Is there mold in my ceiling???

[Guest guest]

In three locations in my home, water has dripped through the

ceiling. One was the result of insufficient outside caulking and it

was immediately remedied when it occurred seven years ago. The water

actually had come through a recessed light fixture but there was a

light bulging of the sheet rock in the area which has remained to

this day. As I am very chemically

sensitive and would be bothered by a ceiling repair we just left the

ceiling as is, and never had another leak. In the second location,

water was dripping through a first floor light fixture when the

second floor shower was used. In this case, we just stopped using

the shower. There is no indication at all in the sheetrock that there

was a leak. In the third location, water was dripping through the

first floor ceiling when another second floor shower was used. It

first occurred around 4 years ago. We recalked the shower at the

time

and everything was fine until about 6 months ago when the leak

started

again, with the result that this time the sheetrock got a crack. We

have stopped using this shower. We now wish to sell our home so we

need to fix the ceilings. I had the rooms where the leaks occurred

tested for mold and that was negative. My basement did test positive

for various molds,(some high) although none is visible.I was told

that the readings probably reflected mold in the inaccessible crawl

space and not to worry. Perhaps, but prior to an installation of a

drainage system about seven years ago, we did have water in the

basement on numerous occasions.It was pretty close after this that I

developed chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivities, food intolerances,

heart arythmias and never regained by health. Recently I had the

attic cleaned out and have developed severe sinus congestion that

will not go away. (reaction to mold?) I am very mold sensitive. My

question to the group is this:How

likely is it that there will be toxic mold in the ceilings when they

are opened up? Do I need to get mold remediation people in to open

them up? I know they could drill a hole in the ceiling to do a mold

test, but I was told that it could turn out negative and there could

still be mold somewhere in the ceiling.

Any input will greatly be appreciated....Jeri

[Guest guest]

Jeri,

I really feel for you with all you are going through with your chemical sensitivities. I started with mine years ago when I lived at home and my father owned his own cleaning service and kept the cleaners inside the home. I started getting virus like symptoms constantly and headaches. My mom thought I was just a sickly child. As it turned out, the MCS followed me to this day. I am really reactive to perfumes, fragrances of any kind, bleach, all kinds of molds and cleaning agents.

I think your house is an example of a home full of high humidity (with the flooding in there constantly in the past) and the various leaks. Once the home retains this moisture, the probability of you having mold is very high especially in that basement. The ceiling might not have active mold but could have dried mold spores waiting for an opportunity to proliferate. The best thing for you is to take a vacation somewhere safe while this is going on and have plenty of air cleaners in the the vacinity. I am already dealing with a sick house and am trying to clean it up myself one room at a time. It's hard work let alone all the side effects like lung problems, sinus infections, miriad of skin problems including acne, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. It's been an uphill battle for us, but hopefully I will win the war. I can't afford to do anything else with 6 kids and no other place to go right now. I really need a miracle, but until then I will just keep plugging away.

I sure hope you get all the damaged areas fixed in your home. It's a very good thing that you are leaving it, but please be careful on your next choice of house. It would be a very good idea to hire someone that was familiar with mold and environmental factors to investigate the house for you before you buy it. That way any leaks and mold problems can be found prior to you investing your money in it.

God Bless!

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