Apartment MOLD Issue - Need Opinions

[Stang70Fastback]

I'm cross-posting this here just because the 'General Chat' forum is not visible to people who aren't LGT members, and I wanna be able to link to this write-up for a few friends. So just ignore this entire thread please. Thanks!

 

I'll preface this by admitting it is obviously a long post, so basically I'm only looking for someone to read this who might have experience in dealing with mold issues. I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and offer up their suggestions.

 

So some of you may remember... I think at the time I just posted it in the "what's on your mind" forum... that I had some mold issues in my studio apartment. Here are the few relevant posts I made at the time:

 

Great. This is healthy. Just discovered mold growing in the closet of my studio. Anyone know what type it is? The stuff on the moulding at the bottom is globs of mold that is the same color as glow-in-the-dark paint. There is also mold on that bubbling spot that looks exactly like the frostbite you get on ice cream.

 

I'm officially pissed off now. The maintenance guy for my apartment complex apparently came and looked at the apartment while I was gone. This is a guy who ALWAYS does a half-assed job with every repair. The lady at the leasing office told me they had people "specially trained" to handle mold, but this is their fix-everything idiot who can't even count to ten.

 

Sure enough, all I see is a note saying "treated area in corner of closet with Steri-Fab. Will return when dries to paint if needed."

 

What the ****. First off, he cleaned the one obvious area where the old is growing, but completely missed several globs of mold on the door jamb. Second, THE WALL IS OBVIOUSLY LEAKING. You can push that section of the plasterboard in with your finger. All he's doing is putting a band-aid on a bigger problem. For all I know, that wall is INFESTED with mold. I sleep less than ten ******* feet from where this is happening, and this is pissing me off because MOLD IS DANGEROUS. I'm going to wait to see if he comes back to "paint" tomorrow and if he leaves the rest of the mold. I hope he does because I am going to rip them a new one...

 

He did pull the carpet back and sprayed under it - like a 1 foot length of carpet in the corner.

 

Don't know where the moisture is coming from. This closet is in the corner of my room which is at the corner of the building and half underground (first floor.) That corner - on the outside - has a gutter running down from the roof that goes underground, but it's clogged, so water explodes out everywhere and floods the grass against the building. I never saw any leaks, so I figured it was fine, but that would be my best guess as to where the leak is coming from. I'll just take a few more photos, as that's all I can do, and sit tight tomorrow and see what else they do. Once they have "finished" I'll start the attack.

 

In the end, I send them a very stern email about how I was going to go to the town if they didn't fix things properly. Here is an excerpt from that email:

 

At the end of that week, I came home to find another note in the apartment: "Came back to check closet. Mildew problem resolved." This is rather infuriating. First off, the mildew problem has NOT been resolved. That much mold does not form of its own accord. The closet sits in the outside corner of the building, against a wall that has a water drain. This, coupled with the fact that the drywall seems to have some water damage, should be plenty of indication that there is an UNDERLYING CAUSE. The mildew problem has not been "resolved" it has been "masked." In addition, and this might be the most infuriating part of the whole situation, taking another look inside my closet showed yet another issue. NOT ALL THE MOLD HAD EVEN BEEN CLEANED UP. He managed to clean the baseboard, but there was still that same mold growing on the door frame right next to the baseboard. It's still there. I've now been living and sleeping in this apartment for quite a while with mold STILL growing. This is ENTIRELY unacceptable. Mold is dangerous. Mold is DEADLY. My parents are flipping out right now. They are already unhappy that my apartment is adjacent to a fence with radiation exposure warnings on it. This new issue, and your inability to resolve it, has led them to push for me to contact a lawyer. In fact, many of the original people I had talked to are now saying I should go directly to the county health department and file an official complaint because this transcends laziness and moves into the realm of negligence to resolve an issue that poses an IMMEDIATE threat to the well being of the inhabitants. I'm pretty sure my lease has plenty of clauses in there about how I have every right to break my contract if management fails to resolve an issue which renders my apartment inhabitable... and many people would tell you that I have EVERY right to claim my apartment is inhabitable so long as mold is visibly growing. I am seriously considering all of these options.

 

And here is the answer I got back:

 

As you probably know by now, our maintenance supervisor visited your apartment yesterday concerning the "mold issue" you discussed in your email dated Oct. 1, 2012.

 

The only work order that I have concerning this issue was on September 9, when you called the emergency maintenance number. When issues are as bad as you explain in your email, I would expect to see multiple work orders. Also, to remedy the situation instead of discussing this with "people", as stated in your email, you would have called the office and discussed the situation.

 

When our supervisor visited your apartment yesterday, he pulled the carpet back, cut dry wall out and found no trace of mold whatsoever. He took pictures before beginning the search for the "mold issue" and after to verify that there is no mold present. We have also kept the dry wall that was cut out as proof that no mold exists. In the future, you need to contact the office immediately. I can't address a problem that I have no knowledge of.

 

Anyway, long story short they cut a small 1-foot-square section of the wall out, insisted they found no mold, replaced it, and also re-routed the gutter on the side of the building so water flowed out about 10 feet away from the apartment. Problem theoretically solved.

 

Ever since then, however, the closet has smelled... VERY musty. Like an overwhelming smell. However, I was never able to find any mold, so I just let it go. A few weeks ago, I noticed a dead beetle on the carped in the closet, and not only was it dead, it was COVERED in mold - and it must have only been there two or three days. I immediately threw it out (should have kept it) and dug through the closet. Everything was fine, expect for my leather sandals, which were covered in mold. Threw those out too. Today I did another examination and found that my nice winter, Timberlake boots, which have leather on the outside, are also starting to grow mold all over them.

 

What the **** do I do at this point? I feel like going straight to ServPro and having them do an apartment inspection just to see what they come up with first, but I legitimately can't afford to pay for any inspection whatsoever. I'm probably moving in a month or two, so I'm tempted to just deal with it, but this is almost a matter of principal above all else at this point.

 

The only problem I have is that the humidity in this apartment sits around 70%. That is obviously way more than ideal, and I'm not sure why it is that high. I can turn the A/C on for a while to drop it back down to 60 or 50%, but it being a studio, if I leave it on longer than that it gets very cold, and once I turn it off the humidity shoots right back up again. Are they just going to come back and tell me that it's my fault for the mold because I should have installed a dehumidifier? The closet seems to be the main source of mold, though I did have to replace my futon mattress last year when I discovered mold growing on the bottom of it, and in cleaning my apartment two days ago I discovered my other kitchen chair has a layer of something on the cushion that produces a sheen in the light - no doubt mold. I have sprayed the crap out of that with disinfectant.

[monkeyposeur]

Get the @@@@ out of there!!!

[pleaidestar]

That whole section looks like it will need to be taken out and cleaned from the framing and new drywall screwed in tape and float the drywall is like bondo in a way. Drywall can be sectioned and put in there much like metal you just have to know to attach it to the surrounding studs. If it stays wet in there and the wall looks bubbled out I would imagine the studs behind it are staying wet too.

 

Really if the maintenance man is half assed like that I would look into getting it done (if you can't on your own) hire somebody and bill the apartment owner, not the manger. If its uninhabitable then talk to the city if you have exhausted a manageable means to get it done. Mold isn't safe and apartment superintendents would rather stay away from litigating.

[Zues Marine]

...holllly fuckk.

[Tr00b]

A dehumidifier would be a temp fix until you move out perhaps suggest they provide you with one. Rightfully so they should deal with the underlying problem but maybe they are sandbagging until you leave? Drywall is messy stuff

[mattmattyxcore]

As a maintenance tech myself, the first thing I would have done would be to tear out more than a one foot square if not that entire sheet, because of the location the source of the water could be fairly far away. I've seen water travel as far as 8+ feet from its source, along the baseboard, and finally surfacing almost exactly like yours looks. Your maintenance staff are idiots if they didn't source the leak THAT DAY. If it was in fact from the downspout, the interior walls should have been removed, studs disinfected, and a dehumidifier left to run for at least a day or two. While that was happening you should have been told not to utilize that room and keep the door shut at a minimum, assuming they didn't seal the room with plastic and use an air scrubber. Mold remediation is serious business and there are ways to solve issues without all the insanely expensive equipment, unfortunately it doesn't sound like your maintenance staff knows what the hell they are doing.

[mattmattyxcore]

Unfortunately since you are in a ground level unit, you will always have the higher humidity problem. I don't know for sure why this is, probably has to do with the floor being directly over the foundation. Buy yourself an inexpensive dehumidifier and run it overnight and a few hours in the morning. You're on the right track to covering your ass by throwing away any object that was affected by the mold. This will both help remedy the situation and show your landlord/leasing agents that you mean business in resolving it. I've seen many cases where tenants have mold on a suitcase or shoes and we tell them they have to have it cleaned or throw it away only to find that when we do our follow up, it's still in the closet and covered in mold. Also mold will grow on leather shoes in a heartbeat because it's organic and provides an excellent breeding ground. I know throwing away those Timbs sucked but it was that or treat them with chemicals that may have ruined them. From here on out, make copies or take pictures of anything related to the incident, email your work orders instead of calling them in, do everything you can to document whats happening. Sounds like the staff is trying to go about things the lazy way which ultimately could lead to hospital time for YOU. If you feel that they aren't doing enough, talk to a manager IN PERSON and demand their regional manager's or owner's contact info. That usually does the trick but if not, let me know and I can give you some more info that will probably lead to some people losing their jobs, but lets not go that far yet lol.

[Stang70Fastback]

I appreciate your feedback. I'll definitely follow up with you tomorrow. I'll post a portion of what I posted in the other copy of this thread:

 

I found out the person in the town who is in charge of this sort of stuff (building inspection department or whatever), and I'm going to go talk to him on Monday. Basically, what I want is not to necessarily get the leasing company in trouble RIGHT NOW, but I want someone else to look at the situation, and then I will contact my leasing company and tell them about the problem. That way if they do a good job fixing it, great. If they don't, I can tell them someone from the town looked at it and said, "XYZ" and hopefully that way they will get their shit together.

 

Or not. I dunno how it's going to go down - I have to talk to the guy on Monday and see what he says, but basically I don't trust this to JUST my leasing company to resolve. Considering how poor of a job they did last time, I at least want someone else to come look at the situation beforehand so they can tell me what SHOULD be done. That way I have some benchmark to judge how my leasing company handles it... if that makes sense.

 

So tomorrow I'll hopefully have some more info.

[sunny5280]

I think the first thing you need to do is decide what outcome you'd like. Do you just want the issue corrected (this is seems like a given)? Do you want compensation for the items you had to dispose of? Do you want some other financial compensation (such as a month or two of free rent)? Do you want to move?

 

Once you have that decided then you need to do what mattmattyxcore said and document everything. Photos and written correspondence. If you have any verbal discussions follow it up in writing with "Per our discussion on..." and summarize the discussion. Doing this can help ensure both parties have the same understanding of the problem and course of action.

 

You can also kill mold with a high powered ozone generator. However unless the underlying problem has been resolved it will just recur. Given the health risks with mold I would be looking to find another place to live (perhaps another unit within the same building?)

[Stang70Fastback]

Posting what I posted in the other thread:

 

Okay, well I talked to the town guy. Basically he can't do anything unless they make no effort to resolve the issue. Thus far, they have made efforts - though it took me pushing them - so I don't really have anything I can say to them yet. I went through my closet today, and found mold in two pairs of shoes, and some of the clothing hanging up on the rack. Unfortunately, I can't find any mold in the CLOSET itself, nor can I find any signs of moisture.

 

Could this simply be a case of my apartment being humid and the closet not getting any circulation? To be fair, some of this stuff (the jackets, in particular) hasn't been moved since winter. If that's the case, the town guy said a dehumidifier isn't something that they are required to provide, and so basically I'm pretty much SOL as far as anything other than buying a dehumidifier myself. I'm moving out of here in a month or two so I think I might just wash everything in the closet, and then leave it permanently open so that it gets SOME air circulation whenever I turn on my A/C and just stick it out until I can leave.

 

Here are some photos of the mold I found on my stuff. The shoes have been moved recently, but the jackets haven't been touched in a few months.

 

[Zues Marine]

honestly, you shouldn't own a jacket like that anyways..

 

good guy mold, lol

[Stang70Fastback]

Lol, I've been meaning to throw that one out honestly, so I don't really care about it, but it makes the story better.

[bluesuby]

If you haven't bought a dehumidifier yet, try a product called Damp-Rid. I have seen it in Lowes as well as some supermarkets. It's basically a bag filled with desiccant which sucks moisture out of the air. The bag has a plastic hook so you can hang it from a pipe or coat rack.

[mattmattyxcore]

Dang, that kinda sucks but everything you said is what I would expect to happen. Since you're moving out soon anyways, just wash what you have and put it in a suitcase or something until then. Stagnant air (like that in a closet) is typically where mold thrives, so if you can clear out as much space as possible I say go for it. If everything looks good on the surface now, it "might" not be back within the month. I say "might" because you and I don't know for sure what the source was. You sound like a reasonable person that doesn't come from a tropical or arctic region so you should have your thermostat set to 72 to 76 degrees. Anything outside of that range for this time of the year (given you have had similar weather to Fredericksburg VA) will result in some kind of humidity or precipitation. So I see no reason to blame you as the source. Mold spores are a real PITA since you can't see them. It may seem like all the mold is gone but if the conditions are right and you didn't get rid of absolutely everything, it's going to come back. As far as the dehumidifier goes, he's right but if they had the means to do so (or are decent human beings) they should have left one in your unit for a few days. If those people run a business such as property management and don't own a dehumidifier OR have a contractor that provides them, they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

TL : DR Clean what you can, pack up what you won't use in the month, be happy you won't have to deal with those jerks after that.

[monkeyposeur]

I know how you feel stang. I had a pack of corn tortillas and they went moldy.