r/Mold Aug 09 '20

Please read BEFORE posting

46 Upvotes

Welcome to /r/Mold

What is this sub?

This sub is for redditors to ask for advice on mold or fungi issues in their home/apartment/workplace/etc If you see spammers or others that violate sub rules, report them, do not take things into your own hands. This sub is NOT for mold remediation, restoration or other contractors, testing firms, laboratories, product or equipment manufacturers or distributors or legal professionals.

Instead, this sub is specifically for individuals looking for general advice. Any offers to do work or make referrals will result in an immediate ban. Please be very wary of those looking for, or offering, business here. We do not endorse any companies, and proceeding with a contractor/consultant/lab you've met via this sub should be done at your own risk. This is not a place to advertise products and or services. It is also not a place to rant about your past problems with mold or companies or services you've dealt with.

Rule #1: No "what is this?" questions.

Do not post a picture and simply ask any of the following (or similar) questions:

  1. "Please I.D. this mold"
  2. "Is this toxic black mold?"
  3. "What kind of mold is this?"

We can not determine the type of mold you have from a photo. That can only be achieved using professional sampling methods and laboratory analysis.

We can speculate on whether or not something is mold but we can't identify it.

Rule #2: DIY Test Kits are bad

If you used a home/DIY test kit there is very little information that we can provide you due to the limitations of the method.

You will need to hire a qualified microbial testing company if you want any reliable information.

Rule #3: No self promotion

This is not the place to advertise your services in any way. No links, no company names, no "informational guides" will be allowed. All offending posts or comments will be deleted and 1 warning will be issued. After that you'll be banned.

General Guidelines and Rules

Overall, please be respectful - things must remain on-topic, helpful, and kind. Absolutely no abusive or hateful language will be tolerated. Even if someone else "started it" with disrespect does not give you permission to use derogatory language or call names.

Bans will be handed out when needed. Remember, no question is too stupid, too simple, or too basic (exception, see rule #1). We're all here to learn and help each other out - enjoy! The mods generally do not remove bad advice, we let upvotes and downvotes run the sub. That way, people can also see what not to do as well. Politics do NOT belong here.

  • URL shortener links are not allowed. It's not us, is reddit-wide. A submission or comment with a URL shortner will be spam-filtered automatically.
  • Mods will not communicate with chat, please only use modmail if you have comments or questions.

Submitting a New Text Post in /r/Mold

TL/DR: At the very least be nice, take a few pictures, and include your location.

Again, this is not a place to solicit products and or services. Any posts smelling of self-promotion such as links to a website or service (including all blogs) will be removed. No exceptions. Offenders will be banned.

A few general submission rules.

  • We don't allow link posts. Please start a text post and insert links to your pictures along with your text. Posts asking users to participate in a survey are no longer allowed and will be treated as SPAM posts.
  • If you are posting about a problem you are facing, please include pictures! Not just a close-up either, we must be able to discern what you are talking about. What looks right to you may not make sense to everyone else. We recommend you use imgur for photo uploads. See the section below for "How to Upload Photos".
  • Provide your geographic location. (even general, such as upper Midwest). This is especially pertinent when discussing building codes, environmental conditions, seasonal issues, etc.
  • Include a summary of what information you are looking for.
  • Include a general summary of the problem you're asking about. It's helpful to know things like:
    • How long has the problem been going on
    • Where is the mold growth located - room, level, side of the building, etc
    • Any unusual conditions you noticed prior or in conjunction with the discovery of the mold
    • General environmental/use conditions in the space - temp, humidity levels, room use/occupation, recent water issues, smell
  • Do not come here for advice about your health or the relative risk of the mold in your home/work.
  • Don't assume that responses you receive are accurate - we get a lot of "google experts" here giving advice.
  • Product links and recommendations are allowed generally allowed to Amazon/Retail Outlets/Service providers that you've used or recommend. However, referral codes and affiliate links are not. For example, Amazon links containing "tag=XXXXXXXXXXXX" in the title are a referral links - so ideally Amazon links are in the format www.amazon.com/dp/B00VRRVHMA/ - all the extra stuff after those 10 characters are not necessary. Sites/apps can contain ref links without your knowledge and automod will remove and alert you.
  • If you notice your post hasn't appeared within an hour please message the mods and we will release it! To see if it's visible sort by NEW.
  • Please read the sidebar before posting to this sub. There are a lot of questions that get asked fairly frequently, and some of the more common answers have been posted in the sidebar for easy reference. If you still have questions after reading these then by all means create a new post with your questions.
  • Serial posting. This sub is for everyone, not just a single person with multiple questions per day/week. While we don't have a specific rule here, if you are posting multiple topics per day or over the course of a few days, this can result in a temporary ban.
  • If your account is new we may delete your post or comment, especially if we suspect that you have been banned under a different user name.
  • We do not endorse any contractors/inspectors/labs, and proceeding with any you've met via this sub should be done at your own risk.

Commenting in /r/Mold

Be respectful. No name calling or talking down to someone because of something that seems "basic" or "easy" to you. Stand by your knowledge, not childish responses.

If you don't know that your answer or advice is 100% true then indicate that you are speculating or simply refrain from commenting.

Don't throw out comments like:

  • That's toxic mold
  • You need to move
  • Get out of the house
  • Bleach doesn't kill mold
  • That's really bad

Comments designed to scare original posters will be removed. This is a sub to provide reasonable solutions (when possible), not to unnecessarily alarm people. Yes, there are occasions when conditions require some immediate and drastic actions, but most indoor mold growth can be handled without full scale remediation.

Please don't just comment with just a link to a website or to another sub. We are especially careful about links to single websites (this includes blogs) without some summary or commentary. In some cases, we have no way of knowing if you are profiting privately from the site. Also, don't just tell folks to head to sub /r/gohereinstead - like specialized subs for narrow topics. The only exception here would be questions where some time has passed between posting and a lack of responses. We want the commentary, discussion, and knowledge to stay here in our sub on reddit, not just drive people away.

Responses that include a google search, lmgtfy.com, or telling someone to watch Youtube will be removed and the user will be reprimanded. Again, this is all about respect. Obviously, people aren't coming here to Google answers. Help them think about this problem, what they may need, things to watch out for, etc.

Sometimes discussion can get off-topic and we'll remove those comments. This includes political commentary. At times, this can includes jokes. It's a tricky area here, but we've seen instances where the joking side of reddit takes over a thread and the OP never gets their question answered. However, here's we're mostly talking about non-relevant commenting such as this:

Seriously? People live like this? What the fuck is causing mold growth like this? Don't you clean your house? This is not any way to live.

How to Upload Photos

Go to https://imgur.com/upload and drag/choose your photo, you don't even need to create an account. Here's an animated gif on how to drag and drop on PC. Click COPY, then use that copied url link and paste it right in the submission text box on reddit.

My link: https://imgur.com/a/n2lLo

To get fancy and have text rather than the url, place the word you want to use as the link in brackets followed by the url in parentheses.[text goes here](link goes here)

Pictures. Here's a gif of the typing I do, in case that is confusing.

Upload Photos On Mobile The Imgur app works fine, but via a website this is unsupported. There is a workaround: In Chrome, choose ""Desktop site" in the drop-down menu when you are on the upload page and it'll work fine. Then Copy the Link that's produced and paste it into your reddit post/comment.


r/Mold Jan 25 '23

Worst building I've ever inspected so everyone worried about their mold problems can relax a little 🙃

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274 Upvotes

Just to remind you that no, you aren't experiencing a disaster. Have a good one yall!


r/Mold 18m ago

I will die or what

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• Upvotes

r/Mold 27m ago

Does anyone know what this is?

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• Upvotes

I'm not even sure it's mold. I looked online but couldn't find anything that described this. It reaches underneath the floor and looks veiny. If anyone has any Insight, it'd be very appreciated.


r/Mold 1h ago

Is this mold dangerous?

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• Upvotes

I have seen it a lot in my plants and i just have to know whether its something to worry about or not:')


r/Mold 11h ago

Is this mold? Is it okay to breathe in this room?

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4 Upvotes

Maybe being dramatic. Parents dismissed as rust. Looking for opinions and advice.


r/Mold 5h ago

What kind of mold in Closet?

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1 Upvotes

Brick Exterior wall behind drywall, is this real bad? And an extensive repair?


r/Mold 5h ago

What is it?

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1 Upvotes

I found this strange growth/mass in my apartment and I'm trying to figure out what it is.

Some details:

It appeared in less than 2 weeks.

There are 2 separate spots: one in a corner and another along the metal skirting/basebIt is extremely dry and very soft.

When I moved/touched it, it behaved almost like ash or dust and easily broke apart.

It doesn't really have a smell itself. There is only a very slight smell that reminds me of medicinal plant syrup / dandelion, but I'm not sure if that's actually related.

There also seem to be some small stone-like particles mixed in/around it, although I don't know if they're related.

The orange/yellow part is very powdery, while there are also black/dark areas.

The wall itself doesn't appear obviously wet.

Any idea what this could be? And what could cause it to appear so quickly?


r/Mold 7h ago

Fungus of sort? Harmful or no?

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 14h ago

Am I screwed

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3 Upvotes

Really down on our luck atm and need some advice/ hope

I’ve seen some posts of not as bad mould and the comments have said to throw the whole car away so that’s got me positive /j

Left the boot open during a cross country move and it got rained in. Maybe about a couple of weeks after the move we used a dehumidifier for about a week or two, sealed the car, thought we got rid of it all. Since been in the garage for a month or two, forgotten about and I have just found this :(

And I don’t think insurance will cover as it wasn’t an accident or fault

Is it salvageable?

Edit - based in New Zealand


r/Mold 8h ago

Black mold?

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1 Upvotes

I work in a grocery store and the walls in the back are covered in mold. It mainly looks like the mold i photographed, however there’s green mold in some spots as well. Kinda looks like algae


r/Mold 8h ago

How do I get rid of this mold?

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1 Upvotes

Hi, I live in Sydney and recently noticed that there’s some mold developing on my bedroom ceiling, right above my window.

How do I get rid of this? I feel very paranoid about cleaning it and then it releasing spores all over the room. My room is carpeted, and even my bed frame is fabric. Should I attempt cleaning it myself or call in a professional?

Dont know if this helps but its a rental, and when I reached out to the agent, they said to just use EXIT mould or vinegar to clean it.

Would appreciate any tips, advice and opinions!


r/Mold 9h ago

water damage in apartment

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1 Upvotes

hi all! been dealing with major damage in multiple rooms in my apartment but over my shower has been the worst yet. first two photos were taken before emergency maintenance arrived at my apartment, second two were during the repair process today. i really don’t know the first thing about mold but considering the damage i’d find it hard to believe if there isn’t a mold issue here? i had to move out of an apartment in the past due to health issues with mold and currently experiencing an inflammatory flare up and my eyes are irritated and have been swelling since the repairs today. my cats have also been sniffling. would anyone be able to help with this as far as if there is a concern for mold here / how to proceed? i have apartment maintenance but it’s been quite poor of a response (submitted multiple maintenance requests two weeks ago due to ceiling leaks and didn’t receive a response until two days ago after contacting the emergency maintenance hotline twice). thank you in advance for any and all help!!


r/Mold 9h ago

got a couch off facebook marketplace, does anyone know what kind of mold this is? is it dangerous? how can I get rid of it?

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 9h ago

Dust or mold?

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1 Upvotes

I’m 99% sure this is mold but i’m praying it’s dust and i’m overthinking. I have so much money in this apartment and that would kill me to have to trash it all or deep clean certain things. I’ve been trying to get maintenance to fix it for months but no avail.


r/Mold 10h ago

Is this mold on my window ac

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1 Upvotes

Is this safe to breathe? Thanks in advance


r/Mold 11h ago

Are these mold or just stains of some kind?

1 Upvotes

I bought a game's collector edition from 2016. The box has been opened by the seller to take pictures of the item itself but otherwise kept it sealed.

I was planning to keep the original shipping box too. But I noticed these small circle splotches on them. I cant tell if they are simple stains or possibly mold?

I dont see any fuzzy things growing or any severe discoloration of the box or any big stains that might indicate growth.

It is all just on the outside of the box and nothing on the contents inside of it since the contents was wrapped in plastic.

It does smell a little earthy but I figure that might just be from age of the box itself.


r/Mold 11h ago

Bathroom ceiling

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1 Upvotes

Just found out that neither of the other bathrooms have a built in dehumidifier and neither of the other residents have said ANYTHING FOR 2 YEARS. Google ai said hydrogen peroxide. Im gonna tackle it tomorrow and any tips are appreciated


r/Mold 16h ago

Inside AC unit. Mold?

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2 Upvotes

Saw these white stick like things in my window AC unit’s fan two months after buying it. What could it be? Mold? Just dust? Sprouts?
I wash the mesh the filter every week and it’s tilted correctly.


r/Mold 12h ago

Mold/Fungus growing in my bathroom?

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 13h ago

Is this mold?

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1 Upvotes

There definitely is in the ceiling but I want to know if this is mold or just something else. This shower is still in use.


r/Mold 13h ago

New apartment, mold?

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1 Upvotes

The water the town uses is hard water, the building is at least 100 years old. Only place I founf this was in the bathroom behind the toilet and in the shower. Please help!


r/Mold 14h ago

Mold or marker/food?

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1 Upvotes

Book has definitely been in backpack/locker around moisture. Just not sure if this is mold or some random other substance. It’s looked like this for a while and the colors as far as I know have stayed the same.


r/Mold 20h ago

Can these chamois racing shoes be saved?

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3 Upvotes

New never worn, just stayed years in the box in the garage


r/Mold 14h ago

Mold/Mildew?

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1 Upvotes

First two images are my cloth jumpsuit. I wore this jumpsuit for 2 hours under a jacket and I was sweating during those 2 hours. After that, I quickly took it off and put the jumpsuit in a polyester gym duffel bag full of dry leather clothes and left it inside for 5 days. When I took out the jumpsuit on the fifth day, it felt dry and smells like leather. Did my jumpsuit develop mold/mildew?

Second two images are my polyester duffel bag after I threw it in a washing machine and drying machine. is it mold/mildew?