Mold problemo

[hounddoghowlie]

The relative humidity has been even higher than 55%, sometimes over 60, or even 70....the highest was 75% that i noticed , so look`s like way too high if it should be between 30% and 50% ...damn..


I definitely smell the mold....but there can be also bacterias or other microbes ? who knows..


I cant fix the house, it would cost more than what the whole house did cost , so for now only thing to do would try limit the moisture in the air and clean air...and improve ventilation

The pipes in the house are not so old, at some point it`s been changed to newer, but never know if there is still a leak somewhere.I have not seen leak thought

We had yesterday a professional house inspector here, he opened things and it`s clear that there are microbes ,mold groving in places they should not be....i was worse situation than what i thought...


Yeeh ventilation is what we need to make better, now it`s really not working, so it makes this all even worse...


Thanks hounddoghowlie

when it gets real high try and make a note of the conditions. such has it rained, if it did did the yard flood, what way the wind was blowing or did it come stright down.

by doing this it might give you a idea of where to look for the water/moisture is getting in. you might can find something simple as caulking around windows, doors trim is cracked and fell out, flashing pulled away from walls. or a few other things. you'll be surprised how much water can get in small cracks.

and how simple some little things are to fix.

also when it gets real high, listen and look around water lines and drains. sometimes even with newer plumbing be it PVC, flex pipe and copper pipes you can hear water running. although it maybe a short time span, like you hear it for a few seconds then it stops. it might not be enough to run out from behind a wall, but as i said it can soak into the wall studs and stay wet.

three examples from my own home. my water heater would make noise for a split second to three or for seconds at a time. like it was filling back up while using hot water. it was always on the cold in feed side and you could feel it on the cold line. heater was fine.
one of the times  i noticed just after i heard it at the heater i was in the bath room and heard the toilet sound like the tank was filling for a split second. kept a eye on it for a few day and it was always around the same time.
so i got to looking and found that the fill valve  gasket on the tank had started deteriorating and water was trickling down the water line and valve into the wall. had to cut a 2x2 hole on the bedroom wall next to the bath and found that the insulation and floor plate and studs were soaked.

then another time same with the tank and toilet i heard the same noise and found that the flapper valve deteriorated. so this time i replaced all gaskets fill, flapper, and tank to bowel.

once in the kicthen, i heard a real faint sound of running water under the sink i also smelled mold. checked and found the pipe had a corrosion leak. pulled all the crap that we had accumulated out from under the sink and found the bottm of the wall wet. cut a hole about the same as the other and stuck my had in and it was all wet wound up pulling the cabinet out and replacing the pipe, insulation and half the lower portion of green board sheet rock.

this house is now almost 45 years old, they say that copper pipe should last anywhere fom 50 to 80 years depending on water quaility. it is affected by chorline, lime that water systems use and some minerals in water.

my point is that you would be surprised how much a little water can do and how easy it is to fix some problems. it can also be a pain in the ass to find problems. there are so many little nook and crannies and hidden places it can sometimes take major exploration to find them.