Balck Mold in New Construction

[adner]

There is mold and there is black mold. People often make mistakes diagnosing the mold. To truly know if it's the scary black mold it has to be tested. Regular mold and mildew are black and while none is good, it's not the black mold that can cause all kinds of health issues.

[riya.smith30]

Originally Posted by adner

There is mold and there is black mold. People often make mistakes diagnosing the mold. To truly know if it's the scary black mold it has to be tested. Regular mold and mildew are black and while none is good, it's not the black mold that can cause all kinds of health issues.

Yes we did get it tested by certified 3rd party and it came positive.
builder agreed to fix it.
Now we see some white paint done on the affected parts of lumber - hopefully the buidler has fixed it and not just covered it.

[coolgato]

I'm sorry that the black stuff on the lumber was confirmed to be mold, but you have good instincts and was not over-reacting like you were thinking. It was a genuine concern you had and you took steps getting it checked out, and the builder sounds reasonable and will clean it up for you at his cost. You probably wish you didn't have to be on guard and watching everything all the time, but you have to because if you hadn't checked on that, your building would of had mold in its walls and then it would be really hard to get rid of and costly as well - by that time the builder would of probably said it may have been age related or due to your negligence in monitoring rain leakage or whatever they would come up with to avoid responsibility. I wonder why he didn't notice the black spots on the lumber in the first place.

[coolgato]

Originally Posted by riya.smith30

Yes we did get it tested by certified 3rd party and it came positive.
builder agreed to fix it.
Now we see some white paint done on the affected parts of lumber - hopefully the buidler has fixed it and not just covered it.

I think you should take pictures and also ask them about the white paint. Do air testing, too. It would be different if you were building the house yourself, then of course you would be motivated to do everything in the best way, use good and safe materials, etc., but most of us don't know how to build a house from the ground up and have to trust contractors to do a good job. Some are very good and some just want to do the job and get out, never wanting to hear from you again.

[CaliforniaGal1]

My husband is a painting contractor and he;s around this stuff all the time.

He says the mold will not grow, it needs to have moisture. Such as a water leak or something.

We usually just spray it with 50% water, 50% clorox bleach, as someone already suggested

Don't use the cheap brands of bleach, they don't work as well.

Bleach prevents it from growing, kills it though it shouldn't grow anyhow

Otherwise not a big deal