Two Words...

Mold remediation.

Oh yeah.  I said it.  And it is as bad as it looks.

This past year has brought our family quite a bit of sickness.  We just couldn't keep up on it.  I had us all on immune boosting supplements, we eat pretty healthy, for the most part we get plenty of sleep, and I even broke up with Target in an effort to keep us away from germs.  Nothing helped.  In short, our immune systems are trashed.  Trashed because, for years, we've hidden our heads in the sand about the mold in our bathroom.  Until now.

A few weeks ago Pipey was diagnosed with asthma.  That was just after we'd had a 3 week battle with sickness that nobody seemed to be able to shake.  Then we got sick again.  Last week our family racked up four (FOUR) doctor visits in 3 days.  We're talking strep, sinus infections and bronchitis, and evil, wicked colds.  Sounds fun right?  Let me remind you we have no insurance...

Somewhere in the middle of all this I saw my friend Adrienne and she pretty much lit a fire under me about the mold (to put it bluntly).  I went home that morning planning to at least figure out a plan.  I started to search "what to do if your bathroom has mold" and an add popped up for a restoration company.  I considered it a "sign" and called them.  They came two days later and confirmed NEARLY all that I had already thought.  1) Yes, we have a very bad mold problem.  2) Yes, it is making us all sick.  He actually said "it's amazing you guys aren't sick all the time."  I quickly said "We ARE sick all the time".  3) It can be fixed. 

Where it became different than everything I thought I already knew was when it came to cost.  We had always assumed it was going to be zillions of dollars to fix it.  Had I informed myself instead of just assuming my family would not be sick now.  But I've learned you can only go forward in life, not backwards.  Let's put it this way...it's not $15,000.  It's more like $3000.  Not free.  But no where NEAR what we had always assumed. 

Here's another lesson I learned...call your insurance company.  We may very well have had some sort of claim...6 years ago. 

So we currently have huge air scrubbers and guys in white suits and respirators (they won't even walk in my house without those respirators - makes you really think about what we've been living in all these years huh?) tearing the mold in our house a new one.  Woot!  We are staying at Nana's (best mother-in-law ever!) while they do this as we only have the one bathroom and that stuff is obviously not good to be breathing in.

Lessons learned here:  Let's keep you from repeating my mistakes.

- Call your insurance company - it's their job.
- If you know something was done half assed - fix it.
- You know what they say about "assume".  It's (almost) never as bad as you think it is.  It's so much worse just sticking your head underground and pretending while spending twice as much as actually fixing it just in doctor and ER visits.  (just this year!! And don't even get me started on medications!!)

I envision this whole thing to be a bit life changing.  Like every step in the house -post mold removal- will leave flowers blooming in my wake, I'll magically lose 10 pounds, we will feel great, and be able to breathe.  I'll settle for just two of those really.  And bonus!!  I get rid of my "Carolina" blue bath tub.  Be prepared for some "after" pictures of a gorgeous mold free bathroom. 

G.I. Joe was right. Knowing IS half the battle.

JKFP


p.s.  Any locals in need of repair, Restoration King is a fantastic company!  I have nothing but good things to say about them.  If you need their info let me know.