Mold infested cottage cleanup help

[ericher69]

Ok I have the opportunity to buy a cottage/camp on a 5 acre parcel with 1 small pond and a bigger pond/lake (don't know the size transition from pond to lake)

Anyway the structure was built around 1990;
2 story
Basement
2 washrooms
Kitchen
4 bed
Around 2000 sq/ft
I can purchase this for $40k Canadian dollars

Problem is it was rented out and used as a grow operation about 10 yrs ago (wires used for drying are still in the basement)

There is mold everywhere on surfaces and have not investigated to see if it goes deeper

It would probably be a full gut and redo

Now is this feasible to do myself?

My plan is the following;

1. See if I have more than surface mold
2. Use a respirator
3. Enter and spray everything with a sodium hypochlorite and water solution (1:3)
4. Let air dry
5. Ventilate building
6. Gut re-insulate
7. Vapor barrier
8. Drywall
9. Paint

Any advice/direction are always appreciated

 

[radioman]

what about airflow on hepa filter ?

 

[tcartwri]

First off you should find out if the house was ever under the scrutiny of law enforcement, because that will be recorded somewhere and fat chance in getting a builders loan or reselling it without disclosure.

Second; In order to do the demolition, you will need a builders permit. They might ask you if mould remediation is the reason, in which case it becomes a non-diy.

 

[DAY]

Yesterday I saw an attic mold removal on "This Old House". They used a hepa filter- and "sand" blasted with dry ice!
It is now probably on you tube- everything else is. . .

 

[ericher69]

what about airflow on hepa filter ?

You mean have a building negative pressure Hepa filtration system?

 

[ericher69]

First off you should find out if the house was ever under the scrutiny of law enforcement, because that will be recorded somewhere and fat chance in getting a builders loan or reselling it without disclosure.

Second; In order to do the demolition, you will need a builders permit. They might ask you if mould remediation is the reason, in which case it becomes a non-diy.

Builders loan not needed; cash

Reselling; plan on keeping in the family to hand down to kids and possibly rent out weekly

Builders permit; won't know it's being done!

 

[ericher69]

Yesterday I saw an attic mold removal on "This Old House". They used a hepa filter- and "sand" blasted with dry ice!
It is now probably on you tube- everything else is. . .

I too saw that show in the past...

Looks to be for more than cosmetic/surface mold

 

[Otto Syracuse]

We just went through this on a building and the work was done by a professional crew. Wearing tyvek suits and respirators, Their procedure was to tape off all the windows doors and gaps, use a HEPA fan ducted outside to create negative pressure, spray with (I'm not sure, but it smelled like bleach) a solution, wait 24 hrs, then remove all drywall, wood and any other porous surface. Respray with solution and leave HEPA running for 48 hours. Afterwards, we used dry-lock to seal the masonry, rebuilt the walls with PT lumber and hard foam insulation and green board. Hopefully this will stop our issue.

I would check with a building professional regarding the vapor barrier, it was not recommended by our architect. Google "vapor barrier" for the pros and cons.

$40k for a cottage and average in Ontario sounds like a great deal. Vacation property in Canada is on fire the last few years. I have a place near Plevna, ON and the value has easily doubled in the last 5 years.

 

[Western]

I have used an Ozone machine to kill mold on a small remodel project and it worked great, you should research it , it may be an easy alternative.

Here is just one site I Googled up
Mold-Kill.com - Kill Mold with Ozone Generators

 

[BeezFun]

My plan is the following;

1. See if I have more than surface mold
2. Use a respirator
3. Enter and spray everything with a sodium hypochlorite and water solution (1:3)
4. Let air dry
5. Ventilate building
6. Gut re-insulate
7. Vapor barrier
8. Drywall
9. Paint

Any advice/direction are always appreciated

I'd do the "gut" part of step 6 first, then do your mold remediation. Why would you remove mold from materials you're just going to throw out? Throw it all in a big pile and burn everything when the wind is blowing away from humans. I wouldn't spray everything, I'd do a damp wipe. The last thing you want is more water collecting to start more mold growing, that's how the whole problem got started. Mold needs food, moisture, and something to grow on. The most important thing to control is the moisture, so I'd be real careful about the vapor barrier. I doubt you use central A/C up there but if you do that complicates things. If you just do winter heating that makes it a lot easier, just prevent any warm moist air from hitting cold surfaces. You might put a HEPA filter on your HVAC system to help control the dust circulation, that's what mold needs for food. And finally if you can use mold resistant material, like some drywalls, that would help. I think the whole mold thing is over hyped. Yeah it's a problem but it's not like Ebola.