What not to do in a moldy house

Russ - On Friday, I spent "too much" time in a mold ridden property.  I didn't touch anything.  On Saturday, my face and neck broke out like I was a teenager again.

Your advice is well taken.  Thank you.

Hi Russ~  What I can't understand is why in the world would anyone touch the mold? Breathing it in is bad enough! Only professionals that deal with mold and are trained in mold would know  what they were looking at anyway!  Besides that, it needs to be sent off to a lab for testing.  Some molds will make you extremely sick! 

All I have to do is open the front door and my eyes start to itch and my throat starts to swell.  If I'm quick enough I might have time to get the respirator out of the truck. I also carry an extra for the determined buy that insists on going with me.

Not a good idea....

Russ - on Tuesday I took a 73 year old woman to a home and immediately upon entering, she started having difficulty breathing.  She informed me she was  severe asthmatic!  I was searching for a lightswitch and ran my hand along the doorframe to the wall.  When the light came on, I was horrified to discover the entire room was filled with thick black mold.  Luckily, she had her 'puffer' with her and we were able to get out immediately.  I took her straight home and checked on her several times over the next few days and she was fine.  Me on the other hand had a splitting headache, stuffed up nose and achey breaky joints all week.  

Did I tear a strip off the listing agent for not disclosing?  You betcha!

Thanks, Russ. I think mold attracts attention and some of us are a bit too inquisitive. Your advice about "if you don't like the house, get out of the house" is perfect.

Yikes! That's a lotta mold! 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, Russ!

Seriously we don't touch much of anything in any house -- never know where the germs are lurking.

Great advice Russ. I think I touched some last week, on a door in the basement. The basement was dry, no smell and on a door I wasn't sure it was mold. It was.

Well, I won't be doing that again, thanks to your post.

Hi Russ, Oh, we must be so careful with the mold. I have certainly seen people with issues after having been in a house with traces of it. It can make you very sick. Thanks for the reminder.

Great advice Russ, I can't imagine walking into a home with mold this bad let alone running my fingers through it.  Mold is something to be taken very seriously, and I'm glad to see that you are heightening the awareness about it. Thanks.

Russ, Thanks for this reminder to all of us.  I recently went into a house that mold REALLY bad... left quickly and had alergy symptoms for days. 

Yikes Russ, My partner and I are working on a vacant home right now that developed horrible mold in the basement after the winter thaw. When spring came so did the mold. I didn't stay in there very long, had trouble breathing. The seller hired a company that specializes in cleaning up mold.

Yikes indeed!  I think I've been in that house...