Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mold

Mold in Truck! Out Damn Mold!

fieldtrip — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:28:58 -0800

I'm asking for my sister. And, yes I saw the previous sorta related mold questions but this is specific enough and those were long enough ago that I thought, perhaps, there might be some new mold-fighting technology or tactics: "We have a serious mold problem in our truck! Has anyone had success battling mold? "...We are still trying to determine the cause. It is likely from a leak, but could also have been compounded from wet stuff left inside. We don't drive it much, so the wet stuff was in the cabin for four weeks before we saw any results. Granted it also rained VERY heavily for many days during that time, too.

So far, we wiped down all surfaces (fabric and hard plastic) with a mold remover spray. We then shampooed the seats and carpet and dry vacuumed them. I also just put a dehumidifier in the cabin (a cheap plastic thing with little kitty litter like balls--like those silicon packets that come in shoes???). It hasn't collected any water though it has been three very wet and rainy days.

We have been advised by our local car expert to take out the seats and carpet and completely wash and dry them. This is our new plan for the Thanksgiving holiday when we can use our parents' garage. (We live in a city apartment and park on the street). We have been told that even cavemen could do this.

Does anyone have additional suggestions/hints?

Thanks so much!
Ellen in Seattle"

Is there anything fishy here?

Taurid — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:57:53 -0800

Its that time of the year again, when I get the furnace cleaned, install a new filter, clean the humidifier ( and install a new humidifier pad), and start it all up. In the last few years, I've seen something called the "Swordfish" advertised. Its an ultraviolet light that is connected to the furnace ductwork and kill bacteria as well as mold that passes by the light. I've read some reviews about it and it sounds as though it does work. However I'm still a little skeptical. Does anybody have one or have any thoughts on it?

Preventing mold from house plants

Coventry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:26:43 -0800

Is there an easy way to keep mold spores from potted plants at bay? It's getting cold, here in Ithaca, and we've brought our recently acquired house plants in from the porch. Shortly after that, I started coughing a lot. I think it's mold from the plants' soil. The coughing is worse if I hold one of the pots up to my face, so I'm pretty convinced that's the cause. I'm wondering what solutions there are, short of getting rid of the plants.

I've heard of sterilizing the soil, but that seems like a short-term solution: there's still a nice, moist environment for the mold to grow back into. I would trust it more if you could mix the soil with some kind of anti-fungal, like the one in krud kutter. Is that possible?

I've also heard of covering the soil with aquarium gravel. Does that really work? It seems like there would be plenty of interstices for the spores to escape through...

I've also thought about wrapping the pots in some kind of filter fabric, with holes for the plant stalks. Anyone ever tried something like that?

What can I expect now that mold has been discovered in my apartment?

semp — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:30:34 -0800

What can I expect now that mold has been discovered in my apartment? I left for the weekend and came back to nearly an entire (typical classroom-style) tile in my bathroom coated in a black substance and something growing up the side of the wall that has leafy mushroom-like black and brown fungi on it. Combined with the fact that it seemed like there was an excessive amount of water on the floor after my last shower, I'm beginning to think there might've been a leak that lead to some pretty interesting mold growth (I'm working on pictures if anyone is concerned about it at all).

My question is - what can I expect now? I know I should report this to my rental company tomorrow morning, but I would like to go into it having an idea of the consequences. Is mold easily bleached over? Is it something I should fix myself? Will they have to tear out an entire wall (as it looks as if it's growing underneath the wood panel walls and molding)? Will I be expected to temporarily relocate? Will I likely be held responsible for the repair costs? If so, would rental insurance cover it?

My lease says nothing about situations regarding mold, lead, asbestos, etc. While I know you can't tell me what my particular lessor will do, it would be good to have forewarning of what they CAN do, and what they might/probably will do. Has anyone had any experience with this before?

ISO: Cake Pan in shape of Comedy/Drama Masks

He Is Only The Imposter — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:49:29 -0800

I'm looking for a cake pan/mold in the shape of the traditional theater comedy/drama masks. This is for a gift, so I need an actual pan, not a workaround for making the cakes. Googling got me cookie cutters but no cake molds. Thanks!

That was mold ... right?

SpringAquifer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:02:15 -0800

My apartment leaked, mold grew on the walls, and the maintenance guy just bleached off the outer layer ... right? Last week, my apartment leaked, and the walls got stained, as such.

This weekend, little black spots started popping up all over the place, as such.

Then the maintenance guys came in this morning to spray a cocktail of Clorox and Tilex, in which they dissolved some kind of "pill." This made all of the stains and spots instantaneously disappear, as such.

The maintenance guy said that there was never any mold -- just "hard water" stains -- and that residents tended to overreact to things that looked like mold. I am skeptical.

Am I correct in thinking that there was mold, and that they just bleached the hell out of the outer layer so I'd think everything was back to normal? Or were those spots indeed something benign?

The Mold Creatures. What ARE they?

lipsum — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:53:12 -0800

Hello. A weird one: In my bathroom there's some mold. I clean it up once a while, but it's kinda there. Anyway, from time to time I can see some bugs running through it. Little bugs, coming out where there's running water, and disappearing, once the water's out. They're *tiny*. Real tiny. Smaller than an ant. Anyone has any idea what I'm talking about? Can anyone direct me to any information regarding these bugs? Thank you!

How to solve a medical mystery involving insomnia, chemical sensitivity, and an air purifier that seems to be an accomplice?

bross12 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:46:04 -0800

Does anyone have recommendations for dealing with wicked, terrible insomnia that seems to be caused by something I'm breathing in (judging by my racing heartbeat, constriction in my chest, and burning eyes)? Multiple Chemical Sensitivities are a part of this, so anyone with this who has learned a trick for controlling indoor air quality - please help me!!! Here's what I think are the most likely causes:

- Formaldehyde gas exposure. I live near a plastics factory that produces a fair amount of this, so that could be one source of exposure. I've lived in this apartment for a year, though, and have had insomnia only off and on. So maybe it's happening when the factory is churning up their goodies? I know I react to clothing treated with formaldehyde, so there's no question I'm sensitive. But I pray it's not the factory, because what then could I really do about it, short of getting a really expensive industrial quality air filter?

- Possibly allergens in the air right now. But I don't have any sneezing or runny nose or itchy eye things going on, which I'd think I would if it was a regular allergy. This would be great, though, because it would be easier to address.

- Mold. We recently had a new roommate move in who had lived in a house with a fair amount of mold that she reacted to. She cleaned everything she owned before moving in, and isn't reacting now, but maybe she brought in some mold and I'm reacting to that? In the past, my reactions to mold have been a heightening of fatigue rather than a racing heartbeat, though.

A wrinkle to consider:

- I recently bought an expensive air purifier from a company called Blue Air. This purifier is supposed to be great at getting rid of mold, allergens, and tiny dust particles, has a HEPA filter, and is supposed to not off-gas anything weird (such as ozone or gases from plastic). It does not address gas exposure though. I ran it in my room about a week ago and then things got MUCH worse. I am scratching my head over this one. Any thoughts?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Preventing mold transfer.

sapphirebbw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:31:25 -0800

Help me prevent transferring mold to new photo albums. I've just discoverd that some of my old photo albums have mold on the inside of the covers. There doesn't seem to be any on the pictures themselves. We no longer live in the house that promoted the mold growth, and I am going to transfer all the photos into new albums.

How can I make sure that the pictures will be ok? Is there a danger of transferring the mold to the new albums? If so, how can I help to prevent it?

Help! My shower is growing things!

bluloo — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:23:55 -0800

How do I a) get rid of this mold in my shower and b) prevent it from coming back? I'm a college student, and this is the first apartment I've lived in on my own, and thus have no idea what the best course of action is. I should preface this question by saying that we are pretty bad about keeping up with the cleaning throughout the apartment, but especially the bathroom... although until now mold hasn't been an issue in our bathroom.

I share a bathroom with one of my roommates, and I subleased my room to someone for the summer. When I got back last week, I found a lovely ring of mold around our shower. The shower is one of those cheap vinyl shower/tub combos, and the mold has sprouted in a line where the shower wall meets the tub, along the caulking. I know that my other roommate (who has her own bathroom in the master suite) has had a lot of problems with mold. The landlord has come by twice or so in the year that we've lived here and recaulked with supposedly anti-mold caulking. (And, if it matters, we are the first people to live in this newly constructed house). I just finished cleaning the shower with Tilex Mold Root remover, but all I succeeded in doing was stripping the caulk down a layer in a few spots. What should I do/what products should I use to eradicate the mold? What preventative steps should we take to keep it at bay?

What the funk?

at the crossroads — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:17:27 -0800

[WaterFilter] What is this slime that accumulates in my toilet? I moved to a new place (Indiana) about six weeks ago. I've noticed that my porcelain toilet accumulates a yellowish film of funk in the bowl that stops at the water level. I've wiped it down with a bleach soaked rag a couple of times and the grossness returns about a week later.

I've lifted the lid to the reservoir and the accumulated deposits are in the tank also, which leads me to believe that these funky slimes are coming from the water not from my body. (I live alone and flush after every use).

Algae? Bacteria? Lime deposits? Pharmaceutical residue? Mold?

If I plug and fill my kitchen sink and leave the tap water there, will I see the same deposits on the stainless steel? If I plug and fill my bathroom porcelain sink? Why or why not?

What is it?

How can I prove my workplace is making me sick?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:40:03 -0800

I think my work place is causing respiratory problems for me. How do I go about proving it? I started a new job a few months ago. I've had declining health every since. I have a persistent cough and wheezing. Sometimes it's difficult for me to breathe. I have not been able to get rid of it. I've been to my doctor numerous times and am an inhaler, allergy med and prilosec (helps breathing function, go figure!). I would think nothing of this, that maybe I have developed asthma in my 30's but my husband and I have noticed that my cough disappears by Saturday morning and is back in full force after I return to work. The place where I work is in the basement of a medical facility. Our area is carpeted and the carpet is black with dirt (?). I've been told by a few that there are radon and carbon monoxide issues there. My current manager disconnected the carbon monoxide detectors because "they kept beeping after we turned them on". Given that, I think the ventilation is extremely poor. In addition, the place smells funky - there's a pungent odor that hits you when you walk in the door. It's a bitter smell, for lack of a better term.

My question is how do I prove they the area is making me sick? Or find out for sure? I never had any of these problems before working there. And I'm miserable and relying on an inhaler most of the day so I can breathe. Are there lawyers that deal with this? What do I do?

BugFilter: Unbeknownst to us, water got under our kitchen flooring. The bad section has been pulled up and cleaned but I'm seeing some small bugs in that general area. Help!

pghjezebel — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:24:58 -0800

BugFilter: Unbeknownst to us, water got under our kitchen flooring. The bad section has been pulled up and cleaned but I'm seeing some small bugs in that general area. Help! Water got under our kitchen flooring and the floor buckled up. (Very old kitchen that has a layer of peel and stick tile, then old laminate flooring and then the sub flooring.)

I pulled up that area this morning because I smelled faint mildew and was worried about mold. I cleaned the area with a diluted bleach solution and have a fan blowing on the area to help it dry out.

What I'm really worried about is the small bugs that keep popping up around that area. I've only seen/killed about 10-12 of them since this morning. They are small and flea like. One or two flew when I disturbed them but for the most part they just see to jump to try and get away from me.

What are these? Are they fleas? Springtails? Something else that was just attracted to the moisture under the floor? (I haven't seen them anywhere else in the house, just specific to that area.) What should I do before they get any worse?

Popsicle mold in Toronto?

sarahkeebs — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:39:00 -0800

Where in Toronto (or failing that, online) can I buy a popsicle/ice pop mold? You'd think they'd be everywhere, but I can't find one. Bonus points for silicone or other easy-release option.

Please don't let these tomates go!

silsurf — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:50:41 -0800

Tomato Plants showing some mold (SoCal) Last year our tomato plants were a complete bust. They all molded away from the marine layer that invades our area come June (gloom). I live in Venice, CA about 1/2 mile from the ocean.

This year we did things right, built amazing four foot deep raised beds filled with all organic soil and compost from a gardener who was moving out of town. Many pictures of the boxes, the dirt moving and the voluptuous growth can be seen on this photo gallery Dimmy and Dewick Garden. We started our plants from seed and all along the way everything did great!

We got plants growing out of our ears and everything is vibrant and healthy. That is until about 10 days ago when we started noticing some mold on the tomato plants. Yes, this coincided with a fair amount of over cast June gloom weather, so now I am reaching out to the hive mind on what to do about it, if anything?

I trimmed back the damaged leaves and branches, but somehow I don't think that is going to take care of the issue, I know a bumper crop is out there and I feel very hopeful about this year, but I want to do what I can to make these lovely plants fruit.

In case you do not want to visit the entire garden photo gallery, here are a few shots of the issue at hand.

Healthy plant

Moldy leaves

Let me know if these links are an issue, it is my first time trying "little snapper"

Henry

How to destroy mold?

partner — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:11:23 -0800

Help me stop the mold! I live on the damp Oregon coast. My wood-lined bedroom closet is moldy. Consequently, items I store there are also afflicted with mold (such as my photo albums and artbooks and clothing), and it has an unsavory odor. I try to keep it dry with a dehumidifier. In the past I've cleaned the walls and baseboard with a solution of vinegar and water in order to discourage the mold. Does anyone have another remedy for mold?

How can I find out if there is mold behind my drywall?

cavalier — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:16:20 -0800

What is the least destructive method I could use to determine what if any mold might be growing in drywall? You see, there's this roof leak... ... that is very minor (the leak only showed up after 5+ days of rain in a row), and that's going to get repaired, but here I am looking at a wall with two pencil thin lines of moisture coming down about a foot and a half. Considering this leak has probably been here since before I moved in, as there is some minor discoloration I just now noticed elsewhere on the wall, I'm a little worried I might have something magical living behind/within the drywall.

I've googled around a bit and while there are several mold remediation companies that are happy to come in and rip out my walls and clean everything out -- no one seems to be in the business of, well, checking if there is anything there to begin with. I admit I'm being cheap and trying to prevent a $1,000+ remediation action without evidence of a problem, but am I just SOL here?

The best I've come up with is hiring a "water leak detection" company. Which is remarkable since I know where the leak is coming from -- the roof -- it's more, well, how leaky is it?

If it helps for anyone's anecdotes, I am in Florida.

Help me put the "fun" back in "fungus!"

dansays — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:04:15 -0800

Our upstairs neighbor's pipe burst this morning, and I'm worried about mold. Help! We live on the third floor of a 1970's-era building in the East Village. This morning, the apartment situated above us on the fifth floor had a pipe burst. No one was home, and by the time I noticed, it was clear that there was water running down the inside of our walls. The fourth floor has water pooling in the hallway lighting fixtures, and the carpeting on the fifth floor is soaked.

I've heard horror stories about mold problems, so I'm trying to be proactive about this.

1. What should I expect to see the building management company and/or my landlord doing in the coming hours and days?

2. How invasive is the cleanup and/or mold removal process? Should we be prepared to have our walls torn down?

3. If mold becomes a problem, what does New York City law say about breaking our lease?

4. Am I overreacting? My fiancee has rather severe allergies, and I have them to a lesser extent. We love our apartment, but like I said, I've heard stories, and I'm getting worried.

Burned down building, rising health concerns.

fontophilic — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:57:07 -0800

Asbestos, mold and spores! Oh my! Slightly afraid of the burned down building next to me. Should I be? Details, and a heartwarming metafilter-related story inside. We live in a multi building apartment complex. About a month ago, one of the buildings in our complex burned down. No injuries, no other buildings caught, but a whole lot of people lost everything.

We really like our apartment for many reasons, and weren't planing on moving. The burned down building, though very unattractive, isn't in view of our windows, and we don't see it all that often. Doesn't impact our day much. A few weeks ago, big "Danger Asbestos" signs went up around the building. Now, looking into the building, you can see big nasty, Katrina-style, black mold on all the drywall.

I'm asthmatic, and pretty sensitive to allergens. I know you are (probably) not a doctor, but perhaps someone with some environmental science background can tell me, how dangerous is it to live next to a building like this? I'm not about to go jump inside it and play with some toxic mold, but could just living in proximity to this building affect my health? Also, how likely is it that a building built in the late 70's would have asbestos?

Story time.

The BF and I moved to Austin recently, and we've been going to MetaFilter meet ups, like the most excellent white elephant holiday gift exchange, where I "won" a very unique frog shaped teapot. . Our apartment is mostly filled with what fit in the back of two cars, and impersonal Ikea furniture, so The Frog was very welcomed. The night of the fire, we had somehow slept through (no exaggeration) 10 full ladder trucks pulling into our parking lot. We were awoken by a police officer banging on our door-- "Its not your building. Yet." Autopilot kicked on; threw on some clothes, grabbed laptops and insurance papers, cell phones and wallets. In an instant, my boyfriend and I were standing in the entryway, looked at each other and said, "OK. Everything else can burn." He grabs the teapot and says, "At least we'll have the frog", and with that we left.

Metafilter has given us the ultimate conversation piece.

Lawn mold identification

Kevin S — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:37:59 -0800

What kind of lawn mold do I have? Can anyone identify what type of lawn mold I am dealing with to better guide remediation? The lawn is located in the northeast (albany ny area); neighbors have a similar problem. Here are snapshots.

Presumably the mold is on this list, but I can't tell which one.

Thanks

Moldy Kombucha!?

thebigdeadwaltz — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:45:32 -0800

My kombucha grew some mold... and then the mold went away. What happened? Is it safe to drink? I made two batches of kombucha in one gallon jars and let them do their thing in the pantry. I checked on them about a week later and they'd gotten pretty fuzzy/moldy/gross. Instead of dumping the batch and starting all over with a new scoby, I let batch keep going. Now it's week later and the mold 's all gone!

Did the scoby eat the mold? Was there a bacteria battle in this glass jar?

If I can't change my environment I must change myself.

dino terror — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:16:06 -0800

If you were once susceptible to mold and other air quality issues but have since strengthened your immunity how did you do it? I take allergy shots which are noted to be not that great for mold, I take antihistamines when I feel like I am really being hit hard but they seem to have little effect, and apparently nasal corticosteroids are another one that can help which I have started taking recently anyway for a separate matter.
I noticed that I started working out a few years back and I stopped catching colds on a bi-yearly basis. I directly attribute the exercise to strengthening my immune system against virus catching. Anything for allergen resistance?

Remind me to get a dog and teach it to sniff out mold.

GleepGlop — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:21:00 -0800

When I get in the shower I smell that earthy smell associated with mold. Help me figure out what the source may be! I first started noticing this smell around the time that I foolishly for some reason decided to dump some vacuum cleaner dust / dirt down my shower drain. Not a lot of it, but I quickly realized that maybe this sandy material may not so easily flush through the drain. This may be a red herring however.
I use warm water in my shower and there may be a possibility that something is originating from the hot water tank but I don't smell this from any hot water source outside my shower.
I popped the lid off my shower drain and used a bottle brush with some bleach toilet bowl cleaner to remove all of the buildup of gunk above the water trap. This took the edge off of my mold sensitivity but unfortunately the earthy smell is still there when I get into the shower.

Can mold grow on food packed in oil?

aws17576 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:35:18 -0800

Can mold grow on food packed in oil? There's some "Can I eat this?" context here, but I've fairly well decided at this point not to eat the food in question (some roasted bell peppers that I attempted to preserve 6 weeks ago in a refrigerated jar of canola oil), since having read elsewhere that oil-packing will not prevent the growth of botulism unless the packed food is properly dried and/or acidulated.

But can the white spots which recently appeared on those peppers really be mold? If so, then one of two principles I had thought to be true must be upset: that mold requires oxygen to grow, and that submerging food in oil creates a seal which is impermeable to oxygen. On the other hand, if these spots aren't mold, what else might they be? (Sorry, I would provide a photo if I had a working digital camera...)

Finally, the next time a peck of peppers tumbles my way, what might I do differently to preserve them safely? Is there any way to do it that isn't tantamount to pickling them (and thus changing their flavor significantly)?

cleaning mildew off microsuede?

Lou Stuells — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:24:21 -0800

After 4 months in storage, my red microsuede couch is now a gray velvet couch. Can I clean mildew from microsuede? How? I'm not sure if it has penetrated into the foam and feather cushions - it's still in the garage, because I'm afraid to bring mildew into the living room (hey, I read that Stephen King story.)

The seat and back cushion covers zip off, so I can try laundering or even dry-cleaning those. But what about the body of the couch itself? If it's penetrated into the sofa and cushions, I think I'll abandon the effort. But if it's only a surface issue, I'd like to rescue my beloved sofa. So, what, besides bleach, removes mildew? The upholstery professionals I called were iffy about it, but said they were pretty inexperienced with microsuede, so I turn to you for help or suggestions. Can I clean it? How?

(Curiously, nothing else from storage is mildewy - there was a mattress, dog bed, cat tree, etc. out there too, and they're fine. No leaks in the garage - it was just a damp season I guess.)

Can I have my couch back, or is it too late?