Needing some good advice from Mom's that have had mold in there homes. We just put in $30,000.00 to a home we inherited about a year ago, updating & improving it to move into with our toddler. We have since moved in & have been here about 3 mos. We discovered basement/foundation leaks (we had not remodeled the basement), and have had water seepage every storm. We called a local company and thought we had the leaks fixed. We have developed more cracks. With the recent storm, we had no electric for 2 days so the sump pump didn't run & we ended up with 2 feet of water in our basement. We were able to get the water out & had a local water restoration company come out to examine the basement. He informed us we have a very bad mold problem. Bad to the point that the basement shold be gutted & a barrier put up. I'm sooooo worried about this as we have a 3 y/o & we're inhaling this daily. Not a good situation. The price will be about $8000.00 to get things cleared up, but we still have alot of foundation cracks that we'll get seepage through. We just cannot afford this after investing so much into this house already. Any idea's Mom's? Any advice?? Are there any local companies you've used for mold removal that you can reccomend? Thanks for any help you can provde!!
It would be WISE of you to move out and into a relatives home while the mold fix is going on. Once mold gets inside you body, lungs, sinus, etc, it is hard as hell to get rid of. My sister's apartment got flooded twice from the goober upstairs. They cleaned it up and she threw away just about everythign she owned. That was 6 years ago- She is in a new home but her and her boyfreind still have fungal sinus issues to this day.
My best friend had a mold nightmare in O. of her homes in FL. She had a weeny teeny little drip on O. wall in her basement and it cost her a BOATLOAD of money to have it fixed.
Think of it this way--you're going to have to get it fixed even if you want to sell the house. It will never sell with a mold problem. Then you'll REALLy lose money.....sorry...good luck!
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There is a machine called the Boomerang that is supposed to get rid of mold..... Don't know if it works for sure or not. We've only had it for a short time. (www.naturessunshine.com)
Only advice I personally can give you is on what you might have to do to TOTALLY fix the problem.
From the sound's of things, You're probably going to have to have someone come out and check your foundation. If there are crack or it's sinking, Then you are going to have to have some one come in and repair that first. Otherwise everything else you do will be for nothing.
Once the foundation is fixed then you have to have it gutted, cleaned, and put back together.
Mold is NOT a fun thing to deal with. Spreads like crazy and is a lot of work to get rid of in a basement.
I wish I knew of any companies that would be "cheap" when it came to the cost.
Good luck!
Consider trying ozone treatments. This would need to be done at a very high concentrations, during which time no people or pets could safely breathe the air. But a couple of hours later, the ozone's reactivity is used up and converts to plain oxygen. Meanwhile, the fungi and mold organisms and spores are being "burned" by the extra oxygen atom on each ozone molecule. Here's a youtube vid on the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38r3uCpAIfo
I use an ozone generator a few times each year to keep mustiness under control in a small sunroom with a leaky roof. Afterward the air smells as clean again. You can rent or buy generators, but it would be a good idea to rent first and see whether you find the results helpful.
There are warnings about home ozone generators, too. Be sure to do your homework before using.
Good luck. This must feel pretty discouraging right now. I hope someday you can look back at this and say "Remember when we had that problem…".
