Look at what I found...
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Yup! That's mold. In the bathroom. Needless to say, we are now in the midst of gutting it.
The "funny" thing is that I've been smelling must/mildew [mold] now for almost two years. I could only smell it in the summer time though and it was very faint. I always assumed it was coming from the basement. We've searched and searched but never found anything.
I turned on the whole house fan the other day and got a big whiff of it. The search was on. Again. I narrowed it down to the bathroom. Hubs came home and tapped the wall next to the shower and there it was. Yeah! (Sarcasm much?).
We've wanted to redo the bathroom for quite sometime now. For starters, I'm not a huge fan of the flooring - so YEAH! that's gone. As much as I would like to say we can bandaid it by pulling out the damaged floor, shower and wall, it would just be that; a bandaid. Our vanity top cracked a few years a go. Hubs patched it back together but now there are stress fractures so it's just a matter of time before we'll have to replace it.
Although I've been wanting to redo the bathroom, I hate being forced to do it. We aren't financially ready to take on this project. We won't be able to design it the way we were dreaming of. So, we'll just have to make do and pick things that are important to us and then skim in other areas.
As for now, I am still waiting for a call back from our plumber. Hubs is trying to get rid of the mold so we can at least use the bathroom until the plumber can come to get us a price so we can start gutting.
The "good" news is that we have another full bath in the house. So, for now I have this one (which is the primary one we use) blocked off. The kids are hating it, so are we but we're dealing with it the best we can.
What I've learned from this? Trust my gut. I had a feeling something was growing somewhere. I should have listened to my instincts but what is done is done. We have to deal with this hand and move on.
Now that the shock and horror has worn off, I am getting excited about the remodel. Don't get me wrong, it's a bit overwhelming but we'll be happy when it's done.
So, there you have it. That's what I've been up to and will be up to over the next few weeks. Fun times.
Hope you have a happy and healthy weekend.
I know that mold smell all too well, it can be awful. When I lived up in Michigan. My room was in the basement. It flooded every time it rained and my room had a constant mold smell. I have often wondered how much damage living in that dank dungeon was doing to my lungs. At one point I remember seeing mushrooms (no kidding) growing on the tile floor in my room. I gave me a constant headache also. I'm glad you found the source of the problem and are going to get a remodeled bathroom out of the deal. If only homeowners insurance took care of that huh? Who knows, maybe you can look into it, that would be nice. I know in michigan they would take of some things but nothing in the basement because it was below ground.
ReplyDeleteEew, at least the good news (a bathroom remodel) is more than the bad news (mold - and only a smallish amount) I'd be excited about a new bathroom, too!
ReplyDeleteWhen we were house hunting, the realtor showed us a house that the kitchen had a whole layer of mold growing on it - and the people selling it had left a 200 gallon aquarium ~with huge fish~ in the hallway!! Umm no thanks on both counts.