The air conditioner in my daughter’s bedroom has been dripping water onto the windowsill and this water has then been dripping into the wall space beneath the window. This has been happening over the course of the summer and I have not noticed. The damage was happening behind the furniture. The walls have paneling and they have slowly been warping. Now they are extremely warped and the paint is peeling off, but is see no mold growth on the surface. When I noticed, I moved the furniture to reveal all the damage. It is clear that the window air conditioner was sloped back towards the house, incorrectly. In addition, I can see the drip stains on the exterior walls where water overflowed dripped down. I do not know how to handle this, because I am sure there is mold in the wall cavity and on the insulation. I know how to repair the physical damage. I would tear out the paneling and sheet rock that I think behind it. Remove all the insulation and replace with new material. Obviously remove the air conditioner and repair any other wood damage I find when I tear into the wall. My concern is the mold and air quality as this is my young daughter’s room. I am worried that demo would spread the mold spores everywhere. I bought one of those mold tests from HD, and some mold is growing on the dish. Can someone give me advice on how I should go about safely repairing this mold and water damage issue?
You do not even know what is behind there.
Protective covering is for that "unknown".
The advice given here to you is for the worst case, and what you can't know. You should always be thinking about that part. But you shouldn't be so afraid, you are frozen into not doing anything.
Being prepaired is your best offense. You do the things that are mentioned, and anything that may occur to you as you are there to see it, smell it. Then open the walls up. If you see damage that you are unsure of, then post it here, or make a decision to hire someone else.
If you want a first order approach.
1. Wear a trash bag suit. It works pretty resonabll. Cut out arm cutout and make a skirt, so to speak.
2. Wear a hat, gloves, rspitator (about $10),
3. Tape up the area with a drop cloth.
4. Move some of the furniture away from the area
5. Remove the paneling carefully.
6. Cut out the drywall
7. assess the damage
8. Take some pictures
9. Put drywall in plastic bag.
10. Wrap paneling in plastic. Seal.
11. Enclose the area.
12. Assess the damage and determine the best course of action.
You could, in fact if you decide to do this, make a wooden frame and make a small araa of containment rather than a whole room. Smaller is probably better.
Have you guy heard of shockwave and immobilzer? what should i do about the baby furniture, stuffed animals, crib and crib mattress which were/are in the room. do they need to be cleaned? what if there are mold spores on them? especially the mattress which was reletively close to the wall with the damage. how about the clothes that were in the room.
great advice. Thank you! The matress is one of those hypoallergenic, plastic coated matresses. some one told me to throw it out. but it seems like there is nothing wrong with it and as long as i clean it iit should be fine. i got the uv lamp you suggested and plan on using that on it... what are your thought about the matress? i opened the wall and there is minimal mold growth. it is not the dangerous black mold, i had some people in for estimates and i asked alot of question. they suggested wiping the toyes down with what they say is a safe anti mold product called immobilizer. any idea what that is? i figure either way i will go over the stuff with the uv light for good measure. do i really need the goggles?
So, basically we addressed this as a major catastophie and it ended up being a little bit bigger than mold in the shower except for the cleanup to limit exposure for the kids toys.
A plastic covering on crib matteress should be okay to clean.
Toys that you can put in the tub and run water and bleach, soaking and then wiping clean should work.
Wash stuff animals in the washer on gentle.
You can use all the equipment too. Did you have a mold test done? Once you have all the materials that have been damaged replaced, you should make sure there is no dampness before closing up the wall. Do this only after work.
When sheetrocking, even if this is only a partial area, you put in your new insulation, and vapor barriers. Wrap your stud framing that surrounds the window. (They have something now that well shel adhere).
what should i use as a vapor barrier over the insulation and what r-value insulation should i go for? what do you mean by wrapping the stud. i am painting the studs with an encapsulation paint, like fosters 40 20, to prevent future mold growth.
Actually, any recommendations you have to building this exterior wall back in the best possible way would be very appreciated.
I also wonder what i can do to prevent the water from coming back in the window sill the way it did.
there is no decayed wood. the sill looks solid and the stud are fully intact, although the studs are totally wet. It is obvious the water was coming from the window sill. I have an old window, then a space and then a storm window. One mistake i made was caulking the gap at the bottom of the storm. i will remove that caulk. the other thing i was thinking is if the caulk was causing the air conditioner condensation to pool on the sill, the water might have been running into the side of the exterior sill. The air conditioner was sloped backwards so that was why so much water was coming into the sill area. Maybe i can caulk that to prevent the water intrusion in the future. I will take pics tomorrow, i have the room sealed off today.
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