I need advice/Help with a severe mold problem in our apartment, that our managers are not addressing properly?
I live in Washington state. I recently discovered that a pipe had been leaking into the wall behind the clothes in our closet and had the entire closet covered in black, fuzzy (I am assuming toxic) mold. The carpet was soaked, as well. I didn’t notice it because it was behind our clothing, and we don’t really use that side of the closet. We have only lived in this apartment for 2 months now.
I let our apartments know and they came out 2 days later (not immediately like I asked) and they ripped the entire wall out with my son and myself standing there and “fixed” the leaky pipe. They said the wall and mold needed to air out for a week before they could treat it and put a new wall back in. Meanwhile… we sit with our entire apartment reaking of mold. I am 30 weeks pregnant and we have a 2 1/2 year old already… and I was getting headaches and finally just shut the bedroom door and we haven’t entered it since they came out. I called and asked them to at least put some plastic over the closet so it wouldn’t contaminate the house and they said they couldn’t do that because it had to air out.
Then maintenance supposedly came out and “treated” the mold and said it had to dry for 4-5 more days before they would start repairing the wall. Meanwhile… still stinking the house up, still can’t enter our bedroom… they still refuse to cover the closet up. They didn’t actually clean up any of the mold, they just sprayed some “treatment” on it. I don’t know of any treatment that requires you to just spray it on and leave it for a few more days??
Everything in our bedroom is now damp and musty and probably ruined. I am very, very angry about this and I think that since they were so moronic in how they treated it they should have to pay to have our house cleaned properly, and either treat or replace all of our clothes and belongings that are covered in spores now!
My questions:
1) Who can I go to for help in making them clean our belongings that they contaminated?
2) What should I do about all of our belongings? I have all of our brand new baby clothes, the crib, etc and all of our clothes and our bed and everything in there and I don’t want to have to throw it all away!
3) What is the proper treatment for mold? I don’t think leaving it to “air out” for a week while we just have to sit and breathe it is responsible. Nor do I think spraying a treatment on and just leaving it is the correct method either.
4) I am concerned about our exposure and the headaches, etc. that I was getting. What can I do about this?
I need some help. I’m really tired of our apartments scamming us and lying to us like they have, not just about this but tons of other things.
please help!
Black Mold
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Black Mold
Contact your local housing authority. They are the ones to assist and advise you.
I hope you have spoken to your doctor regarding being around this and breathing it in while you are pregnant.
You may want to contact an attorney as well.
Good luck to you.
Black Mold
They really do need to let the area air out and can’t cover the closet with plastic, but they should offer to either put you into another unit while they are repairing this or a hotel. They also should clean the bedroom and closet and give you compensation for having to wash your clothing (and dry cleaning if required).
You seem unhappy with other things as well so you may want to negotiate to be released from your lease and just move on. You’ll need to be factual in doing this or it won’t be well-received.
You may want to consult an attorney to represent you. That will certainly get their attention. Otherwise, contact the health dept. for your county.
Black Mold
What a jerk off landlord you have. Go to google and type in “Oregon Tenant Rights”. Search around.
As for mold, it’s common knowledge that disturbing it releases the spores into the air. What complete idiots. They should have recommended you move your belonging out of the apartment too. Once the spores contaminate your furniture — it’s a good possibility the mold will grow there. And leaving the hole open while you lived there was retarded.
The unit, at that point, was uninhabitable and you had rights when it comes to that arrangement. Check your state’s tenant’s rights and then file a police report and find a lawyer. Being pregnant and being exposed to mold for a prolonged period of time is ridiculous. The management and landlord know better.
Take a sample of the mold and get it tested too. Use a mask to make sure you don’t inhale any spores and rubber gloves to protect your hands. Put it in a zip lock bag and get it tested – you can find mold test centers online.
Good luck.
Black Mold
1) No one, maid service is never required.
2) Wash them
3) Actually this is standard. The spray is “green something or other” and kills mold and mildew on wood.
4) Advil? You can test the mold, there is a test kit at Home Depot for 10 bucks. There are about 2000 strains of mold in the world, only 2 of which are toxic. However what you are describing COULD be one of those two. Most people here whine about mildew, but you actually have a real reason to be concerned. The health department may come out and test for you, but be warned that they get so many false alarm calls that they tend to not take these very seriously.
Take comfort in that fact that mold is very old, it was here before us, we evolved with it here and it is very rare that we are actually harmed by it.
Since you are preggers you might want to talk to one of the female managers, she may take heart and help you with the cleaning process. I know I probably would, although I have never been in this situation.
If the wood is drying too slow you can buy some hydrated lime at the nursery (plants) and sprinkle it about. It will absorb the smell and moisture.
Black Mold
Hi,
your headaches tell me that toxic mold is in your body now. you now will develop an extra sensitivity to toxic mold in the future. all your belongings that cant be washed will have to be destroyed because of the toxic spores on them. you will need anti fungal medication immediately!!! if you have kids get them out ASAP!!!!!! def find a lawyer, without one your screwed. please email me if you need some help. check out more on toxic mold exposure here.