how exactly do I test for mold after a large leak/building flood

[Guest guest]

On May 8, due to ongoing demolition and construction in our 268

apartment building which is undergoing conversion to condominium, a

riser burst, on the 8th floor, leading to a 'flood' of water that went

on for quite a while until it reached the first floor, and until they

were able to locate the source. This happened in the line of

apartments across from me with which I share a wall. Management didn't

do much and neither did the tenants, three of whom had much of their

apartments greatly messed up. (Other apartments in this line are

vacant and undergoing construction). In fact I saw the horrendous

damage in my neighbor's apartment and green mold growing on his

ceiling at one point. A new super and new building manager came in

three weeks ago and I've been trying to rally the other tenants, who

seem unduly passive, and the manager, who claimed he would bring in

commercial dehumidifiers and open up the walls etc, and take care of

everything properly, but 3 weeks later I have one regular size

dehumidifier he bought and the others have none; I pushed at him and

pushed at him and threatened to go to HPD and report him, finally he

is getting us 4 65-pint dehumidifiers but proper scraping has not been

done.

The reason I got involved is a few weeks ago I saw stains and a big

crack on my livingroom wall and realize that I had slowly gotten the

water by passive absorption. Now my closet, which also shares a wall

with my neighbor and has stains, doesn't smell right to me.

My neighbor and the other 2 tenants afflicted, are passive and have

let me manage the whole thing, and I now want to know, how to test my

wall for mold?

Nothing is growing on the wall itself.

This is a 75 year old building with mortar and bricks inside thew alls

I guess.

I had another flood earlier in July which caused my bathroom ceiling

to partly crash in, but they opened it up from above, poured in

concrete, scraped my ceiling, and I ran a dehumidifier 24/7 in the

bathroom with door closed; this was effective because it was early on

in the disaster, and partly because I was so outraged and upset,

yelling and crying, and partly because it was earlier in the

renovation process and the actual folks heading the renovation were

more helpful and involved; now they leave it to building management.

I did not realize my wall was affected for many weeks. So the water

has soaked into various walls and in the hallways since May 8.

At the time of the first flood I had air samples taken and it cost me

about $700 and that really was irritating. And I wasn't sure what that

would prove. Can a piece of the inside of my wall be taken and tested

for mold, or is air sampling the only method available to me?

[Guest guest]

sorry your going through this, sounds bad. first I want to tell you

that mold loves tuckpointing and will grow in porus brick, I've seen

it happen. I think mold can start growing in 48 hours, and it may

take a long time for it to get bad enough to see, it can affect you

much sooner. I'm not a specialest I've just be through it. one cheap

way of testing is tape tests, you can take a piece of clear 2 inch

wide tape and stick it to anything that even looks like it might be

mold, or to spots that are wet or have been. put it in a plastic

ziplock and labs will test it for about $50.00 the problem is that it

could be growing behind walls and cealings and not be seen.and might

take awhile to grow through sheet rock unless its wet allready. but

if your smelling it, thats a good sign its there, hideing behind

walls. also under floors if it got there. and yes, you can just give

them a piece of sheetrock that has fell out or wet and they will test

it. put it in a ziplock. good

luck

>

> On May 8, due to ongoing demolition and construction in our 268

> apartment building which is undergoing conversion to condominium, a

> riser burst, on the 8th floor, leading to a 'flood' of water that

went

> on for quite a while until it reached the first floor, and until

they

> were able to locate the source. This happened in the line of

> apartments across from me with which I share a wall. Management

didn't

> do much and neither did the tenants, three of whom had much of their

> apartments greatly messed up. (Other apartments in this line are

> vacant and undergoing construction). In fact I saw the horrendous

> damage in my neighbor's apartment and green mold growing on his

> ceiling at one point. A new super and new building manager came in

> three weeks ago and I've been trying to rally the other tenants, who

> seem unduly passive, and the manager, who claimed he would bring in

> commercial dehumidifiers and open up the walls etc, and take care of

> everything properly, but 3 weeks later I have one regular size

> dehumidifier he bought and the others have none; I pushed at him

and

> pushed at him and threatened to go to HPD and report him, finally he

> is getting us 4 65-pint dehumidifiers but proper scraping has not

been

> done.

>

> The reason I got involved is a few weeks ago I saw stains and a big

> crack on my livingroom wall and realize that I had slowly gotten the

> water by passive absorption. Now my closet, which also shares a wall

> with my neighbor and has stains, doesn't smell right to me.

>

> My neighbor and the other 2 tenants afflicted, are passive and have

> let me manage the whole thing, and I now want to know, how to test

my

> wall for mold?

>

> Nothing is growing on the wall itself.

> This is a 75 year old building with mortar and bricks inside thew

alls

> I guess.

> I had another flood earlier in July which caused my bathroom ceiling

> to partly crash in, but they opened it up from above, poured in

> concrete, scraped my ceiling, and I ran a dehumidifier 24/7 in the

> bathroom with door closed; this was effective because it was early

on

> in the disaster, and partly because I was so outraged and upset,

> yelling and crying, and partly because it was earlier in the

> renovation process and the actual folks heading the renovation were

> more helpful and involved; now they leave it to building management.

>

> I did not realize my wall was affected for many weeks. So the water

> has soaked into various walls and in the hallways since May 8.

>

> At the time of the first flood I had air samples taken and it cost

me

> about $700 and that really was irritating. And I wasn't sure what

that

> would prove. Can a piece of the inside of my wall be taken and

tested

> for mold, or is air sampling the only method available to me?

>

[Guest guest]

Thanx...the stain that came through was just a sort of rust stain

along the molding of the wall, and I don't see any mold. The floors

are fine, it's the upper half of my walls that passively absorbed all

the moisture. I've got bottles of clove oil essential oil, and

lemongrass essential oil, strategically placed and I'm now washing the

clothes that were in that closet (not that many, thank goodness). But

I am not sure, if I can have someone drill out some material and then

test it.

> >

> > On May 8, due to ongoing demolition and construction in our 268

> > apartment building which is undergoing conversion to condominium, a

> > riser burst, on the 8th floor, leading to a 'flood' of water that

> went

> > on for quite a while until it reached the first floor, and until

> they

> > were able to locate the source. This happened in the line of

> > apartments across from me with which I share a wall. Management

> didn't

> > do much and neither did the tenants, three of whom had much of their

> > apartments greatly messed up. (Other apartments in this line are

> > vacant and undergoing construction). In fact I saw the horrendous

> > damage in my neighbor's apartment and green mold growing on his

> > ceiling at one point. A new super and new building manager came in

> > three weeks ago and I've been trying to rally the other tenants, who

> > seem unduly passive, and the manager, who claimed he would bring in

> > commercial dehumidifiers and open up the walls etc, and take care of

> > everything properly, but 3 weeks later I have one regular size

> > dehumidifier he bought and the others have none; I pushed at him

> and

> > pushed at him and threatened to go to HPD and report him, finally he

> > is getting us 4 65-pint dehumidifiers but proper scraping has not

> been

> > done.

> >

> > The reason I got involved is a few weeks ago I saw stains and a big

> > crack on my livingroom wall and realize that I had slowly gotten the

> > water by passive absorption. Now my closet, which also shares a wall

> > with my neighbor and has stains, doesn't smell right to me.

> >

> > My neighbor and the other 2 tenants afflicted, are passive and have

> > let me manage the whole thing, and I now want to know, how to test

> my

> > wall for mold?

> >

> > Nothing is growing on the wall itself.

> > This is a 75 year old building with mortar and bricks inside thew

> alls

> > I guess.

> > I had another flood earlier in July which caused my bathroom ceiling

> > to partly crash in, but they opened it up from above, poured in

> > concrete, scraped my ceiling, and I ran a dehumidifier 24/7 in the

> > bathroom with door closed; this was effective because it was early

> on

> > in the disaster, and partly because I was so outraged and upset,

> > yelling and crying, and partly because it was earlier in the

> > renovation process and the actual folks heading the renovation were

> > more helpful and involved; now they leave it to building management.

> >

> > I did not realize my wall was affected for many weeks. So the water

> > has soaked into various walls and in the hallways since May 8.

> >

> > At the time of the first flood I had air samples taken and it cost

> me

> > about $700 and that really was irritating. And I wasn't sure what

> that

> > would prove. Can a piece of the inside of my wall be taken and

> tested

> > for mold, or is air sampling the only method available to me?

> >

>