Mold :( Thoughts please!

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abw688

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I apologize in advance for the long post, but would appreciate any and all help!!!

Here in SC we had a TON of rain in October and we've had quite a few rainstorms since our big flooding incident and things haven't had a lot of time to dry out. My house did not suffer from water intrusion, but recently, I noticed a musty smell and did some inspections...

I found that we had mold (very light and easy to come off) in a cabinet in the kitchen and then in a bathroom. We used Concrobium to take care of it and it hasn't been back in over a week. We then did some further investigating and found more of this dusty mold in a few other quiet and dark places in the house....treated with Concrobium.

We bought a hygrometer to test the RH in the house. It was 77% in most places (wayyy too high). We then bought a dehumidifer and it has been sucking water like a dry plant. After running it pretty consistently, it has brought the RH down to the 40%-55% range. The musty smell is now gone.

Just to be safe, we did have a mold company come out to check things out. They said the mold is most likely from the high humidity since it is scattered throughout. They took humidity readings on the walls and said they were good (but this was after running the dehumidifier). They checked both the crawl space and the attic (we have 2 separate sides of the attic). The crawl space had mold (nothing horrible according to the mold company) and so did the attic (the side that does not usually get sun)...(again,nothing horrible according to the mold company).

The company came up with a plan to remove the mold in the attic and crawl space as well as clear the duct work.

My question is....how can we get rid of it in our living space? We have not seen the mold everywhere, but in a few places. Is it really from the high humidity? Will we always have to run dehumidifiers or will the humidity eventually go to a normal state? Will the mold come back? We are just nervous since we do not want to go through this again!!! It's been awful! The home has never had an issue before.

Thanks so much in advance, I am sorry for the long post!
 
The company also recommended for our HVAC air handler be cleaned as well and we install a UV light and possibly an air purifier.....any suggestions on any of these?
 
Clean up the mold you have found is good idea. We live with mold spores everyday, everywhere. It needs two things to grow, food and moisture.
If you attic and crawl space are not heated you need them to be dry and plenty of ventulation. In the attic you need air flow from soffet vents to some type of vents near the peak.
In the crawl space you need vents on both sides or ends of the house to have enough air flow below the level of the floor.
In the house when moisture is high, more use of hood fans and bathroom fans is a must.
If this is mostly a new thing, you should be able to get it back under control.
The light in the HVAC is expensive and most people I know that have them replace the balb a few times then give up on them.
The air handler should be cleaned and the drain should be cleaned but some times you need to sit and watch that job being done.
 
Thank you! The company's plan is to remove the mold in the attic and crawl space....they are going to heat and fan the crawl space to dry up 100%. Then, HEPA vacuum mold spores and fog with sani-shield and lay down a 10mil vapor barrier.

For the attic, they are going to HEPA vacuum mold spores and fog with sani-shield.

For the duct work, they are going to fog with sani-shield.

I am just worried that the mold will come back. The treatment is not cheap, and I would hate to spend the money to be dealing with the same problem. We do have the soffit vents in the attic....not sure if there is anything in the way blocking them? The company recommended having a large fan in the crawl space that runs for about 2 hours a day on a timer.
 
I am also trying to get the humidity under control. We left the dehumidifier off while we were at work (about 8/9 hours) and the humidity was at 66% when we got home. When the dehumidifier is running, we can get the house down to around 50%/55%. Prior to using the dehumidifer at all, the house was at 77%. I'm just not sure if we will always have to run the dehumidifier or if it will eventually get to a normal comfortable state.
 
The humidity inside will always match the outside. So the question is, what happens when the humidity is low outside, what was it outside when you left the house.
 
basement, crawlspace or slab? Whichever your house is built on, what is the humidity on that level?

It is a crawlspace with some moisture and a little mold.
And that should have been asked, How much moisture in the crawl space?
 
I purchased a property that had some mold issues, and the name Concrobium came up a number of times. When I investigated further, people on the do-it-yourself forms mentioned the main ingredient was washing soda. After doing some further investigation I found a couple of homemade recipes and tried them.

For the area that I needed to treat in my house I could have easily spent $150 on what I needed of the Concrobium product, but instead spent under five dollars.


So, the solution is 2 teaspoons per quart of Washing soda ( available at the supermarket with other detergents), and then 1/8 teaspoon of trisodium phosphate (TSP). This is available at Home Depot and other hardware stores, and is used as a cleaner or paint preparation. Just look in the paint section at HD. Both of these are very inexpensive. Under $10 for both, and you could make 50 gallons or more of mold control.washing soda. After doing some further investigation I found a couple of homemade recipes and tried them.
When I was looking up Concrobium (never heard of it before) I found the above post with a recipe for a homemade version of it. I thought I would share it.
 
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