Who would I report this to? Are there any ordinances specifically regulating against black mold in a residence? I'm poking around the internets but finding a lot of conflicting info.

Thanks tdub

6/2/2011 8:38:07 PM

Have you talked to the landlord?

(talked = in writing)

6/2/2011 8:41:28 PM

well, i'd tell the landlord about it first

6/2/2011 8:41:51 PM

^^ Yes, in person and in writing. I also have taken extensive photographic evidence. The landlord so far is being non-responsive to the issue.

6/2/2011 8:42:36 PM

My only other question is do you really know it's black mold?

6/2/2011 8:43:57 PM

It's black and it's mold It appeared after they did a half-assed job fixing our water heater. Water was leaking for days into the drywall adjacent to the water heater after they "fixed" it and we discovered the mold after our downstairs neighbor came knocking on our door saying water was dripping into his unit.

An example of what we've got going on:


[Edited on June 2, 2011 at 8:51 PM. Reason : a]

6/2/2011 8:51:04 PM

looks green to me *shrug*

6/2/2011 8:51:53 PM

I think that's just because of my crappy camera. It's more black looking in person.

6/2/2011 8:53:19 PM

just clean it with some bleach/water mix

6/2/2011 8:54:15 PM

I would but the drywall is soaked to the point of being crumbly and falling apart, which makes me concerned for what's behind the wall and possible structural damage. Mold is no bueno for your health

6/2/2011 8:55:12 PM

If you're still living in the same place, good luck with actually getting them to do anything.

(I waaaaarned you. /chitchat)

6/2/2011 8:55:37 PM

lol yes you did

I just read over the lease and apparently we can demand to be moved into a new unit. We'll see how well that goes over when I write them and talk to them tomorrow.

6/2/2011 8:59:11 PM

where are you living? PM if necessary.

My gf and I have both had problems with multiple apartment complexes being lazy, non-responsive, and half-assing their maintenance/repair jobs

[Edited on June 2, 2011 at 9:00 PM. Reason : I'm sure the problem of lazy management extends far beyond our personal experiences. Just curious]

6/2/2011 9:00:02 PM

you won't be able to get anyone to get involved in this, unless you're going to hire a mold expert and go to court.

Just spray with bleach water. The real concern is, where is the moisture coming from?

6/2/2011 9:10:41 PM

My wife had this problem in two different units at Harrison Grande

6/2/2011 9:52:57 PM

Yes, ^^ is right. If you want any chance of winning this overall, you'll need to hire a mold expert to test BEFORE you do any more cleaning. That will run you a few hundred bucks. If you're a student, I suggest you contact student legal services. They helped me with a similar situation 4ish years ago at University Woods.

6/3/2011 8:14:48 AM

What did legal services have you do out of curiosity.

6/3/2011 8:24:35 AM

have you tried just going to them with pictures yet and saying, "look, its clearly not fixed and now there is mold. we would like to move to a new unit per our lease agreement." its not guaranteed to work, but its silly to get a lawyer and go do testing if you haven't done that yet.

6/3/2011 8:26:12 AM

Yeah a lawyer is going to be a last resort. Currently working with management but we've reached a standstill it seems. We told them yesterday we want a satisfactory solution reached by three today, otherwise we'll be reporting them to the city inspector. They didn't seem to like that outcome very much

6/3/2011 8:31:35 AM

Student legal services is free, so if you're a student, I highly recommend their services. I had pictures of the mold in my apartment, had sent in letters, to no avail. SLS said that if I really wanted to get out, I needed to put the demand in writing. I needed to have an expert come by and evaluate, and I needed to move out if the first two did not work. You can also request that the complex pay for the mold expert to come by and tell you if it's black mold or not. They also sell a $10 kit at places like Target, attached to a bottle of tylex.

It's nice to have someone else on your side to go up against a big company (Preiss is who I was dealing with).

[Edited on June 3, 2011 at 8:37 AM. Reason : ]

6/3/2011 8:36:50 AM

Unfortunately I'm no longer a student but my lawyer friend is going to draft some letters for me if it comes down to it. I recommend all people make friends with a lawyer lol.

6/3/2011 9:27:50 AM

Well we just got word they're moving us into an upgraded unit this weekend. Problem solved, at least for us

6/3/2011 10:54:48 AM

i :heart: my lawyer gf

6/3/2011 12:39:37 PM

Mold is some serious shit.

One of my favorite shows in on Court TV called Forensic Files. They have had several shows on mold in houses that absolutely ruined the place and cause huge health concerns. The mold in question was called Stachybotrys. http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/mold_qa_fs.htm In some cases, the mold has caused permanent brain damage to the occupants of the house.

6/3/2011 3:28:34 PM

Wow. This outcome was much better than I anticipated. Great job.

6/3/2011 3:48:07 PM

^ Thanks!

I guess telling them we would get the government involved was enough to make them change their tune lol.

6/3/2011 4:09:22 PM

[Edited on June 3, 2011 at 10:47 PM. Reason : asdf]

6/3/2011 10:28:59 PM

[Edited on June 3, 2011 at 10:47 PM. Reason : asdf]

6/3/2011 10:46:05 PM

mold comes in a lot of different forms. color alone does not indicate how "nasty" it is. mold is very common in every home. it should be fixed and more importantly, the source of the moisture be located...however most mold is relatively harmless in small quantities like this (unless you have a severe allergy or something)

6/3/2011 11:38:58 PM

i hate when people give bad advice

bleach doesn't kill mold.

tell your landlord before coming to TWW, researching who to report it to, etc.

nobody wants mold in their property, and it has nothing to do with YOUR health.

calm down and tell somebody before you start taking this kind of stance.

6/3/2011 11:39:00 PM

At my last place, I was required to sign an agreement, promising to immediately notify the property managers of any mold that I discovered in the unit.

6/4/2011 1:26:26 AM

Update: When they said they had apartments "available" it meant people weren't in them. It didn't mean that they were ready to move in. We went across the street to another complex owned by the same company. They are in the same boat, but seem to have their shit together. Plus, they have apartments that will be ready to move in by next Saturday.

We've decided to evac out of the apartment for now and hang at my mom's place for the week. We've conceded to them not paying for a hotel for the next week if they pay for the movers in their entirety.

We've also stipulated that we should not have to pay any additional fees for applying to the new complex and nor should we have to get another credit check.

The rent at the new place is $700 and we were paying $580. We've conceded to paying $650.

All of this is contingent on if the apartment manager agrees to these conditions in writing.

If they try to fuck me over one more time, I will not hesitate to lawyer up and go to the media.

6/4/2011 10:58:29 AM

do you think you are overreacting?

you do realize there will be mold in every home that you live in the rest of your life, right?

6/4/2011 11:07:36 AM

^ this is mold caused by over a month of their negligence and has been rapidly spreading. Seeing as the mold could potentially land my husband in the emergency room due to his allergies I don't think this is overreacting. And I don't know what houses you've lived in but I haven't lived in houses with mold eating through the drywall

6/4/2011 11:26:17 AM

I bet DaBird thinks relying on the government will make everything better too

6/4/2011 11:30:47 AM

there is a certain degree of mold in every house, yes.

mold testing is done to compare the levels of the dangerous molds in comparison to the inside and outside of the house to determine if you have a possible problem.

scrubbing off the mold can be dangerous because the second you physically touch it spores will be released and usually your face is in the direct path of them.

and assuming that the overreacting post wasn't a troll post...
some symptoms of black mold:

Quote :

"Itchy Throat Asthma Sinus headache and Nasal Congestion Memory and Hearing Loss Water Eyes Headaches Memory Loss Irritated skin Excessive Coughing Pulmonary hemorrhage (bleeding from the lung) Hemoptysis Permanent cognitive defects Excess Mucas Bleeding in the lungs Mold in the bloodstream Possible mild strokes Fatigue"

On top of the wonderful chance you can get mold in your blood stream...

6/4/2011 11:45:11 AM

why's it gotta be black mold

6/4/2011 11:52:18 AM

the mold is racist

6/4/2011 11:53:49 AM

well after a month i would agree its time to go. I would be pissed off as well.

I was just making the point that people sometimes dont understand the simple presence of mold doesnt mean you going to die or suffer from the symptoms listed. some types are a lot more dangerous than others, but mold in general has been sensationalized a bit.

a lot of you are inhaling a lot worse.

[Edited on June 4, 2011 at 12:01 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on June 4, 2011 at 12:02 PM. Reason : .]

6/4/2011 12:00:56 PM

^ that part is true. some people will show symptoms before others and if you don't show the symptoms immediately will choose to just live in it

6/4/2011 12:16:19 PM

My bathroom doesn't vent properly and it's got mold growing on the ceiling.

Our little water heater/air conditioner room also has water constantly dripping from somewhere and is a bit moldy, too.

It's been this way for the three years that I've lived here. The property managers told us to open a window in the bathroom during and after our showers. We live on the first floor.


I thought this type of stuff in old places was normal.

6/4/2011 12:30:16 PM

mold needs organics to feed on and moisture. if you can eliminate one of them (the moisture) you can prevent it.

condensation can be a bitch to remedy though.

6/4/2011 1:34:09 PM

Quote :

"I was just making the point that people sometimes dont understand the simple presence of mold doesnt mean you going to die or suffer from the symptoms listed. some types are a lot more dangerous than others, but mold in general has been sensationalized a bit."

If mold covers half of the wall space of a closet and is occurring on a wall that only shares wall space and no actual physical connection then there's a fuckton more mold in the wall space itself. Seeing as how the AC unit is next to this area and pulls air from around this area, I figure it's time to get the fuck out.

6/4/2011 4:28:02 PM

God yeah we used to live in this apartment with awful condensation in the kitchen. But it also had a gigantic single paned window and no insulation in the walls. So glad we don't live there anymore

6/4/2011 4:28:40 PM

nvm

[Edited on June 4, 2011 at 6:06 PM. Reason : w]

6/4/2011 6:03:45 PM

she is NOT overreacting. Having mold in your apartment can be a total nightmare. I'm going through this right now. I had to get an inhaler in the fall and noticed a small water stain on the ceiling near the AC/heating closet and didn't think much of it.... then in the spring I started smelling a musty odor. I complained to the complex and maintenance didn't find anything. Finally, my dad came to Raleigh (he's an electrician, plumber, and contractor) and found a massive amount of mold in the air coils.

since then, the complex has changed the AC Unit, shampooed the carpet, and supposedly fogged the ducts (I say supposedly because they did NOT hire an outside company to do it, and if they didn't find the mold in the beginning I don't think they know what the hell they are doing).

The whole place STILL smells like mold and my husband and I are both showing signs of toxic mold sickness- migraine headaches, etc. To make matters worse, I am PREGNANT. i've been to the ER twice- once for nonstop vomiting and once for a hemorrhage that seemed like a miscarriage (but the baby is fine, thank goodness- it turned out to be a subchorionic hematoma). But like I said, I had to get an inhaler in the fall and that was long before I got knocked up.

The complex now refuses to have a mold inspector come to do indoor air testing, so I'm looking for an attorney as we speak. talked to NCSU legal services and they suggest I change units, but I honestly want to leave the complex after going through this nightmare. at this point they are saying that whatever mold might be there was caused by me keeping the windows open (and I don't keep the windows open unless the AC is off). today they (the property manager) suggested that my 2 cats are making me sick. totally fed up with this.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 12:55 PM. Reason : ,.]

6/14/2011 12:51:49 PM

^Can you afford a hotel room, or do you have a friend's place you could go to while you find a new apartment? I would GET OUT NOW! Move out and look for a new place. Don't risk your baby's life or potential life-long future health problems for him/her just for a stupid lease. Just get out!



[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 1:27 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2011 1:26:38 PM

^^Get out and sue the pants off 'em.

They're running scared.

6/14/2011 1:41:06 PM

Quote :

"^Can you afford a hotel room, or do you have a friend's place you could go to while you find a new apartment? I would GET OUT NOW! Move out and look for a new place. Don't risk your baby's life or potential life-long future health problems for him/her just for a stupid lease. Just get out!"

I can not reiterate how correct she is. Get the fuck out now. I don't care if you have to get a credit card and stay at a hotel for a month. If you are experiencing these kind of symptoms, this can be deadly, and that is not a bit of an exaggeration.

6/14/2011 1:56:58 PM

Quote :

"bleach doesn't kill mold. "

Most mold products on the shelf at places like Home Depot are bleach based. Bleach is very effective at killing mold. It just doesn't absorb well into wood, sheetrock, etc. It only takes a tiny amount to survive down in the crevices for it to start to reproduce again. It's very effective on non-porous surfaces such as glass windows/shower doors, counter tops, bathroom tile, etc though.

While it might not completely kill it off it would take care of the vast majority of the mold and slow it's growth until a better solution pans out.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 2:40 PM. Reason : s]

6/14/2011 2:32:34 PM