May have mold problem in bathroom

[Guest guest]

I may have a mold problem?

My bathroom was renovated before I moved in about 11 years ago. A few

years ago I noticed some of the tiles in the shower/bath, down near

the top of the bathtub, were loosening, and periodically mold (black

looking, sometimes greenish) would appear in the corner there. I'd put

bleach on. When my handyman repaired the tiles, and he took them off,

there was some kind of sheetrock I guess, I don't really remember, it

went up about half a foot and it was blackish too. I told him I

thought it could be mold but he said it wasn't, that was typical

discoloration of sheetrock. However he's Albanian and knows nothing

about these things.

I asked a neighbor to look at it also and he didn't think it was mold.

But I was worried because of the way mold had kept growing in that one

corner periodically. My handyman re applied and sealed the tiles. But

mold still grows in the corner (its where the two walls meet, at the

bottom of the tiles and the top of the bathtub).

Having read a few stories of someone having the bad mold (black) in

her entire home, I worried, but even if its not black it is affecting

me, the reason I think so is, I've been sleeping in the bathroom the

last four nights. This is because of radiator pipe noise in both

bedrooms that has been keeping me up all winter long. We removed one

radiator in one bedroom, and some small shelving attached to the

walls, and had to do a lot of scraping and plastering. While that was

going on I stayed out of that room. Now primer has been put on and

paint, although I am really annoyed because I use bioshield paint and

always have the building use that, and my handyman thought my sill

should be glossy so he used benjamin moore on the sill. That was

really frustrating to me as I don't react so well to regular paints

tho not horrible, so I have just coated the sill with hardseal and

hope to sleep in there tonight.

The four nights in the bathroom without any radiator noise I slept

better than I have in months, although my super still wakes me up at

about 7 because he and his family are noisy and bang closet doors.

(Yes, I would like to get out of this environment, but can't do it at

the very moment).

Though I slept better and felt more rested, I am sure I am reacting to

mold. I know my reactions. I feel depressed, and I also have this

buzzy reaction over my whole body. And I get itchy.

Now my question is, to convince my building I have a problem, I guess

I'll have to have my boyfriend remove a tile or two, take a

scraping/sample and have it tested? Please don't think my building

will volunteer to check it out or believe it because I think it's so.

Someone else in my building did have a black mold problem, and he had

to prove it and get the health dept in etc, and order the building to

fix and put him up somewhere else during that time. It was a long

dragged out process to do this. So the burden of proof first rests on

me. How can we do this without trouble? My boyfriend can do this, but,

even if I open up the tiles, take a sample, shouldn't I re-seal them

again (or my boyfriend do this) until I can get the problem fixed?

I am really frustrated. I really don't want to have to deal with this

but it's obvious I have to. It's not the only problem in my apartment,

far from it; and not the only problem in my building.