 How to Find Hidden Mold & Water Damage in Tiled Bathrooms
- How to evaluate the risk of toxic (or harmless) bathroom mold
- Where to look for mold in bathrooms - hidden mold versus mold on bathroom tile and caulk
- When is it necessary to demolish a bathroom to deal with bathroom mold?
- Questions & Answers about mold, rot, or water damage hidden behind or below bathroom tiles, tubs, showers.
- References
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Hidden mold behind bathroom tile: this document gives advice on how to find, test for, remove & prevent mold in marble tiled bathrooms, including mold found on bath tiles, moldy tile grout, moldy caulk, and hidden bathroom mold. We describe an inspection procedure that helps recognize when there may be serious water, rot, or mold damage hidden behind ceramic or marble bathroom tile. We discuss how to decide when invasive or destructive methods are actually justified.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman.
Photo Guide to Finding Mold Behind Solid Marble Bathroom Walls
This article is part of our series:
FIND MOLD in buildings, HOW TO which describes how to find mold and test for mold in buildings, including how and where to collect mold samples using adhesive tape - an easy,
inexpensive, low-tech but very effective mold testing method. (See TEST KITS for DUST, MOLD, PARTICLE TESTS for details).
Following a major mold remediation project and after all mold demolition and cleaning had been completed (or so we thought), we inspected the bathroom shown in the photographs below. The bathroom floor and walls were covered with marble tiles and we all thought that it was unlikely that the surfaces behind that material had gotten wet even though we knew that water had been on the bathroom floor.
A peep below the cast iron heating baseboard told a different story however. The tile had not been installed to floor level - the heating baseboard had been mounted on drywall. We could see a half-inch of black and green mold in a little gap below the baseboard.
The question was, is this trivial or do we need to destroy the marble to inspect and clean a large mold reservoir. The owner was a builder who was not intimidated by hammering off and replacing marble tiles. We would have carefully removed some tiles to inspect for water damage but the builder went to work with a hammer and a vengeance.
The photographs show that considerable areas of the wall cavity had indeed become wet, wetting wall insulation as well as drywall, leading to a large area of moldy drywall and moldy wall insulation. The mold was a mix of Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus sp.
How much of a health risk would this mold have been to future building occupants? Perhaps not much as there was probably little air movement through the marble-covered surfaces. But the possibility of a growing mold problem associated with a large inoculated area of building cavity mold led the builder to demolish, clean, and repair these areas before the rest of the building restoration was completed.
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Technical Reviewers & References
Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
- Atlas of Clinical Fungi, 2nd Ed., GS deHoog, J Guarro, J Gene, & MJ Figueras, Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, 2000, ISBN 90-70351-43-9 (you can buy this book at Amazon) - The Atlas of Clinical Fungi is also available on CD ROM
- "A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home",
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency US EPA - includes basic advice for building owners, occupants, and mold cleanup operations. See http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.htm
- US EPA - Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Building [Copy on file at /sickhouse/EPA_Mold_Remediation_in_Schools.pdf ] - US EPA
- US EPA - Una Breva Guia a Moho - Hongo [Copy on file as /sickhouse/EPA_Moho_Guia_sp.pdf - en Espanol
- Allergen Tests in buildings advice about how to test, what to look for, in evaluating the level of dog, cat, or other animal allergens in a building
- Building Floods: quick steps after a building flood or plumbing leak can prevent costly mold contamination
- Classes of Mold: what types of cosmetic, allergenic, or toxic mold are a problem? Can mold be cleaned-up successfully?
- Fungi, Identifying Filamentous, A Clinical Laboratory Handbook, Guy St-Germain, Richard Summerbell, Star Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-89863-177-7 (English) (buy at Amazon)
- Mycology, Fundamentals of Diagnostic, Fran Fisher, Norma B. Cook, W.B. Saunders Co. 1998, ISBN 0-7216-5006-6 (buy this book at Amazon)
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
- Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
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