We are in the process of moving everything out of our basement before a crew comes to rip out everything from walls to floors to ceiling. It is a huge project going through everything and getting it ready to move upstairs or to the garage. A lot of things we are throwing out, recycling, or donating to reduce the stuff to be stored. Due to my health and Janice's allergies, Elaine is ending up with most of this work.
It started over the last several months when Janice was still staying in her bedroom downstairs and having more and more serious allergic reactions and ended up in emergency at the hospital twice in November. We were suspecting the allergic reactions were from mold so had her move to a bedroom upstairs. We had an environmental investigator come to do an inspection for mold in the basement. We thought it may be from some water seepage at floor level that had gotten the carpets wet in one corner of the basement earlier in the spring/ summer. But the inspection revealed a much more extensive and serious mold problem. The way the insulation had been done in the headers between the floor joists without sufficient sealing of the vapour barrier, condensation and frost from humidity could get behind the insulation and eventually over the years formed mold in the walls. The environmental inspector recommended everything be completely ripped out to the bare concrete and the mold cleaned up to be sure we got all of it. That is the project we have been getting ready for likely to start the middle of next week.
The contractor doing the work, Lawrence Environmental Services, is specially trained and certified to safely remove mold. Scot Lawrence has 28 years construction experience and is a recognized expert in mold remediation. We are quite pleased to have found someone with his experience overseeing the work to get our mold problem resolved. They will seal off the basement from the upstairs and have fans with filters to apply negative pressure and filter out the dust and mold as they do their demolition in the basement. Then they will clean the concrete and the headers between the floor joists. This is an expensive process but we feel it is well worth it to ensure our health and safety in our home.
Tomorrow we have some people coming to help carry furniture and boxes upstairs and to the garage. After some final preparation next week we are planning to move out of the house for about a week to a suite at a motel while the work is underway. Some people take the opportunity when moving to sort, organize and thin out their belongings. This is something that this project has brought to us as we move out of our basement. This project is a drastic measure but we feel it will be well worth it in the long term. I will do more updates as the project proceeds to future phases to rebuild the basement again.
3 comments:
Burn it down and start over.
Black mould is scary stuff. Glad you are doing it right. Good luck and enjoy. Go south while they are reno-ing. An all-inclusive in Cuba is cheaper than staying at a hotel.
Couldn't resist a comment as this is right up my alley. I've done many a mold job. Another thing to consider is after they've removed the drywall and insulation and clean up is to have someone check for other problems like electrical or plumbing. Much cheaper to do it when the joists are exposed. And if you can afford it closed cell foam insulation is the best way to go. No vapor barrier needed and a much higher R-value.
My all time favorite Canadian is Mike Holmes.
We are getting everything stripped out right to the bare concrete. We will see if there are any cracks or leaks in the walls. The wiring will get redone when walls are rebuilt. And we will investigate the option of foam insulation.
We like the Mike Holmes shows as well. The guy we have doing our inspection and cleanup is quite similar.
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