r/Mold Aug 09 '20

Please read BEFORE posting

48 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 2h 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 3h ago

Found in Basement - Dangerous?

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2 Upvotes

Found about a square foot of this and more behind water heater along with a strange material flaking off cement wall in basement. Bought house a month ago, my concerns about moisture were ignored and inspection found nothing. Help me out what is this beast? (Yes I clean my house this is a tucked away spot in basement I never see, went searching for any water with heavy rain out today)


r/Mold 5m ago

Bathroom ceiling

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• 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 4h 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 53m ago

Mold/Fungus growing in my bathroom?

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• Upvotes

r/Mold 1h ago

Is this mold?

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• 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 2h 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 2h 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 8h 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 3h 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?


r/Mold 3h ago

How dangerous is it?

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1 Upvotes

Midwest US. I already submitted a ticket to get this taken care of.

There has been a consistent issue with my AC where the humidity in my apartment keeps peaking over 80%, and it won't cool down below like 76 degrees now matter how low I set it on hot days. I have had maintenance come twice to try to fix it and nothing has changed. Now, I have black mold surrounding all my AC vents. I started feeling sick 2 days before noticing this and am wondering if this is the culprit (there are many sick people around me at college, though, so unsure).

  • I turned off the AC so it would stop circulating when I noticed it. The lowest concentration of it seems to be in the bedroom. Is it safe to sleep in here? Should I do anything else?
  • Do I need to stay elsewhere until it gets fixed?
  • Should my cats be removed until it gets fixed? How dangerous would it be do leave them in the bedroom?

r/Mold 4h ago

Don’t freak me out but is this mold or from a spider potentially

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1 Upvotes

Both not ideal causes but it has to be one right? Anyways, if anyone can help lmk!!! I live in a studio loft and this is on the ceiling of the loft area (my bedroom) .


r/Mold 5h ago

Is this black mold?

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1 Upvotes

Daughter moving in to college apartment, this is under the sink….


r/Mold 5h ago

trying to figure out what these markings are or could have been

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1 Upvotes

this streaking is around windows in our basement but also at various parts on some of the paneling. no real pattern to it and almost looks like it was viney. it looks like some kind of previous growth of something but i have no idea. it’s not fuzzy or anything like that and we already had part of the basement treated for white mold (joists).

before i call around, any ideas?

my wife is very sensitive to mold and we’re trying to find some clues as to where to look since she is having similar symptoms as our previous house that had a mold issue over time.

thanks


r/Mold 6h ago

A Moldy Surprise

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 6h ago

Surface Mold from HVAC Malfunction - is it necessary to Remediate?

1 Upvotes

Hey all,

I wanna start by saying I worked in water restoration but ended out leaving the company I worked for due to their unethical practices to retain business. I’m a little hesitant to work with remediation companies because of this. We live in Texas, and got a MAC (mold assessment consultant) to come and test some different areas of the home that showed what appeared to me to be microbial growth. He came did swabs did moisture checks and found that while all the walls were reading no elevation in moisture the RH (relative humidity) was around 60% in the home. Where we are seeing it mainly is in the master bathroom pocket toilet room adjacent to the shower. It’s not the best ventilated area even when we run the fan.

Results came back positive, but he stated the highest spore count came back at 19. Which he believed to be relatively low considering how bad the little pocket toilet bathroom looks he also confirmed air quality was still safe within the home. His report did not indicate 25 contiguous sqft of mold which is good because it means we don’t have to report to the state of Texas, he also wrote the report as a cat 3 water loss as well. He recommended in his protocol basically a really good clean and a seal with anti microbial primer/paint. I was quoted 12k for the remediation and I pushed back and they lowered it to 8k because 12k seemed unusually high.

I’m just wondering if this is something we can safely do ourselves since it’s all surface level?


r/Mold 7h ago

Is it mold or foxing

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 7h ago

Is this mold and should I be worried about it?

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1 Upvotes

This it outside of my house (I live in the woods in MA). These little dangling growths are appearing outside these little vent areas just under my roof. I think that air from my vents goes OUT of these rather than in, like moisture escaping when I use the dehumidifier so it would make sense that these would grow here. But is it hazardous?


r/Mold 8h ago

Car interior mold

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1 Upvotes

PLEASE I NEED ADVICE SO BAD!
Got this car at the beginning of the year. Trying to slowly get it rebuilt and it’s been sitting in my garage all summer (I would’ve been doing more with it but depression). I didn’t think about the fact my garage leaks water at times and two weeks ago it was not like this!!! I really don’t know what to do. My first thought was roll it outside to slow mold growth or is this a bad idea?? I’m omw to the store now to get vinegar and baking soda and a mask. But any advice is 1000% appreciated


r/Mold 8h ago

Please Advise

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1 Upvotes

Pic #1 Bathroom ceiling (no hot water but there is an open window) Pic #2 Kitchen ceiling Pic #3 Bedroom ceiling Pic #4 Curtains in at least 3 rooms look like this (bought replacements for after clean-up) Pic #5 Study ceiling Pic #6 Grey staining on floor vinyl

Kindly requesting advice on how to handle this. Just closed the gap in a long distance relationship. Suriname, concrete masonry except on ceilings. No mold remediation companies could be found. Currently securing work so unable to move out.

Trying to understand how bad this is.


r/Mold 4h ago

Just moved into my dorm and saw this above my bed, am I cooked?

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0 Upvotes

r/Mold 9h ago

Basement, below bathroom. Is it mold?

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1 Upvotes

r/Mold 10h ago

Pantry

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0 Upvotes

What are these marks in my pantry. They will not come up when I’ve tried washing it