Mold in your mobile

Black mold is a concern in any home. In a mobile home, the design of the home, sets up a perfect environment for mold growth. The bottom of most mobile homes is covered with a layer of sheeting. This layer keeps the insulation under the home in place. The insulation protects the plumbing, and keeps critters out of the home. In a perfect world, there is nothing wrong with the mobile home's underbelly being covered. In the real world, as the home ages, water finds the path of least resistance, and the plumbing will inevitably leak. More often the not, the leaks come from drains under sinks. Since we rarely mess around under our sinks, these leaks may go unnoticed for weeks. Once the leak is discovered, the particle board in the sink cabinet; the sub-floor board, and the underbelly insulation, has been saturated. Speaking from the experience, it takes a long time for the water to dry out. I pulled apart the floor in the house I recently purchased, the insulation was still wet, and the underside of the sub-floor had moisture on it, after sitting vacant for 6 months with the water shut off. This dark; warm, damp place, between the sub-floor and the underbelly insulation, is the perfect environment for black mold. Black mold is incredibly bad for indoor air quality, and is responsible for all sorts of health problems. If your home is 10 years old or older, it is almost guaranteed that you have some degree of mold growth, under your sinks and bathtubs/showers.

The only way to get to this mold, is to remove the sink cabinet/bathtub and the underbelly insulation. Once everything is exposed, it can be properly cleaned, by removing the surface mold and stopping its growth with vinegar. The only effective way to get rid of all the mold, is to remove the wood it is growing on and replace it with new wood.

The sheet under older homes, will inevitably sag from the insulation becoming saturated with moisture, and get holes in it. These holes will allow critters to enter the home, in particular cats. Cats/critters will then make their home, in the space between your floor and insulation. They will then find a place where the sheeting has been condensed by a water leak, and make a litter-box out of that area. They will also climb up into your house, through the hole under bathtub, which was cut in manufacturing for the pea trap. Once they are in this cozy little spot under your bathtub, they will have kittens, and or make a litter-box out of it. I have pulled up floors while doing remodels and found dead animals, and mountains of animal feces. Animal dander, feces, dead animals, and urine create incredible air quality issue.

If you have a black mold problem and animals, the best way to get rid of them and or prevent them, is to remove the underbelly insulation and the sheeting that holds it in. By removing the sheeting, it allows you to identify leaks easily, when the ground beneath it becomes saturated. It also allows the water to fall to the ground and soak in and evaporate, rather than staying in the insulation. 

An exposed underbelly makes renovations much easier, by allowing you convenient access to plumbing and some electrical. Another way to avoid leaks, mold, and water damage, is to change out pvc plumbing for pex pipe. Pex not only swells with freezing water to prevent pipe rupture, it also eliminates weak spots in the plumbing system. Since pex is flexible, it can flex around corners, eliminating cuts and eliminate 90 degree unions. Pex also eliminates questionable unions made with glue, that could result in a weak spot and a leak. Pex uses a barb and clamp system, this system has no glue so it is much more reliable, not to mention easier.

The black sheeting should only be removed if you have solid skirting, such as metal, wood, or concrete. It is also a good idea to insulate the skirting with foam sheeting, especially if your home is located in areas that get extremely cold in the winter. When a home has solid insulated skirting, it is no different than frame houses. If you do switch to solid skirting, a certain amount of ventilation must be installed for every square foot of crawl space, in order to minimize humidity. Solid skirting not only keeps out critters and the cold, it also looks much better than the vinyl skirting.

The best way to deal with back mold problems, is to prevent them. If you are in the market for a new home, a thorough inspection will save you heartache. If you do find black mold, either avoid buying the house or use the discovery to get the price reduced. When you are conducting the inspection of a possible home to purchase, a wall & pipe inspection camera will help you get to areas, that you can not normally get to. (Cameras are available on amazon for $70.00.) When you do your inspection, take the camera, a drill, a pale of joint compound, some black duct tape, and an assortment of magic markers. Drill a hole on the opposite wall, of where the bathtub plumbing is located and inspect area under the bathtub. After your inspection, put a little joint compound in the hole. By the time you finish your inspection, the hole will be dry enough to match the paint color, with your magic marker. Where the drain pipe and water lines goes through the sink cabinet, you should be able to get your camera in between the pipe and and the cabinet. Inspect the area under the sink cabinet. Pull the panel off the wall where the washing machine plumbing is located, and inspect the area. Crawl under the trailer, and push your camera through the sheeting and inspect every area, where plumbing fixtures are located. After each underbelly inspection, put a piece of black tape where you made a hole. While you have your camera handy, you might as well inspect the duct-work.

Whether you are in the market for a new used house, or have a house with possible mold issues, avoiding it or getting rid of it is imperative.