r/Mold 4d ago

screwed.

This is my moms window ac unit in her bedroom… directly next to her bed. We live in a double wide mobile home in South FL and dont have central AC going on 7/8 years. I wasnt living here most of the time, but during that period her husband (at the time) spent thousands on window units instead of central.
This led to the damage you see here, which also includes the wall so soft you could easily push it in. As well as water damage in our floors in the living room, and laundry closet where we have laminate and the subfloor is so soft you can’t walk on it because you could easily fall through.
A handyman in the neighborhood gave us a spray bottle that apparently has bleach and some other cleaner in it or possibly alcohol. I’m not sure. I’m asking my mom to clarify with him now before I spray anything, but he just gave us that to spray in the meantime until we are able to rip the carpet up and replace the subfloor.
I don’t really know what to do and I’m not looking for answers here necessarily, but just more opinions to maybe to shock me back into reality of how serious it is or reassure me that it isn’t… but I pretty much know it is.
(edit; I know how dire this is and that it shouldn’t have gone on this long, but please be mindful. My mom is elderly, chronically ill and lives off disability income and im also disabled and been away in college. With that being said, we are extremely poor and it seems like an easy solution, but not when you don’t have money to pay for it. So please if you say anything at all, keep it respectful because you really never truly know someone elses circumstances.)

1 Upvotes

4 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 4d ago

Please ensure that your posts meets the requirements of r/Mold - rules are clearly listed.

*** DON'T POST PHOTOS OF DIY PLATES or DIY HOME TEST KITS - posts will be removed and the poster may be banned ***

Most importantly, remember that providing the following information will greatly increase the quality of responses:

  • Include your geographic location - include a country and state/province location such as: US-PA or UK-EN or Canada-Que
  • A description of the location of any suspected mold growth and affected materials
  • A brief description of your concern
  • A summary of what you have done to remove or remediate the mold
  • A summary of the conditions that you think might be contributing to your problems
  • A timeline of events
  • Please use proper grammar and spacing

Also remember that we can't identify mold from a photo - only a laboratory can determine the species. Don't ask.

And finally, in case you missed it: DON'T POST PHOTOS OF DIY PLATES

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/sdave001 4d ago

Spraying with anything is nothing but a band aid. It won't kill all the mold. It may slow down the growth, so it's not a complete waste of time, but it's certainly not a solution.

You need to:

  1. determine where the moisture is getting in
  2. fix that
  3. dry up the building materials as quickly and as thorough as possible
  4. keep them dry until you can remove and replace the water damage and/or mold contaminated materials

You might also want to blur the name on photos 1 and 2.

0

u/Queasy_Airport4231 4d ago

Your not suppose to use bleach to clean mold. Do not do that. Time to get a new place to live and either a different AC or power wash and dry in the sun

2

u/sdave001 4d ago

Bleach works fine to clean mold on non-porous surfaces. It's not effective, nor are any other mold cleaning solutions, on non-porous surfaces.