..they offer many Frame colors and you can pick your favorite palm designs mix and match...
...See More
Mold Counts High - can't find source
Q
Comments (7)
I imagine the majority of the neighborhood has crawlspace mold. Could be. The idea of living at 72 degrees and 40-50% humidity year round is a modern one. Fifty or 60 years ago, home air conditioning was still considered a luxury. In the summer, it was hot and humid. Things got moldy from time to time, and you wiped them down with a bleach solution, if and when you noticed it. No doubt hidden mold and mildew was all around us. Cellars and crawl spaces felt damp and smelled musty. That was just the way it was. Somehow, we survived. Maybe people are more sensitive to molds today. If so, it could be a reaction to industrial and/or agricultural and/or domestic chemical pollutants around us, but that's just a wild guess. Or maybe we're just less willing to put up with allergy symptoms that our parents and grandparents considered part of normal living. I've lived most of my life in older houses with those damp, musty-smelling cellars. Where I live now, the cellar dehumidifier runs day and night all summer long, and barely manages to keep the humidity below 70%. I've never had a mold test done in this house, but I wouldn't be surprised if my numbers were even higher than yours. I'm not dead yet, though. :) This is not to suggest that you should ignore your situation, far from it. I'm just pondering here, and thinking that if this were, say, 1959, this matter probably wouldn't have even come up. You'd have your windows wide open every night, to fill the house with cooler night air, which BTW is what the architect who designed your 1921 house expected. He couldn't possibly have foreseen nearly universal air conditioning, and for sure didn't design your house for it. Your indoor air quality would therefore be pretty close to the outdoor air quality. You also wouldn't have spent much of your life with the news media's breathless and profitable fearmongering over every possible potential household hazard, from asbestos in your floor tiles to bacteria in your dish sponge. So you might not have allergy problems, and even if you did, it's unlikely that you'd be worrying about mold spores in your house. Food for thought, perhaps, if not for action. Now I'll bow out of this thread, and get out of the experts' way.
...See More
southerncanuck
10 years ago
Jcalhoun,

We're talking France, in Europe, drywall and studwalls are not very common, it's stone, block, plaster almost everywhere. Many, many layers of plaster. New construction maybe studs and drywall. 4 2x4's in England a few years back came shrinkwrapped, $30.00 usd.
annzgw
10 years ago
Hopefully you're dealing with drywall vs plaster.
I have a hobby room that flooded and I found mold was growing behind the baseboard and also in the drywall, but only in the area directly behind the baseboard. I had to cut out the drywall about 8" from the floor before I no longer saw any mold growing. After cutting out the drywall I treated the studs and let the area dry out for several days. Drywall was patched and painted and no problems since.

So, I suggest you start at floor level and cut out some drywall to see if there's any mold.
noodlesportland
10 years ago
You said drywall so I agree with annz. Take a sharp blade and cut a small square or hole in a spot where the odor is strong. make it a plug so that you can put glue on it an replace it in the event that you find nothing. Do this a few times and see if there is any evidence. Also, take a straw or chopstick and cover it with cotton (tape it but let the end be just cotton) and swap the inner hole. see what comes out.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
You might consider a home test kit you mail them in for testing so may not matter your location. Here's a link to several kits. Never used one myself.

Here is a link that might be useful: Test kit
User
10 years ago
Cutting a hole in drywall and replacing it isn't a big deal, just a pain.

What if you were to cut a hole in the drywall, get a dehumidifier, and run it for a few days and completely dry it out?
suero
10 years ago
You are a renter. I don't know what the landlord/tenant laws are in France, but I wouldn't do anything to the walls without the landlord's permission in writing.
suero
10 years ago
You are a renter. I don't know what the landlord/tenant laws are in France, but I wouldn't do anything to the walls without the landlord's permission in writing.

mold inside walls and can't get help!

Comments (9)

southerncanuck

jcalhoun

Related Discussions

southerncanuck

annzgw

noodlesportland

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

User

suero

suero

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US