Fleeing Black Mold

Frightful environmental troubles.

A couple days ago in Almost Homeless, Thanks Mother Nature, I recounted storm driven plumbing troubles and a mold infestation. This has now brewed up into a precipitous relocation …

I previously showed the top of the carpet, yesterday I got brave and pulled up the corner. This room was due for a remodel when I moved in, and that included laminate flooring. I got a good deal because I was going to stick around, I didn’t care about appearances, and I didn’t mind construction in other areas.

And there it is … the demon black mold. Going at the surface with bleach would tamp it down for six or eight hours, but then it would come roaring back.

I used most of a quart of Moldex, aka 0.3% Ammonium, Benzyldiethyl ((2,6-xylylcarbamoyl)methyl)-, benzoate in an area about the size of a 13 gallon trash bag, then I put the bag down between the layers, hoping to interdict any more spores making it out.

That might make this OK for a few days, but this must be aggressively treated or the whole house could be lost. We’re talking ripped down drywall and otherwise running right up to the “tear it down and start over” line. So I went and looked at another place. It’s just as trashed as this one when I moved in last summer. The new place is good as far as BART access, it’ll add time to my trips into the city, but the station is closer than from here, so I think that’s a wash.

The Peruvian remodeling mafia takes good care of me, but I gotta figure out how to get across the metro on my own a couple times, this other place needs a LOT of attention before I even think about shifting my gear there, and I haven’t been able to focus on work (or sleep much) with that stuff growing in here.

I was supposed to make a transition in March, a flexible online job, but it fell through. There’s another thing I’m trying and if it works I’ll be set up - not a lot of money, but flexible half time and it’ll float the boat. Then I’m free to try new things without this constant wing and a prayer stuff I’ve done for the last year and a half. This new location won’t last long and that’s fine, it’s just a waypoint while I keep my eyes peeled for one of those half price studio unicorns.

You guys have been a big help through all this. Followers and subscribers are always good, but the additional $370 this month has made all the difference. As in … I didn’t dare spend the price of the Moldex until I saw some Substack money come in :-)