Hello. I moved into a manufactured home in July. And, when working on repairing the second bathroom, I found a ton of mold growing on the drywall. After consulting someone, I decided to try to clean it rather than remove it. The mold is growing between the bathroom and the kitchen. It would be very difficult to take the kitchen apart in order to remove the compromised drywall.

When working on cleaning the mold, I discovered even more compromised drywall. This time it was between the kitchen and the furnace space and a utility closet. The diagram below shows the layout. The mold is in red.



I removed some of the drywall that was easy to get to (behind the fridge, behind the stove, etc.) But now the problem persists even further back. You can see in the picture below the mold is growing on the furnace and closet side of the wall. It goes at left two more feet to the right (deeper into cabinet wall). The three pictures below show the mold and what I am up against in terms of removing cabinets. I am looking for suggestions for folks who have been through this.

I know that the source of the mold was an old dishwasher that was leaking, which the previous owner apparently didn't care much about. This has been fixed. But I still need to deal with the consequences.

 

Welcome to the forums!

You need to bite the bullet and remove all the moldy drywall. Cabinets are generally screwed to the wall.

 

There is no just spraying that one.
I agree it all needs to come out.
Never seen one effect just the walls.
Far more likely there's also subfloor damage.
I'd be climbing under the house and removing the nasty black board they use and pulling back the insulation to take a look.
Often times they use partical board for subflooring and if it gets wet once it turns to oatmeal.
You need to be wearing a dust mask when working on this, it can make you and your family sick.

 

Thanks for the replies. Is this something an enterprising individual can do with a little time on his hands? Or do you suppose I should call a contractor?

 

Simple job to me, but I have all the tools and have been doing it for over 40 years.

 

Would you, by chance, have any idea where I could get information on local skilled labor such as yourself? I want to avoid the big "mold removal" companies because their quotes are always astronomical.

 

Why not do it yourself.
The money you would save would be more then enough to buy any needed tools and materials.

 

I am somewhat confident in removing drywall and studs, but not so much removing sub flooring. But perhaps this is a good time to start!

 

Have you contacted your homeowner's insurance? It's iffy on old leaks like this.

This mold is bad and IMO needs full remediation, which like you said, is ridiculous.

 

Our insurance won't cover it. I am thinking this is a do it myself job. That said, my main concern is how to remove the drywall on the furnace and closet side of the wall. I can remove the cabinets, shelves, and counter top, in order to remove the kitchen side of the drywall. But how would I remove everything on the other side without removing the furnace and taking the closet out?

 

You should be able to cut up and remove the drywall behind the furnace, replacing it might not be so easy but if you can slide in a new piece - it can be glued and wedged in. I wouldn't be too quick to remove the underbelly wrap [assuming it's still intact] IF the sub floor is ok, the odds are the floor joists are too. If you find bad subfloor, cut it out and then you can inspect the joists.

Normally the sub floor is 5/8" particle board - replace with plywood or at least OSB. Drywall is likely 1/4"