black mold, Texas tea

Lazily pushing my cart down the aisles at Shoprite, I paused in front of a magazine rack, and stood there perusing Home Improvement periodicals. An issue of " Before and After", a pictoral home improvement guide for do- it-yourself-ers caught my eye. I am addicted to HGTV. I love home improvement programs, and especially the ones which give the viewer detailed images of the changes made in the original structure, exterior and interior. Anything labeled 'before and after' will grab my attention. Flipping through, I came upon a full page shot of a wall infected with a considerable amount of black mold. Apparently the room required gutting and replacement of studs and insulation and sheet rock. I read that true black mold ( there are molds which appear black which are not the really dangerous type), must be removed from the household completely and can not be wiped out with moldicides, like Clorox. Black mold may or may not have an odor and can grow wherever moisture comes into contact with certain types of building materials, but not tile... I couldn't help but wonder again at the true condition of my leaky little bathroom.

As soon as I got back home, and halfway through unloading the car, I had to run to the bathroom.

Directly across from the bowl, is one of three cabinets. Our of curiosity, I pulled the stacks of magazines to get a better veiw of the back wall.

Black mold. The back of the cabinet had become infected from the wall behind it, which is evidently covered in wainscoating, since the lines of mold were equally spaced, identical to the wainscoating on the other walls. Otherwise I may have considered moisture from the A/C. I don't use that room to shower so it's not like it's getting steamed up. I believe the owner is aware of the problem, as he had mentioned that they were having problems with the roof. There's really no telling what kind of expense he will run into once he starts tearing the roof off. I won't be there.

I sprayed the affected areas down and decided to notify the owner and make plans to relocate.

Spoke to the couple in Allenhurst. Hope to hear from him soon.