Mold in my basement gym?

[LauraMax]

I started coming down with what I've been calling a "chest cold" on Saturday. There has been a bug going around my office so I thought I'd caught it, but they're telling me they were immoble, had fevers of 102, etc. etc. I don't have a fever or any other symptoms other than chest irritation (coughing) & some congestion.

I'm wondering if my new basement workout room has mold that's causing me to feel sick? It's wood paneled & there are definitely signs of water damage (white around the bottoms of the panels--mildew, not mold). I've spent an awful lot of time there during the last 3 weeks, it is damp, & it smells a little musty.

Has anyone done mold testing before? Is it expensive? If I have a bad case of mold I'm guessing it'll cost me a small fortune to remediate. I'm a bit concerned b/c the finished basement was one of the reasons I bought the house--I so love having a home gym! It would really suck if I couldn't use it until I could afford to rip it out & totally re-do it. :-(

 

[toughYrun]

Don't know a thing about mold. But maybe you are so much healthier than the people in your office and you do have what's going around but it didn't knock you down like it did them.

 

[step_a_holic]

Hi LauraMax. I have no experience with mold testing or removal. But we have an unfinished basement that gets water during heavy (really heavy) rain and we just recently purchased a dehumidifier. It's made a huge difference in regards to the damp feeling and musty smell. It is amazing how much water this things sucks out of the air.

Maybe you could have a contractor that gives free estimates come in and let you know whether or not you definetly have a mold issue. Might make you feel better knowing either way.

 

[dlavie]

We had mold in a bathroom that has poor ventilation. We scrubbed everything down with bleach and repainted with Kilz.

The dehumidifier will help but it will drive your electric bill through the roof. Clean what you can and run one of those 20" fans at the floor level to move the air around.

Improve the lighting and occasionally leave them on for a while. If you use flourescent lighting the cost won't be so bad.

One of the problems about calling a contractor is that if you don't know the subject, a disreputable contractor will take you to the cleaners

What type of heating.cooling do you have in the house? If you have air ducts maybe they need cleaning (inside the duct.)

 

[LauraMax]

YIKES! I have radiator/steam heat, no central a/c, so it's not the systems.

I have regular light bulbs in the basement.

I'm not sure what I can clean--if there is mold it's behind the paneling so I'd have to remove that first.

I was gonna go for the dehumidifier--a couple other people recommended it to me. But I don't want huge electric bills!

I've heard of mold testing kits where you leave some little device in the room for 48 hours then send it out to a lab & they'll give you the results, including whether there is mold & whether it's at an unhealthy level. I think I need to research that a little more.

 

[suezilla]

Hi there, the environmental field as it pertians to commercial real estate is my area of expertise but for the past several years I have also been involved with indoor air quality matters on both commercial and residential real estate. Identifying a mold problem can be pretty tricky and the "over-the-counter" tests may lead to more questions than answers. In a nut shell, a typical protocol for proper mold assessment is to hire a Certified Industrial Hygenist (CIH) who may recommend visual observation, air sampling (adds a lot to the cost), or take actual samples of the suspect materials (not as costly). Depending upon the number and type of sampling conducted, it could cost a few hundred to a few thousand to conduct a proper characterization. But if you can see mold growth, why incur the cost to test, why not just go after the problem?

If this were my home, my first priority would be to identify the cause of any mold growth and dry out any wet materials. If there is a constant water supply for the mold spores they will continue to grow no matter how often you use bleach. Remove the moisture and the source of food (wall paper, wood paneling, dry wall) and it goes a long way to preventing additional mold growth. Then I would remove any materials that I could see which already have water and/or mold damage and also do some of the preventive measures suggested by the other posters regarding ventilation and humidity control.

The environmental health department section of many states in the US also have information regarding residential mold issues. New York City Department of Health has one of the best protocols and in the absence of any clear regulatory guidance for mold assessment, many follow their guidelines.

Sorry to be so long-winded but I hope this helps, Sue

 

[hiitdogs]

Oh my gosh, Laura, you just bought that house! I am afraid to even ask if your agents recommended a mold inspection.

We have had some issues with mold in Arizona and I do recommend to my clients to have a mold inspection done in areas that throw up red flags. A musty smell and signs of water damage on the wood paneling would be a sirene-go-off, red-light-blinking, red flag for either me or my home inspector! I have had my home inspector do several mold inspection they run around $ 200 to $ 400 depending on how much area is effected. I have found it to be well worth it, because in two instances he found mold. One time, the Seller was taking care of the problem and did the remediating, in the other case, my buyer cancelled the contract.

I guess, my question is, did you do a home inspection and if you did, did this ever come up in your inspection. If it didn't and it turns out to be mold, you may have a recourse against your agent, your home inspector or both. If there was water damage that wasn't disclosed to you by the Seller, you may even have a recourse against the Seller.

Remediation depending on what the extent is, may run you somewhere between $ 1,000 and $ 5,000, sometimes more, depending on the size of the effected area.

If you are concerned, I would definitely get the mold inspection done and get it done NOW, dehumidifiers and ventilation are good, but if you already have mold growing, it won't get rid of it, it may halt it for a while but it won't get rid of it.

 

[LauraMax]

Uh oh, this is getting worse & worse! Yes, the home inspector recommended a mold inspection but with all the other inspections, repairs, services etc. this kind of fell thru the cracks.

I don't think I can afford this right now. Do you think the dehumidifier & some fans will buy me an extra 6 months or so?

 

[want2Bfitnessinstructor]

Hello LauraMax,

I work in a place that definitely has mold. When I am at work, my nose is all stuffed up and my sinuses slightly hurt. For everyone it is different I guess. I do not get a cough.

I hope you will feel better. If the cough does not go away, you may want to see your doctor. Maybe you have an allergy!

Get that dehumidifier is all I can say for now. Testing will probably be pricey, but if you really want to fix the problem you may have to do this.

Good luck!




"Life is short so be the best you can be every day of your life!"

"Running feels great for my soul!"

CHEETAH

 

[Timber99]

Laura,

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not in the dedicated work out space?!?!??!?!? x(

First, google mold companies in your area and see what the cost is for an initial testing. If you call, they might be able to tell you some kind of pre-test to their own test. Start there to make sure this is really the issue.

If you do have mold, I recommend that you have a company in right away to deal with the issue and not fool around. In my business, I've seen situations where a seller or buyer will try to clean the mold with bleach or some other product. Home remediation, in my experience, tends to masks the issue and sometimes, it makes it worse. I've seen homeowner's increase their final rememdiation costs by thousands in trying to home remediate and end up sick in the process.

The cost all depends on what your issue is and what the reading is for the mold. There are levels of infection. There are a couple of different methods of remediation that each correspond to the amount of mold that you have. After remediation, they will probably recommend that you get a dehumidifier or two, depending on the size of your space.

Mold can make you very sick and you don't want to fool around with it. But don't panic yet! At least start by having a test right away. Maybe you'll be super lucky and it will really be that you simply have a bad chest cold.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[ejostling]

Our basement is very dry, but in the summer when it's humid it gets a tad "musty". I run a dehumidifier and place a few "damp rid" buckets around. That usually takes care of it.

Maybe try removing one panel of paneling to see if there is anything "growing" behind it before you call a contracter. If there isn't anything significant try the dehumidifier. Maybe also wash the walls down with a bleach solution to remove the white stuff. That should be a workout in itself!

Good Luck!

Sally