To freak out at black mold in the house we just bought?

[PapayaCoconut]

The house has been empty for almost a year and the guy we bought it from (a property developer) has never lived there. Our surveyor didn't find any signs of damp or flag up any mold issues.

When we got the keys yesterday we went round the place and had a bit of a look around. I opened some kitchen cupboards and realised two of them have some black mold inside, towards the back. It's a terraced house so the mold is on the adjoining wall with the neighbor. I was planning to clean it off and see if it comes back but after sleeping on it I'm wondering if we're going to have to get someone in to pull the cupboard out and look behind it and tell me that we have a damp problem that he can fix to the tune of £5000...

We're moving in today and were so excited but this has put a bit of a "dampener" on it for me...

@TeamUnicorn

That's a great link, thank you!!

Got the HG foam, it's incredibly effective!

Get a cheap dehumidifier. Ours is whirring away in the kitchen right now. It gets out buckets of water.

Yes it most likely a condensation issue. We had this at our old house where hot air got trapped behind furniture on cold external walls. It comes off with a bit of bleach and if you ventilate properly it won’t come back.

I think people are being way too relaxed about this, black mold is very dangerous

It's only dangerous if a) it's left and not cleaned/removed and b) you sit and breathe it in constantly.

The UK is a damp country. Leave a house unventilated and un-used (especially a terrace) and there will be mould - it's just part of living somewhere with a damp climate. There's absolutely no need to spend a fortune on professionals who are just going to use the same products you can buy yourself from Tesco for a fiver.

White vinegar usually works well too.

Irs just poor ventilation. We had this with our house. The previous owners wardrobes had hidden the mould so we had a lovely surprise. I initially washed off with mould remover then when we redorated we used a mould eradication kit from ebay for 10 pounds hat has a mould remover, sealer and a liquid you mix into the paint to prevent return.

Havent had any mould since but then we sleep with the windows open.

Mumsnet is the best - thank you all for your great advice and information!!

But a kit off eBay is hardly dealing with it. Your lung health is worth £300 for an expert to deal with it imo. Your life your choice tho

089ville, sounds like you could be a professional........

A kit of eBay contains the stuff to kill the mould, prevent any new growth and seal the area. Isn’t that what a professional would do? Plenty of people effectively deal with mould safely themselves. If this was a huge area in multiple rooms then maybe so, but it’s a small isolated area that should be easy to treat.

There is a diffrence between the mildew type mould and black toxic mould.
They are different species.
The mildew type is usually caused by insufficient ventilation , condensation , lack of heating and air current movement etc, just like you'd find in a house thats been unlived in for a while.
The sprays and cleaners should clear and kill it.

Black toxic mould is usually found in places that use cellulose in construction, like the drywall they use in the USA where we tend to use different materials in the UK, like bricks and plaster. Theres a lot of chatter on the net about the toxic spores, how it eats houses and needs professional removal. This is mostly USA based not UK.

“think people are being way too relaxed about this, black mold is very dangerous and could mean water deep in the house from a leak.”

It absolutely positively NEVER means “water deep in the house from a leak”

If you have a plumbing leak, it would have to be a very obvious leak you could see which would be leaking clean water.

When you have a leak in the structure, the water will be contaminated with whatever minerals are in the building structure. And you CANNOT get black mould from water that has salts/minerals mixed in. That’s why rising damp doesn’t produce black mould either.

I think people watch American tv shows where an entire house is made of wood and the wooden foundations are found rotted with damp... and then they assume solid brick structure in U.K. is the same. Nope.

I grew up in a terraced house that riddled with black mould in the winter. To get rid of it permanently you use mould remover, and ensure the house is both appropriately damp proofed and well ventilated - always crack a window open in the day.

We had mould on the kids bathroom ceiling one year, as the room didn't have an extractor fan, but much shower and bath use.

So we had an extractor fan installed, then got a painter and decorator in to use a mould solution on the ceiling and then repaint it later in the day. Job done.