Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Diana X2]

I recently discovered an alarmingly large amount of mold in one corner of my very tiny apt. It's usually hidden by a large dresser, but doing some spring cleaning I discovered it. My boss who is usually very kind is also a true tightwad and is not exactly jumping at the chance to do something about it, besides blaming me for having the heat too high and using the humidifier too much, even though I have been having some ongoing health problems that I now suspect are related to this mold.

Does anyone know, what are the housing laws in Korea, does the landlord have to clean this within a certain amount of time? Is there an office of housing law that I can be in touch with or put my boss in touch with? Any other advice?

[mrsquirrel]

Get the bleach out on it and kill it yourself.

Are you going to wait around breathing the spores in whilst your boss twiddles his thumbs?

[marlow]

What's the underlying cause of the mold? Leaky ondol? Water from outside or upstairs leaking in?

Also, what's the severity? If there is a lot and the problem looks chronic, I'd be moving for sure. I lived with mold once in Korea, and I would not let a boss make me live with it again.

[spliff]

Sounds like voodoo to me.

[Diana X2]

[quote="mrsquirrel"]Get the bleach out on it and kill it yourself.

Are you going to wait around breathing the spores in whilst your boss twiddles his thumbs?[/quote]


Well, he agreed to pay for a hotel from now through Friday, when he says he'll have it cleaned by. So I'm not waiting around. My question is about the obligation of the landlord as related to housing laws (if there are any) in Korea. I'm not cleaning it. It's massive and gross.

[mrsquirrel]

I would say that it's your job to make sure mould doesn't grow.

If you didn't air out your bathroom properly mould would grow in it. Much like living in these small apartments. You should be aware that things like this happen.

If it is an underlying fault with leaking ondol or something beyond your control then you're lucky. If it's because you kept the heating and humidifier on without opening windows then you need to remember to keep them open a crack to keep the airflowing.

[aarontendo]

Yeah I had a mold problem some, had my dresser pushed flush against the wall. Big mistake heh. I don't really see that it's the responsibility of the school. Growing up in Portland you just learn to fight it. Sucks to hear about your mold problem, but yeah I think its just part of living here at times. I've got two spots in my place, I spray em and wash it and haven't had a problem since.

Hit it with some bleach, make sure to have enough of a gap between the wal and your furniture to let some air flow. There is some spray you can buy for it too. If you don't have mool mok neun hama, (Water eating hippo or something...you'll know you got the right thing when it's got the hippo on it) I would get that too. I put those into my dressers and in my closet with my suits, works damn well. When I returned from holiday I replaced em because they soaked up so much moisture.

[europe2seoul]

Dude, its his apartment that he is giving you to live there for free. Its not like he is your landlord.

When I lived in places I rented myself, we had the ajoshi guy in the lobby that would do some small fixings and for something major landlord would come and things would get done (I had ondol & boiler froze once - landlord woman organized everything and charged me some money since it was my fault - but it was OK - about 70K and I got my heat back which was #1 priority during that cold winter).

Deal with the mold yourself first.

Also, did you guys notice they don't put much chlorine in water here? So, if something is left wet, stuff will start to grow...Gotta be more carefull

[princess]

Forget about telling your boss. I think besides being cheap, they will take forver to take care of it anyways, since it is YOUR apt. and not their own. Last year, I spent Buddha's birthday tearing moldy wallpaper off my walls. I figured it was better for me to do it than to go through all the hassles and waiting time of telling my boss. I never got around to covering it up, so you can see the concrete...but better than yucky black, slimy smelly mold. I don't care how much some of these apartments cost or how much they are worth...they will always be concrete boxes...many of them moldy, concrete boxes. This was behind my bed, so I pulled my bed away from the wall and found it. It's best to keep your furniture away from the walls too. Plus, I run my stove fan while I sleep. AC in the summer and heat in the winter helps keep mold away, too.

[marlow]

There's mold like a little behind a dresser, and then there are serious, basically chronic mold problems. If yours is minor, you're lucky. If it's major, get the heck outta there.

[PeteJB]

Uh, where can I get bleach for mold? I've never been able to find what I would define as proper "bleach" in a bottle. What brands are you people using?