About Your Apartment
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about your apartment AE 7 The Tenant’s Guide to Mold This About Your Apartment is for You encounter mold every day. Foods Various kinds of molds grow on people living in rented apartments. spoil because of mold. Leaves decay different materials. Certain kinds An apartment can be in a multi-unit and wood on the ground rots because of molds like an extremely wet building or a suite in a house. Cleaning of mold activity. The fuzzy black environment. Other kinds of molds up mold can be either the tenant’s growth on wet windowsills is mold. may be growing even if no water or the landlord’s responsibility—or Paper or fabrics stored in a damp can be seen. Dampness inside a a responsibility shared by the tenant place get a musty smell, which is material can be enough to allow and landlord. caused by molds. them to grow. Understanding Molds, when carefully chosen and Why are molds a concern? grown under careful control, are mold Damage to materials is one concern. useful. We get penicillin from one I Mold can be harmful or helpful Mold can stain or discolour material type of mold. Mold action helps —depending on where it grows. and, over time, ruin it. Moldy paper make some foods and beverages. and cardboard disintegrate over time. I Mold needs moisture to grow. Molds are undesirable when they Fabrics are damaged. Continued I Mold does not grow on dry grow where we don’t want them mold growth can be a sign that materials. —such as in the places we live in. moisture conditions are favourable Researchers have identified more for the growth of fungi that cause I Mold growing inside an than 270 species of mold as living wood rot and structural damage. apartment can affect occupants’ in Canadian homes. health. Molds inside an apartment can cause health problems. They release spores as I Occupants can learn to recognize What makes molds grow? well as chemicals, and both can affect mold. Molds will grow when they have people. moisture and nutrients. If we keep What are molds? things dry, molds do not grow. Health experts say the effects of mold Molds are microscopic fungi. They High moisture levels can be the can range from being insignificant are part of the same family as yeasts, result of water coming in from the to causing allergic reactions and toadstools and mushrooms. Fungi outside, through the floor, walls, illness. Their effect depends on grow and reproduce rapidly and roof or plumbing leaks—when there the type of mold, the amount and as they grow they produce spores is a weakness or failure in the structure. degree of exposure and the general —specialized reproductive cells High moisture can also result when health of the occupants. —and mycelia—fine, white there is not enough ventilation to filaments or threads. expel moisture produced by occupants’ daily activities like bathing, washing clothes or cooking. About Your Apartment The Tenant’s Guide to Mold Pregnant women, infants, the elderly The presence of mold is a sign that “Extensive” area and people with respiratory disease there is too much moisture—a An extensive mold area is an area or weakened immune systems are situation which must be corrected. larger than 3 m2—about the size of more at risk when exposed to mold. a 4 x 8 ft. sheet of plywood. This Some mold, for example on a If you believe that you or someone much mold is a health risk. windowsill but not elsewhere, is not in your family is at risk, consult a major cause for concern—it can your family physician. You’ve found be removed as part of routine cleaning. mold—now what? Mold on grout in bathroom tiles How can you tell if it is mold? Tell your landlord or building may or may not be a concern. Some Discoloration superintendent that there is mold in discoloration between tiles but not One sign of mold is discoloration. your apartment. Don’t try to clean elsewhere can simply be a sign that Not all discoloration is mold. Carpeting even small areas of mold without these areas are moist most of the near baseboards, for example, can be your landlord’s permission. It is time. The moldy spots can be cleaned stained by outdoor pollution entering more difficult to get something with a brush and unscented detergent. the dwelling. Smoke from burning done if the signs of mold are In every case you must take further candles or cigarettes may also cause removed. Furthermore, you are a steps to prevent the mold from coming stains or soot. tenant and there is a limit to what back. But if the grout is extensively you can do. Cleaning moderate and Mold may be any colour: black, white, discoloured and there is staining or extensive areas of mold requires red, orange, yellow, blue or violet. Dab damage to the ceiling or walls, there safety precautions. a drop of household bleach onto a may be a more serious mold problem. suspected spot. If the stain loses its Once you have notified your landlord Regularly look for signs of mold colour or disappears, it may be mold. or building superintendent, you can —staining, discoloration or water If there is no change, it probably clean small areas as part of your damage—in your apartment. If you isn’t mold. regular cleaning routine with a solution find signs of mold, you have to of unscented detergent and water. Smell determine the extent of the mold by Wear household rubber gloves and a Sometimes molds are hidden. A musty estimating the size of the affected dust mask for protection and follow or earthy smell is often a sign that area. the steps in How to clean up small there is mold. But not all molds create mold problems on page 3. an odour. Even when you don’t notice How much mold is there? a smell, wet spots, dampness or signs of “Small” area Mold will return if you do not reduce a water leak indicate moisture problems A small area is a patch no larger moisture levels. If mold comes back that can be followed by mold growth. than a square metre—about 10 sq. after repeated cleaning, the conditions ft. There should be no more than that caused the mold to grow must Is there a mold problem? three small patches in your apartment. be changed. The changes may be Molds are always found in outdoor things you can do yourself or may “Moderate” area air and in all buildings. They come be work the landlord has to do. A moderate area is more than three into an apartment in many ways— square metre patches, or one or more through open windows or doors, on isolated patches larger than a square clothing, pets, food or furniture. metre but smaller than 3 m2—about The problem starts when mold grows the size of a 4 x 8 ft. sheet of plywood. inside the unit. 2 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation About Your Apartment The Tenant’s Guide to Mold Should you hire a Should you hire your own For more information, see CMHC’s professional? IAQ investigator? About Your House: Should You Test Before you consider hiring someone You would pay for the IAQ the Air in Your Home for Mold? to inspect for mold, you should have (Indoor Air Quality) investigator If you feel strongly that you need contacted your landlord and explained yourself. An IAQ investigator who to document mold contamination, the problem. Some landlords are more has completed the CMHC IAQ take detailed photographs of the aware than others of the dangers of Investigator Training Program and affected areas. You can also ask a mold and moisture and know that who follows the CMHC Investigation public health inspector or IAQ failing to correct moisture problems Procedure will give you a written investigator to take actual (bulk) can cause structural damage. They report telling you what is causing samples of the mold and send are more likely to act. Suggest that the mold and recommending clean-up the samples to a laboratory for your landlord get information, such solutions. identification. Analysing bulk as the CMHC publications Fighting As a tenant, you can take simple samples is much easier that testing Mold—The Homeowners’ Guide or measures, such as always using the air. Clean-up Procedures for Mold in the bathroom fan and cleaning the Houses. (Both are available from the Getting professional help bathroom tiles. But solutions relating CMHC website at: www.cmhc.ca, to the building—gutting a wall or Your local CMHC office has a list or by calling CMHC’s toll-free installing a bathroom fan, for instance, of people who have completed the number: 1-800-668-2642.) are your landlord’s responsibility. CMHC Residential Indoor Air Ideally, your landlord should hire an Quality Investigator program. A You could wind up paying for an indoor air quality (IAQ) investigator trained IAQ investigator examines inspection that recommends measures to find what is causing the mold your apartment’s indoor air quality, that you cannot do yourself. and recommend solutions. If there identifies the problems, finds their are problems with the building What’s more, hiring an IAQ sources and suggests solutions in a envelope, the landlord may hire investigator without your landlord’s written report. a building envelope specialist. knowledge or permission can lead to How to clean up a situation where the landlord hires Contact your public health unit small mold problems another consultant whose report is and ask for an inspection if your pitted against your consultant’s report.