how can you check to see if you have mold in your apartment without cutting a piece of the wall out?

Answer 1

Take a piece of aluminum foil, take a drill and drill a hole in the middle of the foil. Then, soke it in cold water, then let it drip off. When it is damp, take a cookie sheet or a pizza pan. Take a table or leveated space. Put the pan/sheet on the table. Hold the foil vertical by a wall. DONT TOUCH THE WALL THOUGH. Now, hold it up for 5 minutes. If you see any green residue or film or spots, then you have mold.

Answer 2

you can't really prove whether or not there is mold there without taking the walls out.

but you can go to a hardware store, as someone mentioned, and buy one of the test kits. those won't always catch all the mold, so if there is only a little bit in an area, it might not show up or it might just not show any - those kits aren't perfect.

if you have large furniture or something that you don't plan on moving, you could trim a small piece from the floor (where the mold would be likely to begin growing and work it's way up) and then when you fix the small piece of wall, you can put the tv or couch or whatever it is in front of the wall - especially if you can tell that it was kind of cut-and-pasted there.

otherwise, get a professional. if there is mold, the affected walls will be cut out anyway. better to be safe than sorry!

Answer 3

Checking For Mold

Answer 4

You cannot "get rid" of black mold. It will come back and it is in the air. The fact that this complex is not doing anything to keep your family safe from it means they are violating the Landlord/Tenant contract. Not only should you call the state and report it, but you should also consult an attorney. It is not about the money, it is about you and your child's health. If it doesn't kill you it can cause permanent brain damage to you or your infant. Don't risk that. I have had clients with sever impairment because they were exposed to black mold for just a year. If you don't go to the state, and you get out of your lease, someone else will just move in and it will harm them too.

Answer 5

There are now some specially trained dogs that can detect the smallest ammounts of mold. (trained similar to drug dogs).

You can check online for your local mold experts who may have more information.

The problem with the home test kits, is you have to test the correct location. Some mold, is not in usual places, that may be missed by such kits.

My last house had mold between the first and second floor because of a small window leak. I also had small amounts of mold in the ceiling of the first floor, because of a small piple leak from the upstairs bathroom. (was small enough we never noticed any stains on ceiling or anything like that.)

As far as houses... the problem with testing to know for certain, is once you know, you must disclose that information when you sell your home. (*which makes it harder*)... If you never officially learn of the issue, then there is nothing to disclose. Just like lead paint. Suspect that you do, act like you do, but just dont test to know for certain.

If it is an appartment on the otherhand, testing may or may not be beneficial to you. If anything is found, you may be asked to move so they can address the problem (which in most cases require extensive remodeling.) That makes you go into another appartment, which you would then need to test again. Long story short, you would just end up moving, with no guarantee that you will have a place to live that is mold free.

Mold is all around us and has been for many years. We eat mold (cheese), we cure ourselves with mold (penicillin). Mold is used to make things in our food like citiric acid, soy sauce, etc..

Not everyone reacts to mold the same way either. Individual allergies vary, and it is hard for any landlord to remove all allergens in your appartment.

What you can do to help is simple. Invest in a good air purifier with hepa filter. Depending on the average humidity level of your area, you might also want a dehumidifier. Clean regularly, including couches, pillows, and curtains. Invest in a good vacuum cleaner with hepa filter or something like the rainbow vacuum cleaners that use water filtration. (rainbow is great for anyone with alergies.)
There are tons of sites online that might offer more suggestions regarding living with mold or other household alergens.

Answer 6

you can call a pesticide company which would take test of your wall and take them to a lab dont worry beacuse they will only rub a swad something similar to an ear cleaner on you wall and it will show mould this is nthe best way to chek if you have mould look in you local directory for a few pestasite companys and ask them if they chek fdir mould and algies if not ask them if they noe anyone make sure you look aroud to find cheaper tests but i urge you that if you think there is mold you should get a test done urgently beacuse you can get sick
i hope i have helped you and even urneaded beaing your top answer thank you and GOOD LUCK!

Answer 7

You can try taking the trim off of the wall at the floor, which is where mold would start due to flooding. Lift up the carpet and padding to look underneath it.
If the ceiling is a dropped tile, you can look up there to see if there's mold.
Also, you could try drilling a small hole in the bottom of a closet corner to see whats inside the walls.

Answer 8

You should get a mold inspector. It would cost around $150-$200. They have special tools that can detect mold and moisture. They have a special camera that can show moisture problems and mold. They also have a tool in which they poke a hole in the wall and it measures moisture. It might sound expensice but not expensive as the hospital bills.

Answer 9

even creepier answer; many kinds of molds are capable of amoebic movement , at night it is attracted by your warm breath and moves to the part of the room near you then the warmth helps spores to form . Did your roof once leak you might be able to see the smutz on the top of the ceiling from the attic some-times you can see down the wall from above and see water stains on the sheetrock paper. mold loves wet paper

Answer 10

In reality the answer to this question is you can't. You can't verify anything without testing, which there are tests that use the air - they are a little expensive to get - but thy can tell you down to the actual amount (which cant be done with surface testing) of mold that is in your air and how much of it is harmful.

But - visually you can tell a few ways.

Film of something heavier then dust on your clothes or other fabric items in closets near the suspected areas.

Pore like spots on surfaces like drywall or molding. They would look like a drop of pollen was dropped like water on the item. So basically a oval or ... well a nebula.

Excess rust, lime, calcium on external piping. Like the pipes that connect the toilet to the wall or the same with under the sink. This would indicate that there is leaking from a pipe you can't see which would mean mold.

Take off a part of the molding, it is usually put in with a tack nail and easy to put back. But - the mold has a tendency to grow outwardly there.

One thing to understand is, if you can see the mold though drywall or that it is becoming visible on the outside, it is actually becoming to much for the internal to hold, so its now coming from the inside out. So really - the only way to verify is to take out some drywall to tell.