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Mold--- what should we do?

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keating19
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Mold--- what should we do?

Post by keating19 » Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:50 am

Last September after some strange medical things in our family, we had a mold specialist check out our house. He found white mold in several places, black mold in the air con units and showed me a disturbing amount of white mold growing on our wood furniture (including our baby's crib!). We now know how to look for it with a LED flashlight and understand that it most commonly grows on the unfinished surfaces of wood furniture (the underside and back, which we never knew to check before). At the time he recommended a chemical clean of all air con units, 5 dehumidifiers and a professional clean of the house by his company. Some mold was on the ceiling in the bedrooms and kitchen wall, but otherwise limited to furniture. Having said that, we have some wood slatted flooring that could have mold growing beneath it and we have had leaking behind a false wall that could have issues as well (cant see unless it is pulled up). The owner of our house agreed to the chemical cleaning of the aircon and 2 dehumidifies. We also cleaned all of the furniture with vinegar and/or tea tree oil.
We just returned from a month away for the holidays and found that the mold has grown back on the furniture (even though our helper cleaned everything with tea tree oil again while we were away). Although it did not seem to grow as quickly in the rooms with the dehumidifiers. We asked the landlord back and he gave a half hearted look around. The owner has now agreed to give us 2 more dehumidifiers. Is this reasonable, or should we push to have the house professionally treated? At this point, we are unsure whether some of our furniture is a loss. Our coffee table in particular seems to be harboring a lot of spores and we don't want to bring mold into our next house!
We understand mold is a normal part of living in this climate, but also want to make sure we aren't ignoring a real problem. We can't say for sure if the health issues we have had are connected.
If anyone has any advice or experience with this we would greatly appreciate some wisdom!

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:13 pm

If the company you utilized wasn't http://www.evdisinfection.com/index.html then I would suggest you give them a try. Ask for Terrence Yap and see what he has to say. Tell him SMS from Singaporeexpats sent you (he's a member of this Board as well but hasn't been on for a couple of months.)
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

keating19
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Post by keating19 » Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:31 pm

Thanks so much for your reply. That is exactly who we used! He was great and taught us a lot. Maybe I should see if he will come again now that we have had the chemical clean and the dehumidifiers and see what his thoughts are about clearing out the remaining mold.

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taxico
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Re: Mold--- what should we do?

Post by taxico » Thu, 17 Jan 2013 2:18 pm

keating19 wrote:Last September after some strange medical things in our family, we had a mold specialist check out our house. He found white mold in several places...

...We just returned from a month away for the holidays and found that the mold has grown back on the furniture (even though our helper cleaned everything with tea tree oil again while we were away).

...Is this reasonable, or should we push to have the house professionally treated?
mold is not healthy.

but i am unsure if a professional treatment would permanently rid your house of mold.

by getting you four dehumidifiers and cleaning out the a/c, i think your landlord's been quite reasonable thus far.

but what if the mold returns after treatment? it seems like your environment is very conducive for mold growth.

i keep mold at bay by using my a/c regularly and keeping my unused rooms ventilated, sunned (whenever possible) and i stick a digital hygrometer in a corner from time to time to make sure all is okay.

if health is important, i say start using the a/c (if it's old, stick in some 3M "filtrete" filter) and see if it helps.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 17 Jan 2013 5:42 pm

keating19, I certainly would give him a shout again. He does like to see things to completion so he may have some further suggestions.

sms
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

movingtospore
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Re: Mold--- what should we do?

Post by movingtospore » Fri, 18 Jan 2013 5:43 pm

keating19 wrote:Last September after some strange medical things in our family, we had a mold specialist check out our house. He found white mold in several places, black mold in the air con units and showed me a disturbing amount of white mold growing on our wood furniture (including our baby's crib!). We now know how to look for it with a LED flashlight and understand that it most commonly grows on the unfinished surfaces of wood furniture (the underside and back, which we never knew to check before). At the time he recommended a chemical clean of all air con units, 5 dehumidifiers and a professional clean of the house by his company. Some mold was on the ceiling in the bedrooms and kitchen wall, but otherwise limited to furniture. Having said that, we have some wood slatted flooring that could have mold growing beneath it and we have had leaking behind a false wall that could have issues as well (cant see unless it is pulled up). The owner of our house agreed to the chemical cleaning of the aircon and 2 dehumidifies. We also cleaned all of the furniture with vinegar and/or tea tree oil.
We just returned from a month away for the holidays and found that the mold has grown back on the furniture (even though our helper cleaned everything with tea tree oil again while we were away). Although it did not seem to grow as quickly in the rooms with the dehumidifiers. We asked the landlord back and he gave a half hearted look around. The owner has now agreed to give us 2 more dehumidifiers. Is this reasonable, or should we push to have the house professionally treated? At this point, we are unsure whether some of our furniture is a loss. Our coffee table in particular seems to be harboring a lot of spores and we don't want to bring mold into our next house!
We understand mold is a normal part of living in this climate, but also want to make sure we aren't ignoring a real problem. We can't say for sure if the health issues we have had are connected.
If anyone has any advice or experience with this we would greatly appreciate some wisdom!
Not to ask too personal a question but what were some of the health issues? I've been thinking of looking into this as my hubby has never ending issues since moving here.

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Re: Mold--- what should we do?

Post by taxico » Fri, 18 Jan 2013 6:09 pm

movingtospore wrote:...what were some of the health issues? I've been thinking of looking into this as my hubby has never ending issues since moving here.
mostly allergies and respiratory-related problems, i would think.

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