Containing mold on wallpapered wall (temporary)

Why can't your husband do that?

My poor husband is currently doing absolutely everything, from taking complete care of the firstborn, to household chores, to earning money. Asking him to do that as well – potentially just hours before the birth – would be a bit much. Especially since we don’t even have the materials and paint ready for it. Unfortunately, I have been pretty useless for a few weeks now. Due to some prior health issues, the last weeks of pregnancy for me are always largely dominated by lying around. But when it starts, the little one will stay with grandma for now, and afterwards I think we can involve the family for the short-term solution to the wall problem. Then my husband doesn’t have to do it alone. After all, that’s why we moved here, to finally have family nearby. ;) I don’t take this lightly, the children already have bad odds when it comes to allergies, this runs in both branches of the family...

then I technically wish you a good slide :rolleyes:

Thanks, I wish that to myself too. I fought against an induction for 2 weeks because I feared a “bad slide,” although you never really know that beforehand.

I wouldn’t even go in there with a baby.

We don’t either, the baby sleeps in our room anyway. We will take care of the affected room as soon as possible. But otherwise it’s really fine. If the dresser hadn’t even been moved, we would never have noticed it. Everything else in that room, corners, window reveals – completely fine, no spots to be seen. The room is also ventilated and cleaned very regularly, the issue is really very concentrated on the wall adjoining the shower. And believe me – the last thing I ever wanted was to come home from the hospital with my newborn and then unlock the door to this transitional "dump." But life is what happens while you’re making other plans. And apparently you’re never more fertile than when you’re not even in a hurry. :D When the sale of the old house was settled and we knew we were moving, we had decided that a second child was desired. That’s when we “aimed for it,” expecting that at my age it would take a while for something to happen. Well, it then took a while – about 2 weeks or so. :D For quite some time we even hoped that the house might be finished faster than the baby – but even with our so far pretty smooth construction, a delay or two was inevitable. So now we take it as it is. The little one will take her first steps on the parquet floor in the new living room anyway. And we always have a good story to tell when we look back on the last 1-2 years. =)

I can only strongly advise against that. My nephew is seven today and developed asthma and a severe allergy to mold spores as a baby after his parents overlooked water damage and the mold behind the bedroom wardrobe. Mold spores are not only toxic but also potent allergens. I wouldn’t let any child sleep or play in a room with mold. It can even lead to fungal infections of the respiratory tract. Remove the wallpaper and paint with lime paint – real lime paint! – mold cannot grow on that. And don’t put anything against the wall! I don’t understand how parents can take that risk for their child. It’s really well known that it’s not harmless. And mold removers aren’t exactly healthy either if they’re effective.

I lived for 22 years in an apartment in a residential block from the 70s... flat roof, end unit, so almost only exterior walls... there was black mold in almost every room in one corner, it was hard to keep up. The roof was constantly leaking, the windows were drafty, etc. I have no asthma or allergies, nor does my brother, who lived there for 25 years. There may be very sensitive immune systems that are damaged by it, but that’s not the rule... genetics plays a very big role in asthma and allergies. What we see in the pictures is mold in the initial stage. Remove the wallpaper, apply alcohol to the wall, good. By the way, excessive hygiene, especially in early years, can also lead to asthma and allergies. If everything the baby touches is disinfected and boiled twice beforehand... Bacteria, viruses, mold spores are part of the environment, just like water and air for breathing. That’s why we have an immune system that has adapted over tens of thousands of years.

Think also that much of it is hereditary. Man and I both actually have very solid immune systems aside from the allergy tendency, and Child 1 inherited that too. Compared to acquaintances and friends, our child was very rarely sick. For all of us, that changed with the pandemic. But that makes sense somehow. If you walk around in public with a mask for 2 years, you simply miss the database update about changing pathogens for a long time. After the mask mandate was lifted more and more, all three of us felt like we were "constantly" catching an infection, especially when the little one was back in kindergarten. But we are not alone with that, there's a lot going around in the kindergarten right now (there's always a note on the door). Before Corona, I could really say about myself, "I hardly ever get sick." But I’m convinced that once this is endemic for 1-2 years, it will even out for us again and we will return to our old immune strength. The mask is also an example of "too much hygiene," although it was of course necessary during the pandemic. I handle it similarly with children. With the first child, we still bought a sterilizer. With very small infants, you still have to be a little careful - though not to overdo it. But as soon as the child was crawling age - which happens really fast - we completely stopped all the boiling. The kid crawls on the floor, and there are also 2 cats running around... you don’t need to boil the bottle then. :D

I lived for 22 years in an apartment in a block of flats from the 70s... flat roof, end house, so almost only exterior walls... there was black mold in almost every room in one corner, it was hard to keep up. The roof was constantly leaking, the windows were drafty, etc.

I have no asthma or allergies, neither does my brother, who lived there for 25 years. There may be very sensitive immune systems that are harmed by it, but that is not the rule... genetic predisposition plays a very big role in asthma and allergies.

Arguments based on personal historical anecdotes are generally not insightful and only show that someone does not really want to engage with the subject but rather wants to demonstrate how ridiculous something supposedly is. In the past, we as children sat unbuckled on the backseat and used the trunk cover as a play surface. Nobody would do that anymore today. Instead of dismissing such dangers out of ignorance as ridiculous or minor, one should get information from reputable sources about what mold can cause. A short article can be found, for example, on the website of pediatricians under the headline Mold in living spaces increases asthma risk for children.

It has probably already been said, but I emphasize from personal experience: Mold should not be underestimated! Panic is useless, but a consequence of mold can be asthma. Not funny and apparently lifelong. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, we have already had experience with mold. We had someone in the family who was severely ill with lung disease, the doctors suspected mold in the house. Since the person concerned vehemently denied this, her daughter conducted an indoor air mold spore test, which showed positive results in all colors of the rainbow.

In our rental apartment, mold once came out from behind the wall unit towards us. When we moved the cabinet aside, the wall presented a horrifying sight. Our daughter was only a few months old at the time, so out of concern we also did an indoor air spore test. The lab certified us a "non-health hazardous amount." Apparently, you can be lucky if the mold is still quite "fresh." We then treated the wall together with the landlord and repainted it. Both the agent and the paint indicated effectiveness times of about 4 years. That matched quite well. Four years after moving in, we had mold for the first time, and now after another 4 years, unfortunately it has appeared again.

Long story short: I would also not feel comfortable with a small child there. I would probably remove the wallpaper, treat everything with alcohol, and possibly do a spore test for peace of mind :)