Mold possibly in ceiling

[homebuff]

We have a 88 model Heritage 16x60 moble home w/ a v-style ceiling. It has a 5-6" long board running down the center of the ceiling w/ small strips of panels between the larger panels. We pretty well know we have some mold up there in the upper ceiling cause my wife & I sneeze & cough at times & when family comes over they do the same thing. How hard is it to remove the upper ceiling panels so I can get a better look at it. The roof was leaking awhile back but I repaired it & now the inside ceiling stopped leaking. It had been leaking inside for a while so I put a bucket under it till I could get up on the roof to repair the leak. Need some assistance on this one please. Thanks David!

[Serena]

My heart goes out to you. Mold is a rotten deal. I'm sure the construction experts will give you some good ideas here.

To help with breathing, eye irritation, etc., I've bought some things and had good help from www.nontoxic.com . I also have a UV air purifier from www.airoasis.com and run HEPA air filters as well.

When I lived overseas my mother used to tell me that her shoes would mold in her closet. I couldn't imagine it. Now that I'm here, I leave my closet doors open.

I run a dehumidifier in the summer. I'm awaiting a parcel full of zeolite to help with the trouble as well.

I sure am sorry you have that to deal with.

[homebuff]

Well Serena, I may have gone to extremes about how much mold could be in our home. We don't have burning or itching eyes. I was just curious if we had alot of mold in the ceiling since it may have got the insulation wet & the inside of the panel wet. The panel is not hanging down or warped. I do thank you for the links you provided though.

[Dirty White Boy]

Mold is a devil...

This summer we did a job with 28 different kinds of mold. A 2 story house we had to gut from floor to ceiling, with full hazmat suits and respirators. Even with all the decontamination we would still end up with the occasional sore on our face or folds in our skin...


There is never an easy way but to get right into it and do it. Worry about how to put it back together "pretty" later and worry about the health of you and your family now.


Get goggles, a good fitting dust mask if you can't get a respirator, poly off the entrance's to the room and lay down drop cloths. Get a new blade in a razor knife and go to work.


When the moldy section is gone go to your local hardware store and get Microbahn or Sporicide and apply everywhere...

[Mark]

It's doubtful you'll be able to remove the ceiling panel and get it back in place and not kill something. At least I probably couldn't! Maybe you could loosen one edge and get a small peak up inside the ceiling.

This afternoon I was watching one of those house-flipping shows, and they showed a home inspector who had a special meter that could tell if there was mold behind a wall. Til then I never heard of such a thing. I bet its a spendy instrument!

Inspecting for mold should be done with every house inspection, but it isn't because I bet most inspectors don't have that kind of meter (or have even heard of it!) Most likely the inspectors who do have that meter charge extra for mold inspection.

Mark

[Dirty White Boy]

We have one but don't use it often, it frequently gives wrong readings. If your house is not air tight it can detect the mold in a pile of leaves outside your door.lol

We mostly use basic moisture meters. If the wall or ceiling is wet...it comes out.

[Steve S.]

Just proves that besides fire, a mobilehome's worst enemy is moisture ...it needs to be addressed immediately. First line of defense is a roof in tip-top condition. Get that snow off in the winter and don't let ice dams form, and seal and reseal in warmer seasons. And plumbing leaks need to be fixed ASAP, a water sensing device is well-advised. When I first bought my current mobilehome I had a slight leak at a fitting in my water heater closet. By the time I discovered the leak, my floor in the bathroom was sagging/destroyed and I had mold growing on the water heater closet walls. Doesn't take long to make a small problem into a large one. Thanks to this website now I am a lot more informed/vigilant

[Guest]

I bought my home after it had new roof . I made spare room larger and replaced ceiling there . I also had mold from where the old roof leaked , I replaced insualtion and cleaned roof . I left small 2 foot section in closet without sheet rook to check to see if mold comes back . I try and run humidifier to keep humidity and temp out of the range for mold to help out. I also had mold around water heater. I treated it and it came right back . I replaced the sheetrock , so far no more mold . I painted it with paint and added mold resistant packet to paint. Not sure if that stuff works but it was cheap so I used it .

[homebuff]

Thanks for all that wonderful input. I just hav'nt found time to do what Mark said but I assure you all I get to the bottom of it soon. The only way i found the leak was there was a hole almost at the end of the wall where a toggle bolt that you would hang a lg. plant from but the bolt was gone leaving a hole & the water would actually run out that hole when me had a heavy down pour. Fixed the leak for now on top of the roof temporally till I can fix the roof properly. We've had 3 floors in our house that the floor had collapsed from water concerns like the bathrooms & one bedroom where the a/c coil pan had rotted through & soaked the entire portion of the bedroom. It was a total disaster. Thats why I am so concerned about mold & my wife & I getting sick from it.