About a year or so ago two sections of our basement on the concrete walls were black with mold. I had one estimate from a friend of a friend to pressure wash the walls to get rid of the mold and to dig a French drain around the basement would cost about 6 grand.
I called a few other companies and they won’t even come out and look at the problem for less than $1000, but the reassured me that grand would be applied to the over all cost if I should decide to go with them.
One person I called reminded me of sticking your finger near a fire and a hot cinder popped or sizzled out and landed on your hand and no matter how fast you shake your hand you can’t shake that little burning painful cinder. This guy called me every day. It is a good thing we have caller id.
I de-molded it myself with bleach. Plain Clorox, or the Krogers generic brand.
Now it looks good.
However, de-molding it did not solve the problem. It only took away the byproduct. So, we bought a dehumidifier machine. Which it is a perfectly normal machine to have in Georgia with its high humidity.
I have to empty it every day. It fills up about once a day and stops when it is full. I think the tank holds either 1.5 or 2 gallons.
I wonder if that water is healthy purified water? It should have no chemicals in it because it is more or less distilled water.
The reason I am writing this is this morning why carrying the little tank full of water out to the outside instead of sitting the thing down and open the door like I usually do I thought I would hold the tank with one hand and open the basement door with the other hand.
Opps!
The water tank flipped and fell onto the floor with water going everywhere.
Then, I had to pull out my shopvac which I haven’t used in years. It has been so long I forgot how to use it. But, everything fell into place once I started working with it.
I must be a genius.
11 comments:
I guess it is like riding a bike - you never forget how.
Judy,
Yep, or swimming.
you are a genious, ed! we, too have a dehumidifier. we bought it originally when we lived in nc and had no climate control of any kind. i remember how damp everything felt. we had to throw away alot of clothes. we bought the dehumidifier and spent just under $200 for it and it was worth every cent. we still use it now.
Bird,
I was not in pain when I posted that much earlier today, but now I am- I think when the container of water fliped, somehow I jerked or strained - now my hip hurts (when I laugh).
We paid $100 even for ours - a closeout item at Wal-Mart.
I know a thing or two about hip pain, ed...put some ice on it...then take a hot bath...then have a beer...haha
Bird,
I did take a hot shower. I forgot about the beer.
I bought a 12 pack of Coor's Light two years ago and have one left, but keep forgetting about it.
Coors??? Coors, Ed??? my goodness... those coors people are heavy repug supporters...to buy blue beer, you have to get an import. plus it tastes like (what I can only imagine) piss.
Yeah - that is a consideration, to consider a company's politics before you buy their product... but to me Coors light is tasty.
I doubt if you can find a product that was produced by a big company that is manned by Demos.
You are really lucky that the simple clean up you did and de-humidifier took care of the problem. As part of my soon-to-be-former job, I attended a few trainings on environmental conditions in housing, and mold can be a real pain in the ass. It can be nearly impossible to get rid of. So I am impressed with your ingenuity. Congrats on outsmarting the "experts"!
Suzanne,
I am so smart, I outsmarted myself. When I made the blunder of dropping the container of water a plastic thing came off, but I put it back on, correctly I thought. The plastic thing has a hollow boat-like feature - it floats. And it has a little thing-ma-doo on top, so when it so high near the top the little thang-ma-do is press something to make it quit dehumidifying. Now, after the accident and I reassembled it, it doesn't do that. Water kept on coming, which caused a puddle on our basement floor. Back to studying what I overlooked.
A good Air Dehumidifier is going to help.
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