[funfettigirl]

hi i have lived in my house for 8 years and i have never smelled mold or saw it but a couple of weeks ago i came home and i smelled mold my husband said he couldnt smell it well i started going room to room my house is only 966 sq feet i found it on my sons window and under his capitains bed where his toys are i had all his toys in dark brown wicker basketts my house is block i have no atic and i have all tile in my house i only have 3 air vents in my house and i am not a dirty person so i called my uncle right away and he brought over this meater to see if i have a high level of water in my walls they all tested under 10 percent i have a metal roof its called permaguard their are no leaks in my roof and 2 years ago i repiped my house so thier is no plumming running under my house my uncle gave me this special stuff called mint o to wash all the walls down with but i can still smell it its weird the smell is only in both bedrooms i only found a small ammount of mold in my closet and it was on my leather shoes i did put out the damp rid and it have been out a couple weeks and thier is hardley and water in them can anyone help or has anyone been through this i am at my whits end and i am worried and what my 5 year old is breathing we have checked the ac,windows,walls,roof,we only have one wall with plumming in it and it is on the other side of the house all the walls in my house are solid brick but i do have 3 walls that are drywall please help thanks lori

[Prichard]

If you have mold, you have water comming into your house from somewhere. Some things you might want to check that might not be obvious:

1) drain line from AC handler - could be stopped up, or could have a leak
2) plumbing leak inbetween walls - even if you had your house replumbed, there still could be leaks where the new pvc ties into the on/off valves of toilets, sinks and bathtubs.

3) check your lead coverd pipe vents on your roof - squirls like to chew on the lead, and this can cause rain water to drip down those pipe vents.

4) if it's an older house, it may be sitting on a high moisture area and you might be gettign hydrostatic preasure forcing water vapor through the slab. You can check this by taking moisture readings directly on the concrete slab - not on tile, but must be on the slab itself.

5) some people don't run their AC enough - i.e. keep it on 80 degrees. This is great for energy conservation, but in many parts of Florida, the humidity is just too high to do this. My recomendation is that if this is the cause, you buy a couple of good dehumidifiers and run those instead of your AC. Or, if you will be replacing your AC in the near future, buy one that has a built in dehumidifier.

[Magnolia Bloom]

I second checking the drain on the HVAC, in most cases you should be able to do it yourself.

Should also check the roof- stick your head in the attic/crawl space and smell, shine a flashlight around, especially after a rain when dampness will be easier to spot. I have learned that roof leaks don't necessarily show up for years and not directly below the spot where the water is entering.

Love metal roofs, wish I had one! But they don't allow for "breathing" and it sounds as though circulation may be dimished in your home, so that could be a contributing factor, as well, especially if the probs are in rooms with the least circulation.

And I would also check the window seals, although if your closet is having probs, too, I'd go with roof and, depending on location of your air/heat unit, the drain pipe.

Also, if the a/c isn't removing enough moisture from the air (older units, especially can have this problem), it still may cool, but the moisture will cause mold on leather, etc. And if you don't run the air, you can count on a mold issue in places with high humidity.

Most mold won't cause health issues with most people. Clorox water wipe downs handle minor mold probs. Not on leather, of course!

[Ladywithafan]

You didn't say which type of mold you found...there are natural molds in small quantities in every home in Florida...my home had the "black mold" my children are hypo allergic to it and had to be moved out of the state. There is a lawsuit going on as everyone was exposed to it....

Mold is not a laughing matter in humid, wet florida

[funfettigirl]

hello to everyone thanks for getting back to me well today is saturday my husband is going to check the roof ,and the ac line he is going to put the bleach through we went outside when the air was running and we saw the water dripping but he is going to do the bleach anyway now my house was built in 1958 so how would i go about checking the slab would i have to call someone and who? i was telling my husband this morning i think i can sell it coming from where my airhandler is because thats in our house because we have no atic my husband did just tell me he found this place we can look into the roof through a closet but its not big enough to get around ok back to the airhandler could that have mold in it ? ok the bleach test was just done the bleach went right through someone ask me what kind of mold do i have well i dont know well i really think everyone alot for the help i will stay on it untell i have found it or when i go to sell the house i will have to disclose it lori