could someone recommend some tips for a moldy smell due to water damage?

[riorobc023]

I am looking for some professionals in bangkok to give it a look. are their any companies?

 

otherwise for now i will lay out baking soda, cat litter, deodorizers, 

all around the house until the smell goes..

 

any other tips and recommendations welcome

 

thank you all

 

 

 

[tonray]

First you need to kill the source of the odor, which is usually fungus/mold. Bleach diluted sprayed over successive days in the area of the flooding. Then baking soda, charcoal, silica (sand) to help dry out the area. Sweep that up after a few days and hit it with a good cleaning solution using TSP (tri-sodium-phosphate). Then  air dry with fans.

[riorobc023]

1 hour ago, tonray said:

First you need to kill the source of the odor, which is usually fungus/mold. Bleach diluted sprayed over successive days in the area of the flooding. Then baking soda, charcoal, silica (sand) to help dry out the area. Sweep that up after a few days and hit it with a good cleaning solution using TSP (tri-sodium-phosphate). Then  air dry with fans.

thank you for the curteous suggestions..

i'm certain that the water damage was on the celling and/or wall. So ill have to evaluate how i can bleach that out

TSP is available at tesco/big c/villa or home pro?

 

--

 

Do you suggest buying a real dehumidifier that will lower my temperature inside my household to below 50% humidity? Is so if anyone has any suggestions as to where i can buy one....

 

much appreciated!

[tonray]

The best dehumidifier in a hot climate is the AC unit. As far as TSP you can likely find it at homepro or maybe Thai Watsadu. I know in US they have a chlorinated version too. You can use a sprayer to get the bleach on the ceiling area but make sure there is no residual water/moisture behind or above it. 

[fruitman]

Buy activated EM (effective microorganisms), mix with water and spray everything with it. Worked great for us.

 

Gardenshops have it.

[riorobc023]

19 hours ago, tonray said:

The best dehumidifier in a hot climate is the AC unit. As far as TSP you can likely find it at homepro or maybe Thai Watsadu. I know in US they have a chlorinated version too. You can use a sprayer to get the bleach on the ceiling area but make sure there is no residual water/moisture behind or above it. 

hi tonray,

today i was inside of the apartment for merely 6 hours and i sneezed about 15 times during my stay. i had left the air conditioning unit on with the windows and slider door open. it has to be water damage. when the air conditioner is on the smell lessened. Granted it is still there, it is a little bit less. 

I just for the life of me cannot find the water damage...

 

I think i see cracks or brown areas in the corners of the ceiling walls and around those areas. I cannot see any affected areas on the still wall though. should i spray that with bleach for a few days then go from there?

 

 

6 hours ago, fruitman said:

Buy activated EM (effective microorganisms), mix with water and spray everything with it. Worked great for us.

 

Gardenshops have it.

 

do you happen to know what this looks like in a thai brand EM? i don't speak thai so it could be difficult? secondly, do i spray the area with this or just the whole room?

 

thanks everyone

Edited April 2, 2017 by riorobc023

[tonray]

It sounds like the water is above the ceiling somewhere, How did the moisture get in....if you don't find the source (leak, storm, etc) it will just happen again. You can spray with bleach solution but first try and find that water source ...if you don't mind making a small drill hole where you see the brown cracks might be worth it to see if there is still water there above. You can easily patch a small hole with plaster later.

[fruitman]

10 hours ago, riorobc023 said:

hi tonray,

today i was inside of the apartment for merely 6 hours and i sneezed about 15 times during my stay. i had left the air conditioning unit on with the windows and slider door open. it has to be water damage. when the air conditioner is on the smell lessened. Granted it is still there, it is a little bit less. 

I just for the life of me cannot find the water damage...

 

I think i see cracks or brown areas in the corners of the ceiling walls and around those areas. I cannot see any affected areas on the still wall though. should i spray that with bleach for a few days then go from there?

 

 

 

do you happen to know what this looks like in a thai brand EM? i don't speak thai so it could be difficult? secondly, do i spray the area with this or just the whole room?

 

thanks everyone

It is in plastic bottles...the already activated one mostly is in plastic drinkwater bottles.....the unactivated one in white bottles/tanks.

 

The activated one is the cheapest since they mixed it with water.

 

You need a few bottles activated EM (Mee EEEE EMMMM mai?)  (Au PSSSSSST and you move your hand like you're spraying something with a plantsprayer). ...it's totally harmless and you spray it on EVERYTHING. It will dry and the organisms will do their job...normally it's used to spray on tree's or in the toilet to stop the drains from smelling.

 

They are "good" bacterials/organisms who fight the "bad" smelly ones...

It's also used in soils under tree's to kill the bad fungus types.

 

I didn't spray it on our ceiling, if you have very white ceilings the EM might leave colored traces, not sure about that. But if they were flooded they are ruined anyway and need to be painted.

 

For the rest you have to make sure everything can dry fast...so under the stairs you maybe have to make a hole in the gyprocksheets so the air can go in there to dry.

 

Here some neighbours sell EM activated one...6 waterbottles full of it for 100 baht.It looks like brown water.

 

 

[muskoka]

In Canada we had a corner of the bedroom where the air did not circulate, esp the closet. Could smell the fungus/mold, then found it, black growth esp in the corner of the closet. Mixed a strong water/bleach solution and sprayed it daily for a few days until gone. Then kept the closet doors open a bit for the air to circulate - problem solved.

 

EM is an excellent product but never used it for fungus growth, should/could work IMO. Turns nasty bacteria into healthy bacteria but I could not find a specific reference to fungus treatment at the link below.

 

Doug

 

 

About EM - www.emrojapan.com
 

 

 

[muskoka]

 

 

[williet98248]

I did this kind of mold damage repair in the Us for a large company.  Find the source of the water and repair that.  If only a small area affected you can try the other suggestions but in most cases we ripped out the damaged drywall and replaced it with new.  Drywall can be patched in small areas as well.  Mold is hard to get rid of and some strains are very toxic to your health.

[KKr]

As stated above, without finding the source of the humidity, there is no point trying to get rid of its effects.
If you were in a house, you could check yourself whether all roof tiles are in good order, and also whether they cover sufficiently over the wall, so wind does not blow rainwater on the ceiling or into the wall. Or whether the roof drainage in case of a flat roof is blocked.
Maybe there is a water pipe running between the ceiling and the concrete, or inside the concrete, that causes a problem.
Also, in some houses the waste water from balconies can cause a problem as the drainage pipes are not necessarily outside, but can be between ceilings.
Also, the washing machine drainage of upstair neighbors could be blocked and the drainage pipes "dry-connected".
Same goes obviously for a condo, however you'd have to ask the "Juristic Person" to gain access to the condos above, and / or to the roof, and I'd accompany the worker and, also, have a bottle of something delicious in sight when he checks your kitchen.
If it is a rented Property, get the Landlord to find the source of the leakage.

Good Luck.
 

Edited April 3, 2017 by KKr

[oldcarguy]

is it a house with drywall or concrete blocks

 

We have pulled off the drywall ,  ran an electric fan for a couple days , sprayed bleach/water and  replaced the rotted wood

 

it really matters how far it has spread  and you need to find the source of the water getting in

 

 

[riorobc023]

All great stuff here. thanks everyone, i will ask the juristic person if my work done does not suffice. The owners know of this smell and will indefinltey not pay for a whole new wall I'm sure of it.. I just started renting the place not long ago.

 

I have bought a spray bottle , bleach, and Effective Microorganisms(EM) . I have laid out cat litter , baking soda all around the house. When i am back tomorrow lets see the difference.

 

I will start to rid the damage tomorrow with (EM) or bleach first spraying the ceilings where i see it is cracked a bit.. Also i saw a mold spot on top of the air conditioner a little bit

 

I would like to add there was a water damaged area in the bedroom wall, and someone fixed/patched that up before i arrived. looks brand new.. Does that do absolutely nothing for the problem?

 

I do live in a condominium, and a very nice one at that. so this is definitely a problem. it is drywall i think? i'm not very hands on and don't know a lot.. The landlord doesnt seem to mind the smell, so he certainly will not be any help to me. But i will for sure show him and the agents some documentation showing them the damage if there is some..I'm not sure how the water got in the house, but before i rented it out the landord told me "make sure you don't keep the doors open when it rains because it comes right in the house" . Dumbest thing I've heard in a while, he knows of the smell. trust me

Also the agent told me it was clearly the smell from the drainage, but I've been running the water constantly for two days now. Sales people can be a hoot huh!

[Kabula]

Call a professional cleaning service that specializes in mold damage.

 

Get it taken care of fast as mold can be very unhealthy and can kill!

[4MyEgo]

What an awful situation your in, it would appear that this problem has been an ongoing problem with band aid solutions having been applied in the past.

 

I don't know what the tenancy laws are like in Thailand, but I know back in Oz, if the property had this issue, it would be deemed uninhabitable, I remember a tenants toilet blocked and he range the landlord, left a message on his mobile and moved out within 24 hours, claimed the property to be uninhabitable, the landlord tried to argue that within 24 hours of the call he had a plumber on hand to unblock the toilet, the magistrate/preceding tribunal member said that while he admired how quick he got the plumber in the yard to dig down 6ft to the pipe to unblock the pipe and replace them with new ones, the tenant was within his rights to walk as the property was uninhabitable from the moment the toilet blocked.

 

I would be looking for an out of the lease if the owner is not prepared to sort the problem for once and for all, or contribute to all the costs to rectify the problem which in my mind I have no doubt he knew about before your tenancy, he is supposed to make the property habitable, isn't he ?

 

Good luck 

Edited April 3, 2017 by 4MyEgo

[oldcarguy]

15 hours ago, riorobc023 said:

.I have bought a spray bottle , bleach, and Effective Microorganisms(EM) .

How much did the Effective Microorganisms  cost ?

 

on Amazon USA it is $30-$40US a quart , this seems pretty high but I have no idea what  percent is EM and what percent water/filler

 

Is it called something else  ?   or sold as just a regular product ?

 

Th USA website seems like they are selling Snake Oil that will cure anything

[tonray]

5 minutes ago, oldcarguy said:

How much did the Effective Microorganisms  cost ?

 

on Amazon USA it is $30-$40US a quart , this seems pretty high but I have no idea what  percent is EM and what percent water/filler

 

Is it called something else  ?   or sold as just a regular product ?

 

Th USA website seems like they are selling Snake Oil that will cure anything

We call it "Trump Oil" now in America.

[muskoka]

We sell EM in our store in Chiang Mai for B90 / 1L  

 

If you pour it down the drain it will eliminate the bad odour, but how many floors up are you as it will have to go all the way down.

 

 

[oldcarguy]

7 hours ago, muskoka said:

We sell EM in our store in Chiang Mai for B90 / 1L  

 

If you pour it down the drain it will eliminate the bad odour, but how many floors up are you as it will have to go all the way down.

 

 

is this a powder that is mixed with water and then bottled and sold ?

 

just wondering if I can buy it  here in California for closer to the Thai price if I mix it myself  !

 

it sounds