Mold & mushroom in house, help

[FoolKiller]

WHAT!!!??? SOmeone else had a mushroom growing next to their toilet??!!

Oh I found a whole home repair forum with a thread on this. I had heard jokes about it before but never assumed this was realistic in a relatively clean house.


Update: Last night we intended to pull up the linoleum and check the baseboards to determine the condition of the walls. Well, when my wife bumped the baseboards while going for the linoleum she saw water come out underneath it. So, she decided to pull them off first. When she tried using the crowbar it went right through the wall.

Well just by feeling around she made a hole the size of her hand because the drywall was like putty. She felt the inside of the wall with her hand and pulled it out covered in mold. We notified her grandparents hoping that they would hire someone. Fat chance. We are tearing out the walls as high as we need to get away from the mold and then putting in drywall later. They are paying for all supplies, but my wife volunteered our man power.

Duke nailed it on the head, we had to take out the lower four feet of drywall. In doing this we also found that mold and water were inside the wall that goes behind the toilet and sink, which also backs up to the laundry room. So we need to do the lower half of practically two whole walls. We have only removed one wall so far and we need to remove the sink and laundry machines to get the other wall out and replaced.

However I think this is a sign that there is a bigger problem than just a leaky water heater. Unless that water heater was leaking for years it could not have created this much water, could it? The sign that this has been there a long time was the mouse carcass which appears to have rotted and mummified a long time ago. It is now a ball of mold with bones and a tail. When we first moved in we eliminated the mouse problem by resealing the entire outside of the house. Being cinder block walls on a concrete slab it isn't hard to seal all possible entrances. We knew the mice were there before but there haven't been any since we sealed everything. Can a mouse decompose that fast? It's only been three months.

Another sign is that the nails for the baseboards and the corner metal brackets are rusted so bad that the fall apart when tapped with a hammer. How long does that take to happen?

So, now our house is a wreck and after I finish taking out walls there will be no privacy in the restroom until we find the problem, solve it, dry everything out, seal the frame work, and drywall.

Is this something I should have seen in my three months or is this a hidden thing that can create a pain for anyone?

Thanks,
FK
🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬

 

[Danoff]

So, now our house is a wreck and after I finish taking out walls there will be no privacy in the restroom until we find the problem, solve it, dry everything out, seal the frame work, and drywall.

That sucks man. It's a shame that this is causing such a massive problem for you. Try to think of it as a battle between you and mother nature. You can conquer!!! But it's really crappy that it's going to be a pain and expensive.


My recommendation, so that you can continue to use the restroom, you might put up some cardboard or a sheet or plywood or something in the restroom to cover the hole.

Good luck man.

 

[FoolKiller]

That sucks man. It's a shame that this is causing such a massive problem for you. Try to think of it as a battle between you and mother nature. You can conquer!!! But it's really crappy that it's going to be a pain and expensive.


My recommendation, so that you can continue to use the restroom, you might put up some cardboard or a sheet or plywood or something in the restroom to cover the hole.

Good luck man.

I was thinking of tacking up some sheets on the part of the wall that's left so they will hang down. I figure that if I have to repaint anyway it might not matter if I have some tack holes. Still it won't keep the smell in though and despite what my wife says she can clear a place out.

 

[Danoff]

I was thinking of tacking up some sheets on the part of the wall that's left so they will hang down. I figure that if I have to repaint anyway it might not matter if I have some tack holes. Still it won't keep the smell in though and despite what my wife says she can clear a place out.

...and yet the mushroom survived.

 

[FoolKiller]

...and yet the mushroom survived.

It probably smells like a gourmet meal to a shroom.


I just realized something; with two cats, how do I keep them out of the walls?

If I get home and hear a meow but can't see my cat I will be ticked.

 

[emad]

I just realized something; with two cats, how do I keep them out of the walls?

If I get home and hear a meow but can't see my cat I will be ticked.

put some mesh over the openings maybe?

 

[VT]

Put them in a room with their box and food and water and shut the door. All they do is sleep anyways, well, atleast thats all mine does.

Or you could just put tarps up around where the holes are.

We had a similar incident to that when my father and i were replacing our AC vents under the house. We have a trap door in the utility closet that we use to get access under the house and we forgot to shut the door to the utility closet. Dad was down there and heard some meows and found the cat beside him. It wasn't easy getting him out eventhough he was scared to death, he just wanted to explore, .

 

[Der Alta]

Foolkiller, When you've got the walls partially ripped open, look up in them with a flashlight and you'll see how much the mold has spread. You may be better off gutting the rooms entirely.

Just curious, do you have a hot air system, or baseboard heat? If it is hot air, you may have spread some elsewhere in the house. Start checking under sinks and such as well.

Sheets, tarps or even cheap plywood can be nailed up after you've got the wall down. The plywood will give better noise control and it'll help as you do construction work to contain the dust.

Good luck

 

[Omnis]

Don't eat mushrooms that grow around your house. One of my mom's patients stupid ass father gaver her a mushroom to eat, or made the mushrooms as part of a meal or something. Anyway, she was violently ill in my mom's office (orthodontist office), and wound up going to the hospital where she later died.

 

[FoolKiller]

Foolkiller, When you've got the walls partially ripped open, look up in them with a flashlight and you'll see how much the mold has spread. You may be better off gutting the rooms entirely.

Just curious, do you have a hot air system, or baseboard heat? If it is hot air, you may have spread some elsewhere in the house. Start checking under sinks and such as well.

Sheets, tarps or even cheap plywood can be nailed up after you've got the wall down. The plywood will give better noise control and it'll help as you do construction work to contain the dust.

Good luck

Our heating system is a central air unit with vents running through the attic and the intake coming from the living room.

We have been looking with a flashlight. Every thing is dry and clean after about two or three feet. I have also been checking everywhere else I can think of for mold. It seems to just be in these few walls but I am worried because one connects to an outside wall and I haven't gotten that far yet. I won't be able to see for sure until I get the connecting wall taken out. It seems dry from this side though.

As for worrying about noise control, it won't be an issue unless we want to keep the cats from hearing us cuss. One of my in-laws is a plumber so once the walls are out I am going to have him come check out the pipes to make sure that isn't part or all of the problem.

Thanks for all the help guys. Anybody want to find the people who lived here before us so that I can use their heads to knock down the walls?

 

[FoolKiller]

UPDATE: This is going to be long

OK, the problem has been taken care of.

After 20 hours of work this weekend plus about ten during the evenings last week I have eliminated the mold from my house and begun rebuilding.

Friday evening we tore out the wall in the laundry room and found where the water was coming from. There was a leak around the faucet that the washing machine connects to. This leak would run back down the pipe and into the wall. My wife and I finished tearing out all affected walls except the one that the bathroom sink and toilet were up against so that we could still have a working bathroom until the last minute.

Saturday my wife went out of town with her family for some family reunion three hours away (gee thanks) and my father came over to help. Just the two of us disconnected the sink and the toilet and then pulled them away from the wall. Two problems here; the shut off valves for the sink sprayed water everywhere when they were shut off and the back of the vanity that the sink was on was also covered in mold. So, we had to throw that out as well. We took out the last wall and then began treating the mold with a fungicide/bleach mixture which made the mold smoke and eventually disappear. Then we left two fans blowing on the whole thing to dry it all out. Fortunately all the studs were still in good shape. As a side note, we discovered the main shut off for the water was INSIDE THE WALL. Who the hell built this place?

While my dad began measuring for drywall I called my wife to let her know the situation about the vanity so that she could discuss the new expense with her grandparents. Turns out they had an old vanity they no longer use in their basement. We went to check it out and it looked good but was slightly larger. We could tell immediately that we needed a new drain as the one connected to the sink had been gutted for its stopper, leaving a hole in the pipe. Ten dollars is better than $200. We told them we would be back after we got the drywall.

We figured we would need three 4X8 sheets of 1/2 inch drywall. So we went to Home Depot and bought the drywall, corner brackets, screws, nails, two shut off valves, and a faucet for a washing machine. When we got back we set the drywall up on sawhorses and went in to fix the plumbing issues. We fixed the two shut of valves for the sink but found out the washing machine faucet had the wrong type of connector. We needed a compression ring. So, it was back to Home Depot where the plumbing guy said that he had never even seen that type before. Fortunately Lowe's was across the street. They had a whole row of compression ring type parts. So we bought our faucet and went back. We attached this one and it worked.

Looking at our time we decide to hurry and put the drywall in the bathroom so we could get the other vanity in and see if my old sink drain would fit the new sink. If it didn't we needed to go back to Lowe's but only had a few hours before they closed. We got the drywall up and did the first round of puttying and then ran back to my wife's grandparents to get the vanity and sink. Marble sink tops are heavy!

Anyway, we get the new sink in and attempt to hook it up but the drain from the old sink won't work and we see that because of the size difference we will need a different trap with the elbow. Our old trap smelled anyway, so a new one was acceptable. So, back to Lowe's AGAIN. We get the trap with an elbow and the new drain and head back. While putting in the sink we discover that the washer that comes with the drain is too small and so we have to use the old washer. Doing this meant taking the sink out AGAIN. We get the drain in and then go to connect the faucet, but the new sink sits too high and the lines won't reach. So we go back to Lowe's and buy the flexible pipes to fit. We reattach the faucet and my wife also gets home at about this point (9:00 AM. She left at 10:00 AM).

Once the sink is connected we test it all and everything appears fine except for the fact that the faucet is leaking all over the place. So we send my wife to Wal-Mart for a faucet an tell her to pick out whatever she likes as long as it has the hole for the stopper lever. While she is gone we once again pull the sink out and disconnect the faucet. She gets back in and we reconnect the faucet and check it for leaks. It works!

Then my wife and my dad get to talking and decide that the vanity would look better closer to the wall. So I have to cut out the trim along the floor so the vanity can go flush with the wall. Then we have to disconnect everything again and re-cut the holes in the back of the vanity. Once it is moved we have to reconnect everything and mount the vanity to the wall.

After doing this my dad and I cut all the drywall to fit the sections we had to tear out and put them in the rooms where they go and finished for the night. My dad left at about 2:00 AM. He had arrived at 10:00 AM. We worked 14 hours straight, only stopping for food and took all our bathroom breaks during our outings to Home Depot and Lowe's.

Sunday I slept until 1:00, because I hurt and I was tired. My mother and her boyfriend showed up at 2:00 and we went to work putting the rest of the drywall in place. While I was getting stuff together to finish the bathroom I hear a distinct dripping on plywood sound. I yell, "Oh hell no!" and dive under the vanity to find a small puddle. Where the trap leave curves back upwards and then connects to the pipe in the wall it was slowly dripping. I pull it apart and check it out. No plastic washer ring. So I go back to Home Depot and buy the ring I need. Wrong size-go back. Then I get the right size and put it in. I watch it the rest of the day, eight hours, and no leaks.

With the help of my mother and her boyfriend, with my wife fetching food, we get all the drywall screwed into place. My mother and her boyfriend need to leave because he works third shift and it was close to 5:00. My wife begins puttying the other walls in the bathroom while I work on getting our toilet paper holder and cabinet handles back on the vanity. I hear her hammering and see her trying to do the corner brackets and ask her if that is supposed to be done before or after you do the putty, and should the putty be dry at least? She says she is doing it how she was told.

After a few minutes I hear her cuss. I look up and the corner bracket (plastic) is all screwed up and not flush with the corner. I ask her again how it is supposed to be done and this time admits that she doesn't know. She goes to look online while I try to remove the bracket. Pulling out the nails screws up the plastic and I accept defeat that I will have to go buy more. This time it will be metal.

When my wife comes back from the computer she admits that she screwed up the bracket and tries blaming me somehow. We get in a fight and she tells me to leave her alone because she doesn't feel good because she didn't sleep well and I have no right to be mean. This sends my blood in a boil and I go off about how I have every right to be mean because I worked on the house for 14 hours straight while she had a big dinner with her family and ran around playing with all the kids. I didn't sleep well because my back was killing me and my neck pops every time I turn it. I still hurt like hell, the drywall dust is giving me a sinus headache and I just want to throw everything down and go find a hot tub. At that she apologized and suggested we quit for the night. I thought that sounded like a good idea.

After that I cleaned up and we watched TV from 8-10. Then I went to bed and here I am sitting at work, still looking for a hot tub. On the plus side I learned how to drywall and how to plumb a sink. On the down side I still have to putty, sand, putty, sand, and paint, but we have some volunteers for that. Somewhere along the line I have to buy the trim and put it back in as well but that will be an event for next month. I can live without trim.

I only have one question: How did my wife manage to volunteer US to do the work yet all she has done so far is putty one wall and play gopher?

FK

 

[Duke]

Well, I'm really glad to hear you've got the house on its way back together. It sounds like many if not most home repair projects and it's the reason that some home repair contractors make a lot of money. Then again some don't do much better.

As far as your question about your wife, well, I can't answer that. And no one sane would try...

 

[FoolKiller]

Well, I'm really glad to hear you've got the house on its way back together. It sounds like many if not most home repair projects and it's the reason that some home repair contractors make a lot of money. Then again some don't do much better.

Yeah, after I quit working last night I was watching TV and saw an ad for True Value Hardware with the premise of one home project leads to another. I suddenly felt a deep hatred for the PR guy who came up with that ad.

Oh well, at least I can pee in privacy again.

 

[Danoff]

Did you eat the mushroom???

 

[FoolKiller]

Did you eat the mushroom???

No, it didn't look appetizing. I threw it out into the yard.

 

[Der Alta]

No, it didn't look appetizing. I threw it out into the yard.

Ahhh... So the neighbors dog could eat it?

I'll echo Duke's thoughts on how to answer a woman.

In alomst 6 years of relationship and 5 years of marriage, I've learned a few things. Mainly, I don't know the answer and any I give is incorrect. At anytime.

Congrats on getting the house fixed.

 

[Danoff]

No, it didn't look appetizing. I threw it out into the yard.

I'll bet you'd have gotten 5 bucks for it on Ebay.

 

[FoolKiller]

Ahhh... So the neighbors dog could eat it?

I'll echo Duke's thoughts on how to answer a woman.

In alomst 6 years of relationship and 5 years of marriage, I've learned a few things. Mainly, I don't know the answer and any I give is incorrect. At anytime.

Congrats on getting the house fixed.

Between the dog, the two cats, and the skunk that wander through my yard intermittently I am sure one of them ate it.

Is a mushroom allowed to be sold on Ebay or does it fall under illegal substances? There are a couple in the yard that look just like it, as well as a puffball type.


I am glad to see that no one else with a wife knows how to understand them. I just wish they weren't so sure that they understand us.

 

[Omnis]

I'll bet you'd have gotten 5 bucks for it on Ebay.

Seriously. 👍

 

[Danoff]

Is a mushroom allowed to be sold on Ebay or does it fall under illegal substances? There are a couple in the yard that look just like it, as well as a puffball type.

I'm sure you can sell mushrooms on Ebay, just not magic mushrooms .

I doubt that the mushrooms in your yard would sell for as much as the one that grew by your toilet.

 

[FoolKiller]

I'm sure you can sell mushrooms on Ebay, just not magic mushrooms .

I doubt that the mushrooms in your yard would sell for as much as the one that grew by your toilet.

How will they know the difference?