We moved into a condo a few months ago and now she says that she smells something in the room. My nose is congested, so I can't smell anything. There's no visual sign of mold. I thought about getting an air sample taken, but have no idea where to start looking for a company to perform the service. Any thoughts?
Wife is worried about mold in baby room
- Thread starter dquan97
- Start date
Mold can grow inside the wall and some varieties can be very bad for your respiration. Maybe that's why your nose is stopped up. 
Toastedlightly
Diamond Member
- Aug 7, 2004
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Originally posted by: Ikonomi
Mold can grow inside the wall and some varieties can be very bad for your respiration. Maybe that's why your nose is stopped up.
I thought about that...
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
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Have you pulled the carpet up? That would be my first course of action. After that I guess you'd have to start checking the drywall. I'd hire a professional for that though.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
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Originally posted by: jadinolf
Originally posted by: Toastedlightly
Why would you check for mold in the phonebook?
:laugh:
There's nothing worse than a moldy phonebook.
True - mold can create very nasty toxins and in a room for a baby, this should be taken seriously. If you don't want to jump right into a professional search, you can do a few things:
Steam clean the carpet. This will kill most things in the carpet.
Repaint the room with a sealing primer. Kilz is the best, IMO, and use the stuff with a red label. This is oil-based and messier, but does a better job. If the mold is in the walls, this will at least seal it. Also, in most paint and hardware stores you can buy packages of fungucide to put into paints. It's only a buck or two and comes in a pouch about the size of a Kool-aide packet that is added to the paint and/or primer when they shake mix it.
MustangSVT
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MidasKnight
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- Apr 24, 2004
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you don't want your kid to develop any respiratory problems. Especially with those young growing lungs, best to take care of that right away. Have the baby sleep with your guys until the room is cleaned.
ya, she's knocked up for 7 months already!
She says I'm the father, so I already did my part.The room has recently been primed and painted...I'll clean the carpet if that makes a difference. On monday, I'm going to call a couple mold sampling companies for quotes.
mold is bad....it is inhaled as you know and just gets worse...the way to get rid of it is to paint the walls after stripping them down...I wouldnt be in a mold infested room let alone a baby who's immune system is just developing
I work in a mold remediation company.
No it wont. Steam cleaning is technically hot water extraction, 160-185 degrees F. And it only cleans the top layers of the carpet. Odds are mold is on the backing, pad and under the pad.
Again, no good. Mold can grow back through paint, even kilz. And if its inside the walls, it will get out via the holes for outlets, pipes wires and other gaps.
There are kits you can get in hardware stores that test for mold. You leave it in the affected area for a while, then send to a lab for anaylisis.
Most likely places for mold are under carpets and other flooring, inside walls and in the basement rafters.
If it was caused by water leaking, your insurance probably will cover it.
Mold can cause a variety of problems to both you and your home, especially the baby. take care of it.
No it wont. Steam cleaning is technically hot water extraction, 160-185 degrees F. And it only cleans the top layers of the carpet. Odds are mold is on the backing, pad and under the pad.
Again, no good. Mold can grow back through paint, even kilz. And if its inside the walls, it will get out via the holes for outlets, pipes wires and other gaps.
There are kits you can get in hardware stores that test for mold. You leave it in the affected area for a while, then send to a lab for anaylisis.
Most likely places for mold are under carpets and other flooring, inside walls and in the basement rafters.
If it was caused by water leaking, your insurance probably will cover it.
Mold can cause a variety of problems to both you and your home, especially the baby. take care of it.
If the walls tests positive for mold, what are ways to fix it? And for carpets? How long can it take? Cost? The home inspector (when we bought the condo) didn't check for mold....
There are chemicals that can be pumped in to kill the mold, but that sucks according to my brother, a civil engineer. The only way is to take apart the wall and clean it.
Every house has mold. Don't flip out yet.
Take care of any moister issues first. If the moisture leaves, the mold will cease to be a problem. It?s amazingly resilient though. It can flare up decades later with just a hint of water.
I would make sure that your sub floor is properly ventilated, Make sure there is a vapor barrier if you have any areas without a basement. I would get heppa filters for the HVAC system and air registers. Getting a dehumidifier might be your biggest help.
A big chemical that is used in mold remediation is Chlorine Dioxide.
This is the same type of gas that was used to treat the Congressional office building for Anthrax spores. I think its almost 99.9 % effective against dormant mold spores, the ones that can flare up decades later.
Its not sold to the public, but in a round about way, you can get it in these little packets made for mold on Boats. I think they are called Starbrite packets. U.S. Marine, Boater?s World and Boat U.S. all carry them I think. The cheapest one I saw retailed for about 7.95 for two packets. I got them a while back for a long term storage setup I was looking into.
They contain either sodium chlorite or sodium chlorate, which generates chlorine dioxide after being exposed to air and humidity. The packets bundles all that as ?asperatol?, which is just the name for the generation method that they are using to have the sodium chlorite time release the chlorine dioxide product.
A quick FAQ on Chlorine Dioxide.
http://www.lenntech.com/faqclo2.htm
Here?s a blurb on the packets
http://www.moldreporter.org/vol1no1/moldControl
And a link to the ones I used.
http://www.boatus-store.com/webapp/wcs/sto...&productId=3849
A few notes is that the gas actually has a reddish tinge in enough concentration so its been known to stain (ie put the packets over a disposable plate or something) Its got a very short period of reactivity to air and in enough concentration it can be dangerous. When ventilated its residue is sodium. So, no cancerous residue like bleach.
Seal up the room, stick 2 or 3 in there with a little humidity and leave it closed up for a weekend.
Take care of any moister issues first. If the moisture leaves, the mold will cease to be a problem. It?s amazingly resilient though. It can flare up decades later with just a hint of water.
I would make sure that your sub floor is properly ventilated, Make sure there is a vapor barrier if you have any areas without a basement. I would get heppa filters for the HVAC system and air registers. Getting a dehumidifier might be your biggest help.
A big chemical that is used in mold remediation is Chlorine Dioxide.
This is the same type of gas that was used to treat the Congressional office building for Anthrax spores. I think its almost 99.9 % effective against dormant mold spores, the ones that can flare up decades later.
Its not sold to the public, but in a round about way, you can get it in these little packets made for mold on Boats. I think they are called Starbrite packets. U.S. Marine, Boater?s World and Boat U.S. all carry them I think. The cheapest one I saw retailed for about 7.95 for two packets. I got them a while back for a long term storage setup I was looking into.
They contain either sodium chlorite or sodium chlorate, which generates chlorine dioxide after being exposed to air and humidity. The packets bundles all that as ?asperatol?, which is just the name for the generation method that they are using to have the sodium chlorite time release the chlorine dioxide product.
A quick FAQ on Chlorine Dioxide.
http://www.lenntech.com/faqclo2.htm
Here?s a blurb on the packets
http://www.moldreporter.org/vol1no1/moldControl
And a link to the ones I used.
http://www.boatus-store.com/webapp/wcs/sto...&productId=3849
A few notes is that the gas actually has a reddish tinge in enough concentration so its been known to stain (ie put the packets over a disposable plate or something) Its got a very short period of reactivity to air and in enough concentration it can be dangerous. When ventilated its residue is sodium. So, no cancerous residue like bleach.
Seal up the room, stick 2 or 3 in there with a little humidity and leave it closed up for a weekend.
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