Went to redo kitchen and found huge amount of black mold. Definitely toxic black mold. Last year my five year old son spent lots of time in our downstairs area with my friend that lived down there. Home is separated into two living areas. Both were constantly having severe bloody noses. Our elderly friend had many health problems including heart failure and sepsis and cancer. I believe these were unrelated. But both had nose bleeds and headaches. Friend was constantly having infections. Son has had a chronic cough for over a year. His dr had just assumed it was colds being passed around the class.
Found black mold while doing kitchen redo. A neighbor did the mold removal. Directly afterwards, my son and I were both sick with bronchitis and throat infections. The dr showed my son had two spots show up on his lung that he guessed were 6-12 months old. He said to come back in 3 months to compare new xray to see if there’s a change.
Two weeks later, we had testing done. Kitchen area showed aspergillus/penicillium at 165,000 count/m and 3900 raw count. Said stachybotrys was present but couldn’t give exact count. AC Vents weren’t covered during work. Apparently neighbor wasn’t as knowledgeable as he said. Replaced most of the flooring and a lot of subflooring in the kitchen along with cabinets. When air was turned on (after testing) vents immediately turned green and dust was all over everything. We left the home and immediately felt better. Came back to clean up and I’m coughing again. Is this an extremely high number? I spent everything I had on the first work that was done. I want to just leave the home rather than get my son sicker. But I need to clean it up obviously and I own the home. I believe he and I have mold allergies because we get sick coming in the house, but other two relatives don’t. Another relative said she was sick every time she left visiting here. Can I block off that part of the house until I can afford to have it checked again? Or did spores most likely spread all over the house now through my AC system? Help!!!!!
Questions:
Would you get out immediately? Block off that area until can have it looked at again? Retest the air samples? What should I clean dust that got all over everything from the AC system with?
2 comments
I am not a mold expert, but having ran properties which had a mold predicament here is my advice for health and your house. Have a professional mold testing/removal company assess your house. As a property owner renting out properties I was responsible for any health problems caused by mold (black or other, I did not test mold). My only concern was to remove family from home (relocation) and then remove/treat spores. It isn’t worth any risks to anyone’s health. Never have an uncertified person treat mold, insurance required me to have professionals. Tenants tried to sue me over burst pipe and mold causing issues but because of my immediate and professional response the judge was on my side. Act responsibly and take care of this immediately and do not risk your and your sons (and his friends) health. Testing in California was lengthy and costly and if it had been positive it would have still meant removal. Removal is best solution for all mold problems from my experience.
Dawn, with this amount of mold spores in the air, you need to ditch EVERYTHING and move out permanently unless you have proper mold treatment performed. You and your son do NOT have mold allergies. What you are dealing with here is deadly ‘toxic’ mold that releases spores containing mycotoxins which are the poisons that are in the air. By inhaling them, you become contaminated. And your household and personal items are contaminated as well. If you move your ‘stuff’ to another location, the spores will go with you and cross contaminate your new residence. Your spore count is very high and you are in danger to be anywhere near this type of mold. It sounds like your friend is a backyard mold remediator and is not following any type of professional mold remediation protocol. Get out of this house and get out fast! Your life and that of your son is far, far more important than a house and things. The main concern is your having contamination throughout the house due to the spores traveling in the air. You are living in a potentially deadly environment.