Hi all,
This might be a long post :tongue: In summary, I am looking for some assistance from those who are in the know re mould, damp, plumbing, building etc and potentially anyone who knows some of the various health implications of mould in the house.
Firstly, some context. I live in Tanzania, where it is stinking hot all the time, and humidity is normally around the 90-100% mark. A few months ago I moved into a new apartment (which I rent with my SO). The place is excellent, we love it. It's a tall apartment block (15/16 floors I think) and we are on the 7th floor and the whole building is newly built, we are the first tenants in our apartment. When the building was first built, the plumbing contractor handed over the building to the main contractor without any issues. There were no leaks and all was well. Once people started moving in, the tenants on the higher floors started complaining about a totally lack of water pressure (which admittedly should have been foreseen by the architects / plumbers but anyways...). So the building owner decided that the easiest solution would be to install a few pressure pumps. This worked really well except, that all the pipes which were leak free now haad HUGE water pressure running thru them (especially on the lower floors, my showers could almost remove skin at full blast) which of course meant that ALOT of pipes generated leaks. In my apartment alone I have had 5 separate leaks fixed in the last 3/4 months. There are 3 apartments per floor, 15 floors... that means a shitload of leaks!
The building owner has been working VERY hard to have all the leaks solved, I think that 95% of the building leaks have been resolved to date (I know know the maintenance manager very well). However, in the meantime, we have really struggled with mould and damp inside ALOT of walls in the apartment. In some of the cupboards in particular (especially the ones that share walls with bathrooms where there have been leaks) there is alot of mould growing on the cupboard walls and some of our clothing. We regularly wash the area down with water + bleach to keep on killing it but of course it's coming back regularly.
After a bit of discussion with the landlord and the building manager, I have managed to get them to agree to basically come in today with a team of people and strip / chip away ALL the sections of interior plaster / paint where there are damp / mould issues. This is going to be MESSY, and there are alot of them. Once that's done I will have all the walls left open to air out and dry completely for however long it takes. I have asked them to do this for a few reasons:
1. I want this kak sorted out now and would rather deal with a few weeks of chaos then a long slow burn of irritation for a few months
2. I am REALLY concerned with having mould around as I think it can have some serious health implications.
For background info, our apartment has a really good airflow thru it. We hardly ever use the air-conditioners and always have our windows open so we have a great breeze in ALL rooms that have windows 24 hours per day, so I really do not think that air circulation is a problem.
With all this I have a few questions I am hoping people can help with:
1. Are there health implications with mouldy walls / cupboards etc? If yes, how serious are they, should we do anything in the meantime to counteract any potential issues or take any precautions?
2. Am I doing the right thing by having them strip the walls and leave them with bare plaster to dry rather then wait ages for them to dry naturally? As a follow up to this, how long should I leave these walls open? Is there a good way to test to determine if everything is completely dry?
3. Given the crazy humidity in the country, will that stop the walls drying properly at all? My understanding is that it will just take a little bit longer.
4. In our walk in closet where there isn't much airflow, mould keeps on growing on the underside of our cupboard drawers. We keep cleaning it off but after 2/3 weeks it starts growing back again. There was a small leak in the wall that this cupboard shares which was finally found and fixed on Monday (yep, they dug out most of our shower so now we do the naked dash to one of the other en suites :tongue: ), when this wall dries up will that solve this mould issue by itself? I am concerned that once there is a little bit of mould around it will slowly keep on growing and spreading regardless? I cant get access into the back to 100% kill everything which is a concern... what should I do?
5. In our storeroom, alot of mould grew on some of the walls where I had cardboard boxes stored against the walls (the moisture was trapped and I didn't know). The cardboard obviously became completely trashed (without my knowledge) for some bits which I have thrown out. There is still a little bit of mould on the outside of some of these boxes. Again, it's the same story, will this eventually die off with sunlight and decent airflow or will it slowly spread and creep?
6. Is there anything additional that I can do to help ensure that no new issues start up anywhere? Particularly in closed cupboards? Should I leave in some small plastics cups with bicarb of soda or the like to absorb moisture / crap in the air?
7. Is there anything I can do to help ensure some of the walls stay totally mould free in the future in case apartments around / above / below mine spring new leaks? Like perhaps a spray bottle with water + bleach every now and again?
8. Is there anything else I haven't asked but should be asking?
Sorry for the long read here. But I am sure if you have read this far you can see it's a rather complicated issue. I want to make sure I deal with this properly once and for all so I can live happily and safely in our current apartment which we really do like alot!
Thanks all!
Ryan
This might be a long post :tongue: In summary, I am looking for some assistance from those who are in the know re mould, damp, plumbing, building etc and potentially anyone who knows some of the various health implications of mould in the house.
Firstly, some context. I live in Tanzania, where it is stinking hot all the time, and humidity is normally around the 90-100% mark. A few months ago I moved into a new apartment (which I rent with my SO). The place is excellent, we love it. It's a tall apartment block (15/16 floors I think) and we are on the 7th floor and the whole building is newly built, we are the first tenants in our apartment. When the building was first built, the plumbing contractor handed over the building to the main contractor without any issues. There were no leaks and all was well. Once people started moving in, the tenants on the higher floors started complaining about a totally lack of water pressure (which admittedly should have been foreseen by the architects / plumbers but anyways...). So the building owner decided that the easiest solution would be to install a few pressure pumps. This worked really well except, that all the pipes which were leak free now haad HUGE water pressure running thru them (especially on the lower floors, my showers could almost remove skin at full blast) which of course meant that ALOT of pipes generated leaks. In my apartment alone I have had 5 separate leaks fixed in the last 3/4 months. There are 3 apartments per floor, 15 floors... that means a shitload of leaks!
The building owner has been working VERY hard to have all the leaks solved, I think that 95% of the building leaks have been resolved to date (I know know the maintenance manager very well). However, in the meantime, we have really struggled with mould and damp inside ALOT of walls in the apartment. In some of the cupboards in particular (especially the ones that share walls with bathrooms where there have been leaks) there is alot of mould growing on the cupboard walls and some of our clothing. We regularly wash the area down with water + bleach to keep on killing it but of course it's coming back regularly.
After a bit of discussion with the landlord and the building manager, I have managed to get them to agree to basically come in today with a team of people and strip / chip away ALL the sections of interior plaster / paint where there are damp / mould issues. This is going to be MESSY, and there are alot of them. Once that's done I will have all the walls left open to air out and dry completely for however long it takes. I have asked them to do this for a few reasons:
1. I want this kak sorted out now and would rather deal with a few weeks of chaos then a long slow burn of irritation for a few months
2. I am REALLY concerned with having mould around as I think it can have some serious health implications.
For background info, our apartment has a really good airflow thru it. We hardly ever use the air-conditioners and always have our windows open so we have a great breeze in ALL rooms that have windows 24 hours per day, so I really do not think that air circulation is a problem.
With all this I have a few questions I am hoping people can help with:
1. Are there health implications with mouldy walls / cupboards etc? If yes, how serious are they, should we do anything in the meantime to counteract any potential issues or take any precautions?
2. Am I doing the right thing by having them strip the walls and leave them with bare plaster to dry rather then wait ages for them to dry naturally? As a follow up to this, how long should I leave these walls open? Is there a good way to test to determine if everything is completely dry?
3. Given the crazy humidity in the country, will that stop the walls drying properly at all? My understanding is that it will just take a little bit longer.
4. In our walk in closet where there isn't much airflow, mould keeps on growing on the underside of our cupboard drawers. We keep cleaning it off but after 2/3 weeks it starts growing back again. There was a small leak in the wall that this cupboard shares which was finally found and fixed on Monday (yep, they dug out most of our shower so now we do the naked dash to one of the other en suites :tongue: ), when this wall dries up will that solve this mould issue by itself? I am concerned that once there is a little bit of mould around it will slowly keep on growing and spreading regardless? I cant get access into the back to 100% kill everything which is a concern... what should I do?
5. In our storeroom, alot of mould grew on some of the walls where I had cardboard boxes stored against the walls (the moisture was trapped and I didn't know). The cardboard obviously became completely trashed (without my knowledge) for some bits which I have thrown out. There is still a little bit of mould on the outside of some of these boxes. Again, it's the same story, will this eventually die off with sunlight and decent airflow or will it slowly spread and creep?
6. Is there anything additional that I can do to help ensure that no new issues start up anywhere? Particularly in closed cupboards? Should I leave in some small plastics cups with bicarb of soda or the like to absorb moisture / crap in the air?
7. Is there anything I can do to help ensure some of the walls stay totally mould free in the future in case apartments around / above / below mine spring new leaks? Like perhaps a spray bottle with water + bleach every now and again?
8. Is there anything else I haven't asked but should be asking?
Sorry for the long read here. But I am sure if you have read this far you can see it's a rather complicated issue. I want to make sure I deal with this properly once and for all so I can live happily and safely in our current apartment which we really do like alot!
Thanks all!
Ryan
