Posted by Johan Carlisle on October 09, 19100 at 21:23:50:
In Reply to: Re: Removing carpet glue problems doing so posted by Evan Lauridsen on October 09, 19100 at 08:06:44:
Thanks, everyone, for the advice.
First, I live 3 miles from the Pacific ocean north of San Francisco. It is very damp and usually cool but I guess the few weeks of warm weather in the late summer are a good breeding ground for mold. Most people around here have to replace their carpets every few years. I personally hate wall to wall carpet but I am renting. Whoever glued the carpet down, I guess, made a big mistake.
Second, how do you tell if the glue smells like mold or is actually moldy. The glue is still soft so my guess is that it has absorbed the mold.
Also, this room has rarely been heated since the house has wood heat and this room is far from the living room where the wood stove is.
The owner wants to staple down visquene after cleaning and disinfecting or demolding with bleach. Is there a better way to create a vapor barrier than just stapling down visquene?
Also, I have found conflicting advice online about using bleach. Some say it just affects the outer shell of the mold organism and that the mold will come back fairly soon. I am sensitive to chemicals so I prefer to not use anything toxic. What about vinegar. I remember years ago that Greenpeace had a campaign, "Chlorine Free By '93" and they recommended using vinegar as a bleach substitute. I have been using it around the house ever since and it works great. For mold, I don't know.
Thanks again everyone.