Wednesday, November 15, 2006

MOLD!


Well, we just had a four day weekend here at the University of Calgary. You would think that I would be well rested, and ready for teaching today, but I am totally exhausted. The reason? MOLD! YUK! This weekend started out well enough because I was going to thoroughly clean my house. I actually enjoy cleaning, so I attacked my house with a vengence. After I had done all of the laundry, tidied and scrubbed the kitchen, straightened out the dining room and shampooed the carpets in the living room, I was ready for the cleaning that never gets done. I thought I would start with the cupboard underneath the sink. I actually hadn't cleaned it since I moved into my house in September 2005. Anyway, I emptied out all of half used cleaning products, empty coffee cans and worn out sponges and I noticed that there was water at the back of the cupboard. I went and got out a flash light, and to my horror I saw there was black mold all over the back wall of the cupboard. ARGH. Black mold can be totally dangerous. Even worse, after further inspection, I noticed that the back wall was rotting away because of the water, and that the countertop behind the sink had totally rotted away because of dripping water. You see, my taps have been dripping for about a year, but I never did anything about it. Why did I leave it so long??????? ARGH. Anyway, I went to London Drugs and bought a million powerful cleaning products and started to dry out my cupboard. Then I went to Home Depot and I bought some new washers (tiny rubber rings) for the taps. I changed the washers in my taps, and they stopped leaking. It was so easy, and it only cost three dollars. Argh. I wish I had fixed them a year ago when the problem first started, and then I wouldn't have to deal with BLACK MOLD. Anyway, after the water dried out, I vacuumed away all of the rotted plaster and wood, and then I thoroughly cleaned the area with a super powerful bleach cleaner. After that I sprayed everything with Lysol (guarenteed to kill mold and mildew). The problem was the cleaning products were so strong that I almost puked. I had to get out of the house. The fumes were awful.


Anyway, I hope everyone can learn from my mistake. Fix small problems before they become big ones.

3 comments:

Carolyn said...

I agree with you Scott; do small stuff as soon as you can so it's not a monster task later on! I hate mold too.. it's so gross. My sister NEVER cleans her room, and once she found what USED to be a glass of Coca Cola, which turned into a class of a funny blackish-bluish fuzzy substance.

WHO"S HUNGRY NOW? Lets go have lunch!

chenzhenfei said...

After the bad luck has been experienced, the good luck will come.

Karen said...

I hope the fumes are gone and you can enjoy your nice clean, mold-free house.