My House Is Trying To Kill Me

[crusty philtrum]

The house where I live is over 100 years old. When I first moved in here ten years ago, there was evidence of water damage, but rough repairs had been done and the roof would only leak a small amount very ocassionally, during the heaviest of rainfalls.

The leak is caused by various sections of the roof forming a gulley at the centre of the house. It seems that in exceptionally heavy downfalls, the water must back up and make it's way into the roof, and then somehow it finds it's way through the spot in the pic, which is the doorway into the lounge room. There was some sign of the black marks when i moved in, but it seemed mostly inert. Some of the water must be coming down inside the wall above the door and it emerges through the top of the doorframe.

We are currently experiencing endless heavy rain, day after day, with several more days of similar rain still to come. The other day I woke to find a heap of smashed plaster all over the floor and water dripping in at an alarming rate .... the carpet below is saturated. Even worse is that i have 3 power extension cables crossing the doorway on the floor immediately below the top of the doorframe (this house only has 3 power outlets, so i have to have extension leads to feed power to most of the other rooms).

I estimate that over 40 litres of water have come through the roof in the last three days. Now there is a distinct smell of mould coming from the carpet and no doubt more is forming in the roof and the wall above the doorway.




The landlord is going to send someone to repair the outside of the roof (it will be done cheaply, probably by a handyman/ general maintenance person, but because the roof is metal, it will be slippery so it may not happen for a few days). I am fighting a losing battle trying to get the water out of the carpet (floor is wood underneath), so i can't make any attempts to try to stave off mould. This situation is becoming very stressful and downright unhealthy.

[Ashurbanipal]

Ah, gotta love 100 year old houses that need to be basically rebuilt from the ground up once extreme weather has had its way; still, the houses that are being built today won't last 20 years. Your house is an artefact (3 power sockets = hardcore), perhaps pre-Federation, should be heritage listed...

However, I hope everything works out well.

Curious that you're getting such heavy rain - in the City and out at my place it hasn't been that bad.

[Lazarus1140]

Drill a hole in the plaster to encourage the water to enter the room at a place you select. It would be tedious continually dumping a 5 gallon pail during heavy rains but it is better than soaked carpet.

Can you pull the carpet off the tack strip and pull it back off the padding?

Seriously, can you find a new place to live?

Down here gypsum wallboard is used instead of plaster so the battle against mold is much less expensive and time consuming to fight. In my opinion those walls need to be opened up, allowed to dry, and then treated with bleach to kill the mold.

[uOpt]

Oh this is a tough one when renting. You can be sure the repair won't actually solve the problem.

You need to make it clear to the landlord that any damage to your property will be his bill to pay, plus loss of use that will be subtracted. Such is the law and he would use the law against you if you damage his stuff. That will keep his calculations about roof fixing in balance.

You can use extension cords made for outdoors, and keep the connectors off the floor. Problem solved

[GuitarStv]

Temporary solution:

[LesStrat]

I thought Aussies stil used lean-tos.

Houses! You're almost modern!

[jcthejester13]

Kill it back!

[GoldenVulture]

I thought Aussies stil used lean-tos.

Houses! You're almost modern!

We'e had corrugated iron for years, get with the times.

[LesStrat]

We'e had corrugated iron for years, get with the times.

When did you start bending it over


I lived here until a few years ago:

[TheLivingDead]

Mold is no joke, man.

I just recently found out we had a 5x4 ft area of black mold growing under the plywood near our backdoor. We had been sneezing and coughing for a couple years now. Now that I've replaced that entire section we finally feel... Normal. I just hope it hasn't already initiated some long-term ill effects.

[zakk_speed]

Mold is no joke, man.

+1...first rental we moved to in Canada I could not stop sneezing inside the house...I was popping benedryl like sweets just to sleep.

Turned out it had been a grow-op and was infested with black mold inside most of the walls. We GTFO pretty damn quick....

Hope it gets sorted Crusty, you should make your landlord gets a professional contractor to sort it out.

[LesStrat]

Crusty, maybe you could clean up the mold yourself.

[crusty philtrum]

Today the rain finally stopped and i was able to open the house up and let some air through. The carpet is saturated but i've been drawing the water out with towels and newspaper. This afternoon i folded the wet parts back to get air to the underneath of the carpet (no underlay) and to the floorboards. The wet area has the mold smell, and of course there's taht area above the door.

I've contacted the landlord and was hoping someone would show up today to fix the roof (more rain is expected every day for the next few days). This house is an investment property in a light industrial zone, the owner will just sit on it until the time he decides to sell ot for a large profit, when it will no doubt be knocked down and replaced with some kind of small warehouse or factory-style buiding. The owner made it clear when i moved in that he will repair whatever the law requires him to fix, but no more.

Moving house would be very difficult in the immediate future as the rental situation is not good at the moment, very few properties available and very difficult to get accepted due to the competition for every available place. Plus the fact that i'll need to raise a couple of thousand dollars to cover all the costs of getting into a place once i did eventually find something and get accepted as a tenant (my record is good but it's very competitive).

I will be very cautious and observing whether i start sneezing. I have no idea how i could effectively deal with the mold as much of it will be in the wall above the door. If things got really bad, i could move all my stuff into a storage unit and then seek out a temporary place to stay while i look for something permanent, but i have no idea where i might be able to stay.

[GuitarStv]

Soaking the area with bleach will kill mold, but it releases some pretty noxious fumes for a few hours as well. You can also try some of the Concrobium mold products (which work pretty well at preventing mold from coming back). Of course, if every time that it rains that area gets soaked again you're SOL . . . no matter what you use the mold will come back with a vengeance.

[crusty philtrum]

. . . Of course, if every time that it rains that area gets soaked again you're SOL . . . no matter what you use the mold will come back with a vengeance.

Yes, I am very keen to have the roof fixed to stop any more water coming in so that i can then (hopefully) do something permanent about neutralising the mold. Because the next few days will have rain, i'm disappointed that no-one came today to attend to it, and concerned that things may get worse over the next few days.

[Varg]

I cant believe I'm reading a serious thread by Crusty!

[crusty philtrum]

I cant believe I'm reading a serious thread by Crusty!

Yes, i am aware of that and i do apologise sincerely and will resume normal crusty programming as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

[Varg]

Well, I hope you get it sorted anyway, looks pretty crappy.

[TheLivingDead]

Crusty... You uhhh... Got a little something on your neck there...

[crusty philtrum]

Crusty... You uhhh... Got a little something on your neck there...

FAR OUT !!! That is amazing ! and kinda freaky, too. I am developing a great fear of spores and their possible effects.