Editors Note: Names removed to provide anonymity.
Question
We found stacc. in our apartment 3 months ago. For a week or two before I found the mold I had started feeling generally yuchy and as soon as we moved I felt better. My 1 yr old and my husband showed no symptoms.
We stayed with friends while we looked for another place. We found another apartment and had it mold tested. The test results were good and we moved in. We had lived there for 10 days when we found a black spot behind the paint in the bathroom.It turned out to be stacc. too and we moved back in with friends.
We have been living with friends for 2 months straight now while we look for a new place to live. We have toured dozens of places and they all had obvious mold somewhere. One place didn’t and we had it tested and they found 1 stacc. spore. We had two more places tested this week and they came back o.k., but while we were waiting for the test results the landlord rented the place to someone else.
We are just at our wits end. We will have to put our stuff in storage, find someone to care for our dog, and move to another friend’s house in a week if we don’t have our own place. What should we do?!? We are tempted to just do a careful visual inspection of an apartment, buy a high quality air filter and call it good. What do you think? Is that reasonably safe or would we be taking too big of a risk with a toddler in the house? We are just ready to have our own place to call home.
Answer
It sounds as if you’re between a rock and a hard place. As you have checked various houses, its possible that its the area in which you live that’s causing the severe mold growth. Severe weather changes, lots of humidity, etc can cause mold to grow.
You were right to get out of your apartment when you did.
My best advice to you would be to, as you said, do a visual check on the home you’re looking at renting, and of course in many cases there will be a noticeable smell as well. By filtering the air, as well as looking into a dehumidifier you will be able to atleast minimize the chances of mold growth.
I wish you the best, and hope you find the mold free home you are looking for.
Joslyn Wold
MoldBlogger.com
3 comments
Good advice for this person. I glad to see you helping people in this way. Keep up the good work.
our town had a lot of flooding after Wilma. Mold problems followed. I have a 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter that is getting sick a lot. The doctors can’t find any reason for her high fevers. She also gets a lot of sore throats & fever blisters. I know the house they are living in had water inside and no walls or floors were replaced. Is there a chance this could be related.
If it seems to good to be true then its propably a scam. Don’t go for antyhing that only has a mobile as a contact and has no permentant address. Also antyhing that wants you to pay upfront I’d steer clear from. Phone them up and ask for references from people working for the company already and ask to speak to them. If the business if legit then they won’t mind doing this at all. Also check to see if the business is registered with anyone and check these out- places are unlikely to register a company if they are a scam. Trust your gut feeling, if it doesn’t feel right, then its probably a scam.