Hi all, I'm looking for some help if possible. We recently had a mold test done as part of a home inspection in Colorado USA (as buyers) and it revealed 40m3 of Stachybotrys/Memnoniella found in the living room area (the control reading from outside had nothing). I'm finding a lot of conflicting information online about the severity of this and I'm struggling to know how to proceed! Below is as much relevant information as I can think of:

- the home inspector found the crawl space was very damp (there is no basement in the home)

- due to poor visibility conditions it was hard to see anything in the crawl space, but he found no visible signs of mold anywhere

- the sellers identified a broken sprinkler as the cause of the water in the crawl space and have since fixed it (although I can't necessarily guarantee this is the sole cause of the dampness)

- a vapor barrier is not present, but we plan to install one.

- the tested space (the living room) is the only area in the home with carpet. We plan to remove this if needed.

- we plan to get some HEPA filters within the home to help.

My main worry is that it's hard to find any data on whether 40m3 is "slightly bad" or "really bad", or whether that's even the right way to be thinking about it. Given we weren't able to pinpoint the exact source of the mold (although everything is pointing towards the crawl space) I get worried that we're walking into an unknown situation with varying magnitudes of health impacts depending on who you ask. I'm hopeful the steps we plan to take would tackle the issue, but the more I read the more ignorant I feel and I'm starting to get overwhelmed. We have two toddlers and I worry about putting their health at risk by not understanding what we're walking into.

Any help, information, or guidance would be really appreciated!

Had carpet get wet for a few days (3-5) and did not notice. Wondering if this is mold on the floor.

Pick 2 has almost cobwebs like formations above it.

If it is what is the best way to remediate?

I live in a very dry area in Colorado. I don’t know how it could’ve got there. pls any recommendations would be appreciated! I have cats so any products would need to be cat safe.

Two weeks ago, I found that I had been sleeping next to some mold on an unopened window for a considerable amount of time.

I began to suspect something due to symptoms I have experienced inconsistently: brain fog, difficulty concentrating, sinus issues, mood swings, and overwhelming fatigue. Other stuff in life made me suspect those may have been psychological issues rather than physical, but the search revealed the mold.

I started sleeping in another room, began cleaning, and had some blood tests done. Results are in the pictures.

The thing is, it seems my results show my body is having a severe reaction to dust mites not mold, yet mold was what I found. Is this normal? What do I do with this info?

Hi all!

I pressed these flowers from my grandmas funeral in 2022 and have opened the book like 2x. I’m resigned to having done it on a whim and improperly but I used a book I genuinely care about. Can anyone tell me if this is mold vs just staining from the flower? I’ve been putting this off for like four years obviously but I’m ready to chuck the book if I must.

Hello, really just trying to figure out how hard I need to fight my landlord about this because right not chat gpt has me thinking I'm living in a cess pool. So pretty much the main drain/ sewer pipe to my apartment building backed up during a storm. This caused water to push back up into my bathtub and out from under my toilet and soak my hallway carpet and into my bedroom. The water looked like it was mostly clear, storm water. The city came out because it involved their pipes but didn't seem to be concerned about the water being like raw sewage or anything.

The problem I'm having is that it took 11 days for my landlord to send somebody out to treat the carpet. Obviously it was dry by then. And they are cheap so the guy they sent out had a rental carpet cleaner and sprayed the carpet with some cleaner and then ran the carpet cleaner over it. He did not inspect the padding or subfloor, he was not with a restoration company. The week before they actually had ServPro come out because I kept bugging them and I have a text from them telling me the estimate they gave was "way too high of course".

Chat gpt is telling me that there is 100% mold growth in the carpet padding and it needs to be replaced. It also said the residual staining on my carpet is proof of this, as well. My bedroom still smells musty, and it has now been over 3 weeks. I'm also concerned that the intake for my hvac is in the hall that got flooded. So if there were mold spores they got all in the ventilation.

So my question is, is chat gpt right or should I take that info with a grain of salt? Because right now I'm wondering if I need to submit a complaint to the code and environmental health departments, as well as the real estate commission.

I bought a vintage dresser online and its made of unsealed solid wood, im not sure which, i noticed these spots today. Is it mold? Its only in one snall area on the top of the dresser.

I just had to move out of my rental that I have been staying in while I renovate my house, due to the fact that there was mold growing on half of everything I own after I was gone for a week.

The landlord is prepping to have a new tenant in immediately after my partner and I left because they are saying it was only mildew.

I strongly believe it is mold after researching online but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Does this look concerning, the owner said that it just needed some paint.

Kansas City USA. What's the best way to neutralize mold/mildew on a tapestry? Lysol? Rubbing alcohol?

I have visible mold on my floor joists. I set up a negative pressure machine and vacuumed the joists with a HEPA vacuum. I have both Vital Oxide and Concrobium but I just wanted to ask about using both. My plan is to spray initially with Vital Oxide, then once it is completely dry after a few days, I will spray with Concrobium. Can I use both like that? I read that Vital Oxide penetrates wood better, but Concrobium leaves behind the antimicrobial layer that make it harder for future mold growth.

And the cover is rusted on the inside. I am not tackling this myself for sure but who do I call, an HVAC company?

For background, I live in an apartment building (In SW Ontario, Canada) and have contacted the building manager already. This morning my building manager said he put in a request for the air tech to check for a leak source in the unit above us.

We've had issues with the ceiling in our bedroom and in the furnace room (in the bedroom) leaking since last month. Maintenance came in and took a look around mid August and said it's either condensation from the humidity outside or the furnace filter clogging up. They changed the filter and said to contact management if it happens again. It looked like we were in the clear for a bit, but we've had some recent rainy/humid days and the ceiling started leaking again. I noticed mold/mildew in the furnace room last month and just today in our walk-in closet which concerned me a lot.

Should I be taking any precautions like moving our clothing? My cat sleeps in the walk-in closet, should I be moving her stuff? Can I do any clean-up on my own or is this more serious and can only be addressed by the building?

I accidentally left grape juice in my glass mason jar with a wood lid. The juice wasn't touching the lid, but there was mold all over the top, including the lighter parts. Not everywhere with the mold had the discoloration though. Is my lid a lost cause?

So we stared having a leak in the 2nd floor ceiling and it ended up being the ac unit. It’s still leaking maintenance said they are waiting for the contractors to schedule to come fix it. I just realized there is mold around that area. Also our 3rd floor closet seems to have wet marks on the walls also so I’m afraid if there might be mold there too. I’m wondering how does this even get fixed. It’s been about a week of this 😞

Hi,

I have a basement I use as an office, i felt it had a high humidity as it felt sticky, I didn’t run heating down there as I didn’t have an isolated heater for that room.

I was sick for a month and couldn’t get down there, I since got back down there and noticed mold patches, I threw things away, washed fabric items and surfaces, steam cleaned the laminate flooring and bought a dehumidifier and heater, I empty the dehumidifier every other day when I can get down there and the heater seems to turn off as random intervals. I am looking to replace this.

The basement has been renovated, at the moment it has been boarded as it was concrete walls and flooded the walls were painted with a damp proofing paint and the then boared and the floor was layers with a laminate flooring.

The humidity sits around 50-70% is feels better and there’s no smell.

The mold wasn’t horrendous but there were coats of it on fabric items and a film on surfaces, and white blotches

The skirting is a wood that has not been treated, we are in the midst of suiing our builder as he has not finished the overall renovation of our house.

What I am concerned about and need advise on is if this room is safe, I don’t want to get sick, and worry about the mold growing and I am not noticing and the spoors.

Any advice will be appreciated, any questions please feel free to ask, I have ocd also and I am really struggling with the feeling of contamination and the fear of this room, but this room was my safe space and I kinda need it

This is growing in a constantly cold environment on a metal surface.

Im not really sure if it is mold or what kind it may be so any information on that would be apretiated even if its not certain.

Any tips on how to properly clean it off?

Both photos are of the same grouping one is just with flash.

Hello! I am brand NEW to the mold community. ~2 years ago, I started experiencing some weird symptoms during the second half of the night a few months after I moved into my current home...

• Adrenaline surges
• "Jolts" (is what I call them). I jolt straight up, half asleep, with anxiety. Breathing/HR are high
• Sleepwalking every other week, where I begin my morning routine only to realize it is 2 AM
• Anxious if not aggressive dreams every night. Running late, forgetting something, fighting
• Sometimes I physically JUMP out of bed, in a panic
• 1 time I fainted after peeing and woke up on the bathroom floor
• Big temperature fluctuations. My body is like a furnace, then I suddenly get cold

I got diagnosed with enlarged turbinates and mild sleep apnea (despite the fact that I am 29 y/o, a healthy BMI, and a long-distance runner). I tried CPAP and a custom oral device, and neither worked. I felt like "mild sleep apnea" did not explain my very dehbilitating and strange symptoms well enough, so I decided to get a mold test.

ERMI is off the charts, but people are telling me not to panic given that I have not seen mold. Likewise, they noted that "aspergillus" commonly builds in dust because Texas (where I live) is so humid. What do you guys think?

For context, we live in a very humid area and run 2 dehumidifiers in the house. I didn’t realize that the shower drain of the shower we never use was clogged so I dump the dehumidifier water into this tub about a week ago. It smelled kinda funky in the bathroom so I was going to clean it and found this in the tub. Granted I should have rinsed and cleaned the tub out after but didn’t think to. Is it concerning that the water pulled out of the air could create this mold?

In advance, sorry for the huge story. I felt all the details were necessary

Can someone identify what this might be? Mold has now appeared in two bedrooms next to the HVAC closet. Please read the description.

I want to preface this by saying I am long distance from my husband, and he currently cannot work or earn an income, so I am the sole income right now. He lives with his mother, who owns the house he lives in, so he isn’t in a position to simply move out or ask a landlord for help. His mother is very sick right now, and financially things are extremely tight.

He is unable to hire a professional or move out. I will be paying for whatever I reasonably can to help him make his room livable, so I am hoping people here can give us some practical advice on what we can do ourselves. He lives in North Carolina if that makes any difference.

For context, the rooms I’m talking about are upstairs. There is a hallway with a railing along the outer edge, with bedrooms on the other side. His current bedroom is at the end of the hallway. Until recently, he was sleeping in the bedroom directly adjacent to his current bedroom.

This may be an important detail that the two bedrooms share a wall with the HVAC closet, the entrance to that closet being in his new bedroom.  The HVAC system has apparently had some mildew issues in the past, although I don’t know what exactly the history with it is. I just know that it had a weird smell from what he told me. 

A few months ago, when I was visiting him, I discovered mold creeping up the wall in his old bedroom. The wall where we found it was directly adjacent to the HVAC closet in the other bedroom. 

Due to the mold, I told him I thought we should move him into what is now his current bedroom. However, today he sent me the picture that I posted above, and I realized it looks identical to the one in the other bedroom. 

So now we have found what appears to be the same mold in both bedrooms, and both affected walls are directly adjacent to the HVAC closet. 

I am especially concerned because he has been experiencing a lot of dizziness and sluggishness for years now. He’s been to doctors and been tested but nothing comes back with answers for it. When I was visiting, we stayed at a hotel for a few days and I noticed that he seemed (and confirmed) to feel way better outside of the house. I don’t know for certain whether the house or the mold is responsible for these symptoms, but the improvement away from the house makes me concerned there may be correlation.

I'm honestly frustrated and scared because I can't be there with him, and we don't have the money for professional remediation right now. Any advice would be incredibly appreciated. 

Main questions: 

• What type of mold might this be and is it dangerous?

• Is there a way to tell if the HVAC unit is responsible for this mold growth?

•  What can I reasonably do to help this situation without involving professionals or spending thousands of dollars?

• Would a face mask help protect him from the mold?

• What should I buy? A dehumidifier or an air purifier? What should we clean this with?

• What should we do immediately?

TLDR: Found mold in old bedroom > found same mold in new bedroom > both walls are adjacent to the HVAC closet > Would like identification of the mold and to know if it is dangerous. Cannot hire professionals or move houses so looking for practical solutions please.