Korean Job Discussion Forums

[irwinpryce]

Hi,
I have been here for 7 months. I have a problem with black mould growing in my flat. It smells disgusting and has spread very quickly. Obviosly I want rid of it.

My director is away on some trip at the minute and I need a quick remedy to the situation.

Can anyone tell me where I could get some cleaning things, or perhaps an anti mould spray etc.I am going to emart later, what do I need to ask for? Assuming they have it. I don't speak Korean btw.
Thanks

[afsjesse]

Use bleach. That's the most effective thing to kill it. Just use paper towel and it'll be solved.

[aphase]

when you go to the store get some cleaner that says something like 곰팡이 which means mold. Although bleach could work, I recommend trying something actually designed to kill the mold. Mold is no small matter, especially black mold. It can create toxic myco-toxins (and spores) which can lead to a variety of health issues and also lead to cancer.

If it's growing on your wall paper, I would recommend peeling and scraping the infected areas, and spray the area underneath. Let it dry, and then you can add some new wallpaper to the bare areas. You can buy some wallpaper like stuff from emart to patch up the spots, but its not real wallpaper. You peal off the back like a sticker.

How humid is your place? If you want to prevent this from happening again I suggest trying to find a way to reduce your humidity. During cold nights, the walls can start to get cold which will cause condensation(cold objects exposed to humid air cause condensation) to form on the wallpaper, thus leading to mold.

[nobbyken]

Are you racist?

[bassexpander]

I had a mold problem behind my wallpaper in a basement apartment a few years back. I chose to let it slide, because it was behind the bed. Within a few weeks... BOOM! It had literally exploded all across the room, and was growing daily. I ended up ripping all of the wallpaper out from the middle on down, pulling up the vinyl floor, and scrubbing the wall and floor with a mixture of bleach and water. The cheap landlord just had them cut and replace the paper that had been ripped, so I had this bright white paper mixed with old yellowing paper, and lots of jaggy edges all along the wall.

It was a freakin' MESS, but it worked. I also had to buy a dehumidifier (200,000 won back then) to keep the dampness away. You can now buy smaller/cheaper dehumidifiers that may help in a small room. They are 80,000 or so, I think. Honestly, though, I wouldn't suggest a cheap one to solve your problem. Here is the model I had, and it now costs 237,000.

http://itempage3.auction.co.kr/DetailView.aspx?itemNo=a503993153&firstView=&DR030114=&hdcapital=&mobile=&frm3=V2

Mold is nothing to ignore. You'll need to scrub it off with bleach and water mixed about 25 percent bleach to 75 percent water. Wear rubber gloves, as it can burn you. If it has worked its way under the paper, you must pull it off and scrub under it, then replace the paper. If you keep the old paper, the mold will grow back. Yes, it's a freakin' mess -- I pulled off half of an entire wall of paper and had to scrub. I had a ton of it hiding under the bed against the wall, too.

I had this same issue, as I mentioned, and if I hadn't ripped the paper off, the owner of the place would have just papered right over the top of it.

Another issue is that you have some form of moisture problem. One issue is that there is probably a crack and a leak in the wall. It could be coming from outside, or it could be a leaky pipe -- either a water pipe or even an aircon tube (they have tubes to exit the water taken from the air, and if it leaks in the wall, mold can be a result).

This kind of mold problem often happens in basements, due to water creeping in from outside. You need to find how the water is getting in, and prevent it, if at all possible. If you just have a damp wall problem from lack of fresh air, or moist air, your best defense is to buy a dehumidifier (Chae-Soup-Gee in Korean) and run it 24/7 to remove the water from the air.

See here for a list of dehumidifiers you can buy:

http://www.enuri.com/view/List.jsp?cate=051908&from=search&islist=Y&skeyword=%C1%A6%BD%C0%B1%E2&cate_keyword=Y

[bassexpander]

If you're looking for a non-bleach Korean cleaner which may work, there are some specifically for it. I know that Homestar is a great bathroom cleaner, which would probably work well on mold if you scrubbed it off with it and let it sit for a while. Homestar smells like green apples and works well in the bathroom. It's in a green bottle, but it's written in Korean.

[teachergirltoo]

If you have mold, get it taken care of quickly. It can be very dangerous to your health. A friend of mine in Seoul had a terrible mold problem in her apartment that the school would not fix. They just wanted to wallpaper over it. She developed fungal pneumonia and started coughing up blood and now has to fly home to America to recover for the next month or two. Find the source of the problem and get is fixed as quick as possible.

[aphase]

i'd also like to add to try and not keep things leaning against the wall, such as backpacks, or even beds wardrobes etc. Keeping things pressed against the wall can lead to poor air circulation which will cause your walls to have a harder time drying out (if your air is humid) and mold will grow there. Like bassexpander, I once had mold growing where my bed was pressed up against the wall. Leave a little space.

[bassexpander]

In my opinion, unless you have a very tiny room, you should go with this model, which pulls out 10 liters a day, and should be just fine for your needs:

http://itempage3.auction.co.kr/DetailView.aspx?itemNo=a508132555&firstView=&DR030114=&hdcapital=&mobile=&frm3=V2

The smaller, cheaper dehumidifiers (34,000 to 50,000 won) barely pull out .25 to .5 liters a day. The larger one I used to own pulled out over 15 liters a day. Not .15, but 15. There is a huge difference in their effectiveness.

[Draz]

The mold in my bathroom is growing back. I can't get rid of it, because there is moldy wood in the ceiling that I can't get at. Hoping it's not enough mold to actually hurt me. I don't spend much time in the bathroom anyway.

[crsandus]

OMG. Maybe that's why I've been getting weird allergic reactions and my cough hasn't gone away in 4 weeks! Stupid mold! My apartment is tiny, easily gets very humid (from shower and clothes drying), and the mold problem seems to exist in multiple apartments in the building... Time to ask my coteach to look into a different place.

[bassexpander]

[aphase]

actually now that I think about it, I was really sick for a long time last year, and when I moved from the place I was living in there was mold growing where the mattress was touching the wall. I suppose the 2 could have been related, haha. damn. I remember i had coughing and phlegm for 2 months. that sucked. I thought it was just a misdiagnosed sinus infection, but probably it was caused by that mold.

[bassexpander]

I caught pneumonia in my first year.

[billybrobby]

Now that I think about it, my girlfriend and I started fighting a lot last year and then we broke up. That damn mold!