black mold

Me and my wife bought an older home 2 years ago. We looked at many homes before buying this one and never found one for a price we thought was fair. We found this home at a reasonable price, not too high and not too low. We purchased the home. About a little over a year after living here we noticed black mold growing on our bathroom ceiling. I took a scrubber and bleach and cleaned the ceiling. The mold was gone for several months. A few weeks ago the mold came back. It came back fast and came back a lot more than the first time. I researched a little on line and found out I probably should not have used bleach the first time. It said that it will initially remove the outer mold and make it look like it is gone but it wont kill it and creates a bigger feeding ground because it traps moisture in the pores of the ceiling which moisture is what feeds the mold. From what I read it appeared that vinegar was one of the best things you could use to kill it. I used Vinegar this time and it cleaned it up pretty good, however it appears to be showing up again. I do not know if I should have the bathroom completely gutted and finished in tile, or if I should clean it real good again and if there is some kind of sealer or something I could put on it to help. I probably need to get a newer vent fan to keep the humidity down, but what other things can I try to help with this. Any of you ever dealt with this and what did you do to fix it?

You will most likely have to replace the sheet rock.

-^^ this. Most times I have heard of homes with black mold have needed specialists in mold remediation to remove and complete HVAC system replaced or cleaned. Very bad health risks involved with that stuff.

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Originally Posted by RogerA

You will most likely have to replace the sheet rock.

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X2! If you have a ventilation fan in the bathroom, you should use it. If not install one, definitely worth the effort.

Shoot a pm to crapslabstu, that is what he does every day. He will steer ya in the right direction.

Sheet rock absorbs moisture in bathrooms thats why they use concrete board in bath rooms of new houses.....I would replace the sheet rock with this then tile or finish out however you want to and yes use your ventilation fan.

Check on the TOP side of the sheet rock(in the attic) you may have a leak in the roof, which will be adding moisture that you an not see from the room.

Also, got to thinking about what I had to do after hurricane Katrina blew off my shingles and small amounts of water leaked through the attic and wet a few small spots. I had to let it dry real good(it had no mold), then paint it with Kilz primer.Then Kilz paint. This was suggested by the insurance adjuster. He did pay for replacement, but said try this first. Never had a problem after.

Lots of good advice
Attic ventilation is also a good idea
replacing sheetrock with concrete board or the waterproof drywall is also a good idea although I prefer the concrete board, mold if the spores are present will spread.

In my experience, its often less expensive to get the room then replace the drywall. Adjoining rooms may be affected as well.

Last major rehab I did had a major mold problem mostly explained by the tree thru the roof for 2 years without any action being taken. (We had mold in over 40 feet of exterior wall as well as 60 SF of roof sheating) Upon consultaion with a remediation specialist, we gutted the entire house to bare studs which were treated with moldicide/Fungucide after pressure washing with a sodium hypochlorite based detergent (read as a mixture of tide and bleach) and drying (72 hours at 140 degrees) , the house sat for a month and after final inspection the remediation firm signed their warranty. It was a messy and time consuming process but end result is 3 years and narry a peep from the homeowners. Yes, they were aware of the work that was done and the reasons behind it.

Redid all drywall, a new roof with ridge vet as well as a power vent due to our high humidity and heat during summer months. Upgraded ventilation system in bathroom and the entire house as well new HVAC and new ducting. no soffit vents, no ridge vent and no gable vents. The Bathroom exhaust was vented directly outside as was the dryer vent previously, the BR ducted to attic and dryer altough vented outside was improperly vented with too small of piping for modern dryers.

For me it was learning experince and one that I am glad did not learn from my own home.

The one thing I found interesting was in addition to the inside of the house, they cleaned all sidewalks, driveway and the yard section where the dumpster sat during the demolition phase.

Will only say this: your house is your BIGGEST investment (not counting helping the kids thru college !) and therefore is WORTH a bit of "over kill" . Would `suggest using the ancient Roman Engineer`s formula: if "X" will barely `fix` the problem would STRONGLY `recommend` repairing it to a `3X` standard so you are absolutely CERTAIN that it NEVER needs the same repairs again. If there is anything worse than having to REDO a major project that was just `finished` because the home owner wanted to `save` a few dollars and take `short cuts` can`t think of what it would be right off hand... In the long term you will be money ahead and if you ever decide to sell it will stand in your favor...black mold comes in several species, at least 2 are HIGHLY toxic especially to the very young and elderly. ENSURE you get it ALL removed and apply the Kilz liberally, personally would use the cement board, larger ventilation and tile...good luck sir !

I had always heard black mold was toxic. I looked it up on some government health websites and actually they have no clear evidence linking black mold to any health issues. They just warn that it could pose an affect to people who may already have respiratory issues. They just said be cautious. I do not know much about it just from what I read. It might be bad and it might not, but I do not really want to chance my family's health. Also if I want to sell it would be hard if not impossible to do with signs of mold. Thanks for everyone's advice. Lowell I will probably do the cement board, bigger vent, and tile.

Having been in the construction trades for 16 years before I got behind the wheel I dealt with some of the mold issue you speak of. Several remodels had unattended plumbing and roofing issues that were bad by the time we were contracted in to do the repairs. At the time I was doing it we used greenboard in anyplace with moisture issues and advised for green behind any ceramic tile. We used a solution that was premade before coming to the job thereby keeping the customer in the dark of it's contents. They were simple as stated, mostly bleach and detergent, and ammonia after the fact ( well after bleach solution was dry, they react badly together when wet) for the cleaner smell it left behind and to satisfy the nose of the customer. Here in FL humidity is always high and once it gets a foothold is pretty prolific. I have always been accused of overbuilding and such so on the few jobs I did on my own I always removed anything showing black and replaced it, and used nothing but green board in the bathrooms and high moisture areas. Standard in Florida codes was green on the bottom sheet and regular board above that but having replaced enough of it I go beyond code. Contractors frequently used flat wall paint throughout the house and white board above a shower and flat paint is basically a sponge with a finite life. Go for the overkill if you are going to stay in the house and listen to all you can to make sure your bases are covered or you may revisit this yet again. Good luck with it all and keep us posted of the outcome........Skeet.

again a couple hundred pounds of deliberate "3X" overkill now is worth several literal TONS of moldy material removing a cheaply and poorly `fixed` project and then having to RE-do (or even worse RE-RE-doing) it correctly later. AND it cuts into your available fishing time...

Where the mold is coming back that fast I would say beings this is an older home that the owner probably put the ceiling fan in himself and didn't vent it out and the insulation above the ceiling is saturated and trapping the moister on the drywall. EB

I second the greenboard. DP

If you are going to tile the bathroom than I would use a cement board made for putting tile on. EB