Black Mold
Posted on June 8, 2010 - Filed Under Guatemala, Kids, Simple Life | 11 Comments
An unexpected side effect of having a tropical storm hurl water at us in large quantities was that the back walls of our house, which aren’t plastered outside, were soaked through. I thought they would dry out.
They didn’t. And now they have black mold growing there. It started in the upper corner of our bedroom and over the past week has spread over the entire back wall of our room and is creeping over another wall. The boys only had orange mold at first, but two days ago I went in and saw dark spots and they have two walls covered in black mold now, too.
Not only is this unsightly, the stuff is spreading like wildfire. Plus, as we all know, black mold is very bad for you and I’m a little worried. We’ve taken all the toys out of the boys’ room so they won’t be contaminated. The maid washed the wall with bleach in their room, which got rid of stuff for a day and then it came back with a vengeance. Irving and I wiped the walls with alcohol yesterday, that may have done the trick, as well as removing a large amount of paint (sob), but in our room, we can’t wipe the walls because they are stucco style.
So right now, our bedroom looks about 50 years old, with black lines and blobs everywhere. Today we need to move furniture around so that the mold isn’t infecting the bed or bookshelf and I think we’ll try spraying it with alcohol.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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11 Responses to “Black Mold”
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Our upstairs neighbor had a leak in her kitchen, and long story short, we had a big fight with mold when we moved into this house.
We had to:
1 – chisel off all the paint/concrete from the roof and affected walls
2 – clean with bleach water
3 – dry over night using a room heater – not easy in Lima’s humidity
4 – paint with a mold-retardant paint
and then finally paint over that with the color we wanted.
It worked. Until about 2 weeks ago, when upstairs neighbor had another leak. Oh joy.
The chiseling part is what I’m dreading. We really don’t have money to redo the walls at this point, so I’m hoping we can just eliminate it . . . a friend told us that a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, borax and vinegar is very effective. Fingers crossed!
I hope the mixture works. Let me know how it goes, we have had a bit of mold trouble as well, but nothing like what you describe. Also, let me know if you want to borrow our dehumidifier. It really helps! Our situation has improved greatly now that the terrace is finished and they have removed all the wet wood. Best of luck!
When we come for a visit next week (wow, the time is flying!) I will ask my brother in law who builds block houses what you should do. We might head over to Antigua and your neck of the woods before we actually take our vacation there the weekend of the 25th and 26th. If the mold is still there, Mauricio and Jose can possibly give Irving an idea or two as well. Good luck and see you soon!
We’ve been told that we need to seal the outer walls, which I think is a great idea . . . but it’s also expensive! I’m thinking of getting someone to do one small wall, learning myself and doing it myself.
White lime kills about anything. Make a thin whitewash and paint the wall with a roller, scrape it with a trowel to knock off any ridges and you should be able to paint over it with latex paint in a few days. A ten dollar bag of white lime will do about 1000 sq. ft. Sulfur is a good mold killer but it stinks to high heaven. Water based paints have problems going over sulfur but if you wash it with baking soda after the sulfur has killed the mold, the paint will stick. Good luck and ware gloves as both white lime and sulfur will take your skin off.
Ok, that sounds scary, Norm!
I just sprayed the wall with citric acid, but if that doesn’t work, I will try the lime.
Hola Expat mom!
I’ve so enjoyed reading your posts since before moving here to San Lucas and now afterwards too. We’ve been here for 3 months now and endured the volacano eruption and storm Agatha. We also went to San Miguel twice to help with the kids and others from our group helped dig houses out. I heard that unburied someone who was still alive last week. And others who, unfortunately, weren’t. I hope to meet you someday!
Marjorie
I hadn’t heard that they found someone alive, that’s amazing, considering the mud and rocks! Good news, too. We don’t live too far apart, perhaps we can meet up for coffee one day.
Oh god, you have so many challenges, I just cannot believe it. Prayer, maybe that will work. Keep the rooms hot so they can dry out?
Heh, you’re also reading all the older posts, Micki, so it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds when you read it all at once.