Moldy Wall
Hi guys,
With all the posts about mold it's hard to go back thru them all so I apologize if this has been asked before.
Found an area of mold in an upstairs bathroom. The bathroom has a border along the top of the wall to the ceiling - about 8 inches wide. The mold is concentrated on the border so it's close to the ceiling in the room. Been there for 2 years with no problems.
I'm thinking roof leak. I also checked the opposite side of the drywall (which is in an adjacent walk in closet) and it was clear. Roof is only 10 years old though.
Clean up ideas for when I fix the moisture problem?
Thanks
cut out the sheetrock in the immediate area and disclose when you sell..
[addsig]
The people who have treated my mold problems do what Stockpro99 suggests, however, they first treat with about a 10% bleach. If after two treatments (usually about two weeks apart) the mold reappears, then they cut out the sheetrock.
Ceilings in bathrooms commonly are damp, I doubt it is a roof leak.
It sounds like the growth is pretty well isolated...Get rid of the border, that's just food for stuff to feed on, spray with bleach a day prior to kill the stuff growing there. Bleach the area again after removing the border. If the growth is persistant cut out the drywall.
You probably have ventilation issues with the room, it needs to be addressed or the growth will come back. You say it was good for 2 years? Did something change, ie: a new tub enclosure? Did you have a child and now keep the bathroom door closed or something along those lines? To improve ventilation you could add wall vents or hardwire the exhaust fan to the light switch so it must be on when someone is in the room.
I bet over half the houses in this country have gotten some mildew in the bathroom at some point. From where I'm sitting, this sounds pretty minor and very typical, I wouldn't be in a hurry to disclose. If I did I would refer to it as mildew, same difference, but doesn't make peoples hair stand up quite so badly.
The bathroom does have an exhaust fan but its rarely used if at all. The door to the bathroom is open 24/7 and there is an A/C vent on the same wall near the floor (almost directly underneath come to think of it).
Haven't had a chance to get up into the attic yet due to unforseen delays. Definetly going up there today though.
I also found out from the residents yesterday that "we heard some scratching noises from behind the wall in the bedroom (attached to the bathroom in question) but it stopped and we never thought anything of it..." So could this be a dead mouse creating the problem???
Can't wait to see the damage even so .....