wilkes

https://www.homereme...d-of-mold/

High odds it is common mold and mildew from lack of air circulation. Carpets are another source of pollutants in a home especially old carpet. Probably not enough mold to warrant remediation.

Install a fresh air intake with a fan into the duct system or turn furnace fan on continuously circulate air.

As mentioned the humidity inside can be high as well from lack of air circulation.

Have a vapor barrier, plastic, placed in the crawl space on the ground and seal the joints. If there are no vents in the crawl space walls install some.

A house has to breathe. Stale air is as bad for a person as polluted air.

The atmosphere in a typical room needs to be moved, changed, a minimum of 4 times an hour in a home.

And lastly but first if they have a oil or gas heating system have it checked especially the heat exchanger and combustion chambers, and for proper venting of off gases.

It says online not to use Clorox.

If no one else can find the problem I can perform a full spectrum analysis on the home, but I'm very, very expensive, however, I'm not afraid to crawl over a few dead rats in a crawl space. I will find the problem.

Several of the home inspectors can perform the tests

spraying clorox on mold will only kill what's on the surface because it doesn't penetrate very deep and will actually make the mold worse. Sunlight will kill the mold it can reach as will powerful ultraviolet light from lamps.

Clorox will kill mold

The humidity in your parent's living space should be right around 35%, if it is lowering it drastically with dehumidifiers would only make them sicker. If you haven't seen or smelled mold and noone finds any sources of water leaks in the crawlspace, attic or behind a wall, I would have a plumber check to make sure there's no sewer gas from a faulty vent pipe or trap.

There are test kits you can buy but I do not know how reliable they are.

Use a dehumidifier and get rid of any major source of moisture like roof leaks, plumbing leaks and drainage toward the house then get rid of minor sources of moisture like venting bathrooms and cook stoves to the outdoors. Houseplants will add unwanted humidity also. Use heaters and fans to dry out the house and keep it dry.

There's little doubt in my mind that they have mold. The house is at least 60 years old, probably more. It used to have a tin roof that was always a little leaky. And God only knows what's going on in their crawlspace.

But I've also noticed that my parents cough and have a lot of lung problems, but then when they leave for a few days those problems go away. So I think that the mold could be causing their breathing problems.

They have a new roof and new siding, so I hope that any leaking is fixed but I can't be sure about the crawlspace. So I'm hoping to find someone that can test for mold, then if there's anything there we can set up dehumidifiers and test again after a period. If it's not any better then we can bring in a plumber to look for problems, then test again. If it's still not any better then I guess we'd have to tear out the walls. But we're talking about my parent's health and possibly their lives, so it's either that or convince them to buy a new house.

aFicIoNadoS is right...you cannot remove it with dehumidifiers...it will take just about a complete remodel I had to have that done at my house

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Mitigating mold is expensive. It basically requires opening all the walls up. It’s a full remodel.

sounds like they have water getting in somehow,,,,rent some dehumidifiers get the moisture to below 50% wolla all gone

I think my parent's house might have mold in it. Who in Wilkes tests for mold and can remove it? Any idea what an average cost might be?