Q. We don't want to hire someone as we don't have a lot of money. Our basement does leak and this is the second summer we have had troubles with white mold. From what I've read I gather it isn't as toxic as the 'black' mold we all hear about on the news, but I'm still worried about my family's health. I want to resolve this asap. Any advice is most welcome.

A. Wipe it down with bleach water solution.On a large area put it in a pump up sprayer and mist it on.Don't get too worked up about it. It's not like we haven't been surviving it for years.

Q. Just curious. We will probably do it ourselves, but we have a basement that has mold and mildew on two walls and we need to grade the soil....and comments or ideas on how much it would cost them to do the waterproofing on a 1200 sq foot basement?

A. If you are having problems with mold and mildew it would be very dangerous to do yourself! Besides health problems, the mold will just come back and continue to eat up your basement. Check out these sites, they have a lot of good information in them for your kind of problem. http://www.black-mold-remediation.com/ http://www.wet-basement-waterproofing.com/

Q. Does anyone know of a company to give a free quote for mold removal from a house in the MIchigan area?

A. You need to replace the GYprock.

Q. Hello, Does anyone know how can you kill mold (it is not toxic black mold) in your basement/attic? I have heard that bleach will not kill it, rather just die it a lighter color so that you cannot see it. Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I know there's mold remediation places out there, but we wanted to try to do it ourselves, first. The mold in the basement is not up to the first floor or the rafters, just on lower part of the cement wall.

A. Bleach will kill it Even if you buy commercial product to remove bleach such as "no more mould", the active ingredient will still be bleach!

Q. My cousin discovered after purchasing a home which had been previously inspected that the basement is full of black mold. We are curious to know if there is someone who can be held responsible for the removal of the mold.

(No Chosen Answer)

Q. An friend from G. Rapids, Michigan is into foreclosures this days. He got me a house there, a real bargain price. Must fly over tomorrow to see it and sign the papers, then back to work on Monday. He said it's all fine, good condition compared to other places like this he sold - except that heating was off during winter and it developed some nasty black mold and I have to start thinking what can I do about it in less than 2 days. I heard black mold is toxic - he sent me pics of it - can see basement mold, kitchen and even attic mold. I cannot possible hope of doing anything drastic in such a short time, like pumping the crawlspace mold out, but could I at least spend a few dollar and starve it DIY with some off-the-shelf before I return there next month and spend a few days bringing the place to life? Anyone facing something similar recently?

A. You got some very sound answers there, but not sure you know what to do next. My advice, based on the experience I got with black mold removal when my grandma died and I had to sell the house - forget about DIY as the first option before you get an expert on-site to have a look and eventually give you a quote. I used http://www.michiganmoldspecialist.com last year, as they were close and I got a mold removal assessment and quote for free on the same day, once one of their specialists drove over and checked the house. Make sure the agent gets to see everything, including crawlspaces mold - if you want to renegotiate the insurance, you need that. My 2c - you stand no chance of dealing with this on your own if you are not qualified, and you risk making things worse or even harm yourself. Get it at least properly assessed and do that BEFORE you buy the property - right now you risk losing little, and foreclosure mold is still expensive mold, whatever bargain your friend is driving. Just keep a cool head and think this through, right?

Q. Alright I want to buy a house, but it has mold from a busted pipe that is shared by two bathrooms and two closets. I know how dangerous mold is and in all my searching i have found some pretty scary stories about how you can't "kill" black mold and how it causes brain damage. However we are very DIY people and we know we can re build it, and redo the piping ourselves. the area effected is in total 30 ft of wall, in different rooms and closets. It is mostly the bottom half of the wall that is effected, not the top. My questions: 1. Can we just remove the drywall, and leave the studs even if they have mold? I was thinking use bleach and a dehumidifier. 2. How dangerous is this stuff if you do treat it with bleach and scrub it off? I live in Florida and I KNOW almost every home has mold, but if i get most of it out is there still an abnormally high risk? 3. How much would it cost, JUST for removal? i don't want them to fix the pipes or re drywall, just get rid of the mold we'll do the rest. another tips for black mold removal or advice from people who have experience. Thanks!

A. I know what living with a mold problem is like. My basement gets wet during periods of heavy rain, mostly shop vac, but once we had 14" of water in the basement. Over time, mold developed. It cost a total of $5500 to get rid of the mold. This involved removing sheetrock in a small finished room (about /12 way up from the floor), and spraying a mold killer/retardant solution over the entire basement. Note that the cost didn't include replacing the sheetrock! $1500 of this expense was for a Sani-Dri unit, a super dehumidifier that really, really has kept the basement dry. I would strongly suggest leaving this to the pros. I got very sick trying to clean this up myself, and I didn't have black mold. The folks doing the work were dressed in hazmat suits and we were out of the house during this process. Clorox isn't as effective as you might think. According to the experts, it doesn't get to the spores roots, so using it creates a temporary solution. Having said that, whenever I do get any water now, I dry it up and use a garden sprayer to spray a Clorox/water solution. I then crank up the Sani Dri unit and let it dry things out. So far so good. Good luck to you, and please be careful.

Q. I've been trying to get some work done on my basement for several months. Not a pretty job - it's a unfinished basement with old, particle board panneling on the walls. The basement gets water so the panneling has been rotted away at the bottom and I'm 99% sure I've got mold to deal with. I'd do it myself but there will need to be some minor structural and electrical work that I'm not comfortable doing, as well as the fact that I'd rather not directly handle mold disposal. I've gone to umpteen contractors/specialists both directly and through lead generators like Service Magic. They either A.) Don't show up to their estimate appointments, B.) Look it over, say they'll send an estimate and then disappear and not return calls, or C.) Submit a price that's insanely out of the logical range. For reference this is suburban Philly. Is this a seasonal thing - i.e. there are plenty of pretty little summer projects that people want done so they'll just blow off the ugly ones like mine?

A. Maybe becuse they are not qualified to do strong mildew removal...By law to do this a contractor has to be certified with hazmat properties to touch the stuff..it is almost as espinsive as asbestos removal now..they have to suit up in suits, with a contained oxygen supply etc..if found removing it witthout proper certificates/training they can be fined 40k or more for this.