[abw688]

Ok, so I did submit a post about mold already, but wanted to submit a new one with more info.

We are in SC had about 18-20 inches of rain in 48 hours in October. We had no water come into our home....however, I believe we are now seeing the aftermath of moisture (I think?).

We found mold in 2 cabinets in the home. Then, we found mold on one entire side of the attic (the 2 sides of the attic are not connected). We then found mold in all different areas of the house (closet on clothes, linen closet, corner under china cabinet, under the couch, on candles in our fireplace (but didn't see any up the chimney flue), a book bag in the corner of a room upstairs)...it just keeps popping up! I feel like it is taking over our home. It is very dusty and powdery, not really wet and raised mold.

We did take a humidity reading when we started noticing it and it was at 77%. Since then, we have been using 2 dehumidifiers (one for upstairs, one for down) and they have been running constantly and have brought the humidity down to anywhere from 45-65%

We are having a company come in and take care of the attic and the cabinet area since it seems to be the most strong in those areas. We are also installing a vapor barrier in our crawl space. The mold company said the crawl space was damp, but was not too concerning.

We are literally at our wits end at this point.....I have no idea what to do. We clean the mold and toss things as we find them. I am terrified it is going to come back and/or we'll keep finding it.

Since it is throughout the house...any guesses on what is going on? Would high humidity really be the cause of it? I have no other guesses!!

 

[Ron6519]

You need to find where the moisture is coming from. If from the exterior, due to the rains, there should be areas outside that you can identify as possibilites where water is getting in.
How long have you owned the house?
How old is the roof?
How old are the windows?
What kind of siding?
Have you had any work done on the house before the October storm?
Has this happened before?
Can you post photos of the interior issues and the exterior?

 

[abw688]

You need to find where the moisture is coming from. If from the exterior, due to the rains, there should be areas outside that you can identify as possibilites where water is getting in.
How long have you owned the house?
How old is the roof?
How old are the windows?
What kind of siding?
Have you had any work done on the house before the October storm?
Has this happened before?
Can you post photos of the interior issues and the exterior?

We moved into the house in May. Previous owner's did not disclose prior mold.

The roof was last replaced in 2006, boots last replaced in 2015 (before we moved in).

Not sure about windows...but they look fairly new and are double pane vinyl.

We have wood siding. I do not see any signs of rot or mold on the siding.

No work done to the house before the October storm.

This has not happened before to my knowledge...however...where we are finding the mold are areas that we do not normally check on a regular basis.

 

[SPS-1]

Would high humidity really be the cause of it?

Could be.

The one variable to control for mold control is water. 77% RH is pretty high, but we really don't know if that was just the one day that the measurement was taken, or typical for the entire year.

But you saw a problem, you took appropriate steps, now you need to monitor the results.

 

[SPS-1]

The more interesting part is mold in the attic. What did the company you contacted have to say about that? Commonly a sign of inadequate attic ventilation, but you need replys from people more local to your area. Do you have the AC system in the attic?

 

[abw688]

The more interesting part is mold in the attic. What did the company you contacted have to say about that? Commonly a sign of inadequate attic ventilation, but you need replys from people more local to your area. Do you have the AC system in the attic?

The AC system is not in the attic. HVAC is outside, air handler is in the crawl space.

They showed me that there is not a lot of insulation in the attic at all. They said that was the culprit. The other side of the attic (we have a cape cod style house) has much more insulation in it and does not have any mold.

Could that be causing our problem? I am so lost as for a moisture source since it keeps popping up everywhere!

 

[ChuckF.]

Check other sources of humidity: ensure you have adequate bathroom fans that exhaust to the outside, make sure your clothes dryer exhausts to outside, if you do a lot of cooking use an oven fan that exhausts outside. Make sure natural gas water heater and home furnace exhausts properly.

 

[1acre]

The AC system is not in the attic. HVAC is outside, air handler is in the crawl space.

They showed me that there is not a lot of insulation in the attic at all. They said that was the culprit. The other side of the attic (we have a cape cod style house) has much more insulation in it and does not have any mold.

Could that be causing our problem? I am so lost as for a moisture source since it keeps popping up everywhere!

this leads me to believe the problem would be in the summer. cool interior, high humidity, warm attic, condensation on the outside. same as cool beverage in the summer condenses on the outside of the glass. not an expert in this area, just thinking out loud, which often gets me into trouble.....

 

[abw688]

Check other sources of humidity: ensure you have adequate bathroom fans that exhaust to the outside, make sure your clothes dryer exhausts to outside, if you do a lot of cooking use an oven fan that exhausts outside. Make sure natural gas water heater and home furnace exhausts properly.

One of our bathrooms does not have an exhaust fan. We usually open the window when we take a shower and leave it open afterwards....may want to install a fan in there.

Our clothes dryer does exhaust outside.

Our kitchen exhaust hood again, does not exhaust outside...something we may to install too.

We do not have a gas water heater or furnace. We have an electric water heater and a heat pump in our HVAC.

 

[abw688]

this leads me to believe the problem would be in the summer. cool interior, high humidity, warm attic, condensation on the outside. same as cool beverage in the summer condenses on the outside of the glass. not an expert in this area, just thinking out loud, which often gets me into trouble.....

I will also admit that we were VERY frugal with our HVAC AC in the summer....

 

[SPS-1]

I will also admit that we were VERY frugal with our HVAC AC in the summer....

Good. It can happen down there, that people keep their AC so cold that, in the summer, condensation happens on the outside of the vapor barrier.

 

[abw688]

Good. It can happen down there, that people keep their AC so cold that, in the summer, condensation happens on the outside of the vapor barrier.

Still lost as to the moisture source.....there are so many areas in the house where we have found it and there is not a moisture source at all....other than the humidity I suppose? No leaks or anything....

 

[SeniorSitizen]

Before the dehumidifiers, your indoor humidity was running a close race with the outdoor average high and only you or a paid expert can determine what lifestyle activities are causing it. If the X-pert has any knowledge of these type situations at all he/she will be monitoring dew point temperatures.

http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/South-Carolina/humidity-annual.php

 

[abw688]

Are there specific things we should have the mold company look at and do? Would they be able to find a real moisture source?

When they came to inspect, I showed them the trouble areas (although now, I have found more). They said the humidity was high in the attic and the humidity reading was high around the ground of kitchen cabinet. When they went in the crawl space, they noticed the wood underneath the cabinet was moist as well but couldn't find a source of moisture other than the ground. However, they didn't see mold underneath. They are planning on pulling out the cabinet and drying the floor from above in the kitchen and the below in the crawl space.

I just wasn't sure if there are other things they can do to find moisture source. I know it's going to be expensive, but I want it done correctly and I want it gone!

 

[jimn]

The ground can be a big source of moisture. Crawl spaces especially. At least in the beginning you will need to look at the crawl space ventilation, vapor barrier etc. the ventilation in the attic needs to be fixed. I don't live down south so I can speak to how much ventilation , vapor barrier etc you need up there. You may need to some site work to keep ground water away from house. There are contractors who specialize in moisture/water problems. Just stay away from anyone who say we can treat this by painting something on the interior walls. That won't work,. Also get a kitchen exhaust fan that vents to the outside and run those dehumidifiers.

 

[abw688]

The ground can be a big source of moisture. Crawl spaces especially. At least in the beginning you will need to look at the crawl space ventilation, vapor barrier etc. the ventilation in the attic needs to be fixed. I don't live down south so I can speak to how much ventilation , vapor barrier etc you need up there. You may need to some site work to keep ground water away from house. There are contractors who specialize in moisture/water problems. Just stay away from anyone who say we can treat this by painting something on the interior walls. That won't work,. Also get a kitchen exhaust fan that vents to the outside and run those dehumidifiers.

Yes, we are going to be putting down a vapor barrier in the crawl space (6 mil plastic, black). At the moment, we have french drains along the perimeter inside the crawl space and a sump pump that pumps water out. We also have vents all around the foundation.

Could moisture from the crawl space be causing moisture in the rest of the house? I have heard of the stack affect, but wasn't sure if that was a real thing.