Questions about mould in the home

[BsFaninCGY]

So I recently moved into a new place with my girlfriend (we rented). About a week into the new place my landlord sends us an 'Inspection Report' to be filled out - mainly so he can repair anything we've come across that might be broken/in need of repair while moving in, but also as a record to compare against when we move out.

When inspecting the main bathroom I notice a small discoloured patch of flooring between the bathtub and the toilet. I make note of it and call it 'potentially mould'. When he inspects, he confirms that the house had had an issue with mould in the past and that it had been cleaned, ceilings painted, and a new fan installed in the bathroom with a moisture setting. Great. I never thought to press for more info and just kind of let it slide.

Today, I look in our cold-storage area and see what also looks like mould to me. I'm not quite sure how I missed this before and am not sure if I should be worried.

Spoiler!

We have signed a lease, the move was expensive for both me and the gf, and we don't want to move again anytime soon - already talking about signing a second lease when this one ends. The house is beautiful and has everything we want and is in our price range.

I've done some preliminary looking online and can't find any record of this house being a former grow-op. I know mould can be a health concern, but am not very well researched in that. Any CP experts out there want to weigh in on this one for me and (hopefully) put my mind at ease? If that *is* mould, I probably shouldn't be storing food in there I'm guessing?

[photon]

I can't tell for sure but it does kinda look like mould.

Your description of what was done to fix the mould in the bathroom doesn't inspire a lot of confidence; usually mould remediation involves tearing things out and replacing vs. just cleaning and painting, but without knowing how bad it was to start with hard to say if it was taken care of properly.

From a landlord/tenant point of view if there's mould it could mean a substantial breach of the agreement (meaning basically you don't have to stay if you don't want).

If you do want to stay, you could take a few different paths.. one would be to try and work with your landlord, express your concern and get a concrete list of things that will be done to alleviate your concerns.

There are places that will test for mould, though I will say that these themselves can be problematic if they also do the remediation; I have no idea how to differentiate the trustworthy ones from the ones that will always find mould. I've had testing done by different companies at the same place and one tell me there's mould and the other tell me the other one is scamming me.

I know there's at least one laboratory type place in Calgary that'll do air testing that doesn't do remediation so I'd probably trust their results (can't remember the name of the place sorry).

If the tests come back positive then you can decide if you want to work with your landlord as he fixes the issues (might involve staying in a hotel while they clean or something).

If your landlord doesn't want to be cooperative then the other option you have is to contact the health authority and make a complaint. They'll investigate and if they find that there's a violation they may ask the landlord to make repairs, or take them to court and fine them daily if they don't comply.

Most landlords would probably try to avoid having the health authority involved, but if I were a tenant and I wasn't confident that I could judge if the landlord was doing the right thing or not involving the health authority might help ensure a good solution is being put in place.

[BsFaninCGY]

Yeah - I'm probably going to have to look into this more. Luckily I have a trip coming up in November, so hopefully if work is needed, it can be done while I'm out of town.

Not quite sure how I missed a black while while walking thru my first time. Everything else looked so good I guess I was distracted...

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by photon

I know there's at least one laboratory type place in Calgary that'll do air testing that doesn't do remediation so I'd probably trust their results (can't remember the name of the place sorry).

http://www.airvironment.com/

These guys?

I've used them twice. They are great.

[photon]

Yeah I think those were the ones, thanks!

[BsFaninCGY]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

http://www.airvironment.com/

These guys?

I've used them twice. They are great.

Some great info found by following external links on that page. Thanks so much for sharing - going to be a lot easier to tackle this now armed with that information.