Mould Fungus

[Hogan]

Earlier today my wife, by chance, discovered that our bedrom had been invaded by Mould Fungus... and probably other kind og fungus too, the wall is a horrid mess to look at and I have no idea what kind of semi-sentient life has been groving in the corner behind the dismantled table.

Apparently water has started seeping through the outer wall within the last 3-4 weeks (since we came by that place during clearning around Christmas and found nothing) and in the still cold air-pocket behing the table-parts, the mould had prime growin conditions and has festered like mad. We only noticed because it now had crawled so far up the wall that dark spots were visible above the table leaning up against the wall, when we removed it we saw the many-colored mould covering the wall.

We've already moved all out stuff and bed into the living room, and the caretaker of the building (for once I'm glad I am a renter and not an owner, though it'll bite me in the back at a later point) will come by and have a look at it, but no matter what I am sure we will not be able to use that room for at least a month from now, possibly more.

So, with the bedroom (thankfully it was our room and not the kids'), there are bound to be come some impact on our living space, and I expect there will be less useable time for me until we can move everything back and start living normally again.

Please bear with me if I start falling behind and not responding for some time to any and all I am taking part in. I will do my best to keep up in the time I have and from work, but this WILL affect me and my time to some degree...

- Hogan

[ghostrunner]

ouch. blackmold is a real bitch to deal with. erin brockovitch just bought a house in california about too years ago, that the black mold problem had seeped into the walls. really drove home the point how dangerous the stuf is. good luck, my friend

[gnume]

here we almost never have to deal with molds to say the truth
there are up side in living in buildings made purely from concert

[Hogan]

Actually, the material of the building really don't matter, its the temperature and humity that factors in... I live in an apartment building, of concrete, and the infection was up against the concrete wall to the stairs...

Now, the janitor of the building has gotten into his head than whenever mold appears in a room, its because people had cut off the heat... EVERY time, and since we had not heat on in that room, it was fully our fault. He even learned the magic word "Thermal Bridge", in his world it means that the air is stagnant in a cold room (and yes, the area affected had been hidden beneath a couple of boards standing up against the walls). At one pointhe became haughty at one point and started that he has seen it plenty of time, and always no heat was the case, and we could always look it up on the library.

... mistake #1... BIG mistake!

My wife works on the library, and besides that she is very adept at pulling information out of the net.
Me? I'm an Engineer, and though I have no experience with mould and fungus, I am not more than two calls away from people who DO have an expertise in said areas, and who wants to share them with me...

So yes, its our bedroom, and we like to sleep in cold circumstances... which means around 16-17 degree! We measured that to be sure, it rarely drops below that, even in the middle of winter, and we've been confirmed that we've been assured by the experts that the temperature needs to be well below 15 degree C AND there has to be some humity-creating activities in the room, like drying of clothing or EM on the windows...
As for the "Thermal Bridge"... well, in laymans terms a thermal bridge is when a wall is not insolated well enough so outside coldness come in contact with the warmer room inside, creating a "bridge" through the layer... THAT can create excellent growing environment for Mould Fungus.

So, despite everything said by the janitor, I am confident in the knowledge that its not our fault, and if they claim that and wants to get us to pay for the repairs, I can assure you that hell will break loose... never fuck with an Engineer and his team!

Below is a couple of pictures of the infection when it was just discovered... keep in mind that we had just cleaned behind the boards some 3-4 weeks earlier, so we are talking about a rapid growth on which the expert I consulted commented that there was NO way this could have happened without an outside source...

Not to be watched on an empty stomach...







As already mentioned, we evacuated the room as soon as we discovered and took to sleeping in the living room until they had the wallpaper (all 4 layers) removed and the walls washed down and disinfected... there were still a few traces on the concrete wall, but we decided to risk it and moved back in, having realized that we would go bonkers if forced to sleep in the living room any longer (it would have been manageable if not for 3 hyperactive early rising kids...)

As of today the walls have been allowed to dry out, been disinfected again, and new wallpaper put up... tomorrow it should receive a layer of paint, and then everything should be safe and sound again... though I will be watching that corner like a hawk! If it came from the outside once it can happen again...

It will be great to get this out of my head and life again, Gods knows its been crazy since New Year with work really tearing me a new one both physically and mentally, I can really do without this to worry about.

Thanks for putting up with me so far...

[gnume]

ouch