We have a mold problem...and it's black! Help!?

~Call a mold remediator immediately!!

Ok, I had black mold and went through remediation many times and my house ended up having to be torn down.

Now through those years this is what I Very Strongly recommend.

First you need to stop all work . You must seal your kitchen from the rest of the house. Not just one sheet of plastic several if you are going to do this yourself which I do not recommend. If your insurance will cover it let them do it.

Seal all heating and aircondtioning vents and return air grills. If you remove it each piece should be double bagged BEFORE you take it out of the sealed room. You need to have your home tested. Call a environmental company to test and see what you have. This is serious stuff. Black mold itself is not a type of mold. But you can rest assured that you have some of the bad one based on your description. I cannot tell you enough. Get the environmental expert out there. You can plan on a few hundred dollars for the test. After who ever does all the work it must be test again for Clarence.

My house had to be torn down. Anything porous was thrown out like your bedding. Where Mask when your in there. There should also be negative air pressure . a window with a big fan pulling air out. That's all but get help

Again I cannot tell you how serious this is you can loose everything that is porous. Spend the money.

stachybotrys is the bad stuff like was posted but so are the others that were metioned

penicillin and aspergillius.

Do not ask anymore here I saw the other answers and they are dead wrong. Google it for yourself. Call RCI environmental in Dallas Texas NO its not me but ask for greg and read him what I told you. If your lucky and live in the Dallas Area this is the guy to do your testing and he does not fix the problem he has only one thing testing no conflicts. If you are not here in the area ask him to recommend a testing company in your area. YOu might be lucky and he know one.

To be sure, you would need to have it tested.

No, not all black mold is stachybotrys, which is the really, really bad stuff.

We had some mold tested during an inspection for a home we considered buying. The beams were black...it turned out to be penicillin and aspergillius. The penicillin was not really harmful, but the aspergillius was.

The bottom line is that there wouldn't be mold unless there was water. Make sure the water issue is resolved during your remodel.

You may consider calling one of your nearby universities, asking for the biology office and asking for a professor of mycology. Ask them what to do, since they are experts on mold, they'd be able to guide you.

good luck.

Relax!!! If you have damp drywall or wood then I would be concerned but old drywall often is black...I would take a spray bottle filled with bleach and give a good dose of it on any wood that you plan on keeping then let it dry well before you close it in...any wood that has black on it but is solid should be fine to leave in place....you could also spray drywall that you plan to replace but want to leave in the meantime.

sspray with bleach water