Mold madness!!

As if the issues we already have going against us aren't enough, it feels like this mold problem doesn't have an end in sight.  We've had the major construction done, and temporarily, that was relieving....but it's not over, not even close!  It's all but consuming me and my thoughts.

We have an entire 1500 square feet of basement FILLED with crap, yup, crap, so you know what that means?  Dumpster!  But why can't we find one that delivers to our town?  Ugh, one of the many battles to be figured out this week, it's on my to do list, along with trying to determine, if we are going to clean our basement or if we can afford to hire the mold company to come back and do it.

Just call me the Moldinator!

The cost of mold remediation is exorbitant, it's not just the mold remediation company, but the builders who renovate the area where the building materials infected with mold were removed and the clean up involving everything that was contaminated by the moldy air.  Since the estimate just to clean our things was upwards of $4500, we decided to try to at least minimize the heaps of junk and keep (and clean) just the bare essentials, so today we covered up from head to toe using: full body suits with hoods, goggles, ventilator breathing masks, gloves and shoe covers and we weathered the storm in the basement in an attempt to clean out the small things that will go in the dumpster, by bagging them.  After two hours of sweating and fogging up our goggles (one word of caution, never toot inside of a full body suit!), it felt like we got nowhere, even though the pile of bags by the door is enormous.  Somehow it still feels like it's going to take hundreds of hours to clean it all out.  A dumpster will make it SO much easier.  I hate parting with everything, but we have to think of this task in terms of our health, so if it's not worth our health to keep it or it would cost more to have it cleaned than to replace it, it gets the boot....toys, books, clothes, cushions, papers, upholstered chairs to match my kitchen set, a futon mattress, if it's porous, it's out!

So after we came out of the basement and had stripped our many layers, discarding anything disposable, took showers, and I then realized that it's pretty hot outside.....and I have NO shorts for Grayson for school this week. Guess where the summer clothes are?  In the basement we just came out of!!  DARN IT!  It's not as simple as tossing the gear back on and grabbing the box, but because the box was slightly opened already, the clothes need to be treated properly before they could enter the house too.  After a little research, I made a concoction of dry laundry detergent, baking soda, washing soda, borax and a few drops of cinnamon essential oil so that Dave could take the clothes to a laundromat.  Then he brought them home wet and now I am soaking the clothes in vinegar and grapefruit seed extract overnight, before I will wash them yet again, in the same concoction, before they will go anywhere near Grayson's skin.

And more bad news...there are possible mold speckles on the ceiling/subfloor wood in the basement in another area (not where they repaired) that is approximately 4x5 feet square.  Is this more mold or is this mildew on the building materials from when they built the house?  There is clearly no leak causing it, it's more superficial, like there is humidity in the air and the mold spores that are already down there could be setting up residence where the heat from the windows cause some humidity.  Either way, this means bringing the mold company BACK in here to deal with it...It's likely a quick fix, but I would LOVE to see an end in sight, and SOON!

To make matters worse, Grayson has been sick with a nasty cough since this all started weeks and weeks ago and now the rest of us have it too.  I hope it's just a coincidentally timed cold, but I can't help wondering, if we've contaminated our bodies causing irreparable damage.  

Where does this vicious cycle end?  It's controlling our lives as I write this.  I feel like we hit a dead end, as if there will be constant re-contamination now that we have opened our belongings up to the mold monsters.  The crazy thing is that this is not so uncommon.  Seems like just about everyone I talk to has had mold issues in their home at one point.  In fact, I personally lived ten years in a home with mold in the basement and walls.  I didn't have a compromised immune system like my kids do and perhaps this is all going to catch up with me now that I am mobilizing metals in the process of healing myself of mercury toxicity, but our kids don't deserve this.

If there is any light at the end of this dark tunnel, it's that chelation is actually used to treat those with mold toxicity, and the diet we are currently on already is part of the healing process, so maybe we are already two steps ahead of the game!

We have every intention of making the basement of our home livable again, properly, but it just might drive us into bankruptcy or the loony bin, whichever comes first!