[Greenbuilding] Water Damage and Mold Abatement

[mebeddoe at rochester.rr.com]

Hi all - I'm looking for some advice, if any of you care to weigh in.  My question concerns water damage resulting from what we now believe to be ice damming on the roof of our stickframe.  We live in a suburban split-level (sigh) built around 1970.  It's been re-roofed about four to five years ago.  There's a fireplace chimney running up the north exterior wall of the house.  The fireplace itself is occupied with an insert, which we use occasionally.  On the exterior wall, the chimney is flanked by two downspouts for our aging gutters.  The interior of the north wall holds bedrooms (on the second level) and a family room and office (on the in-ground level).  In the master bedroom, we noticed serious buckling and what appeared to be mold staining in a 2x4 section of the hardwood floor.  There is no staining on the sheetrock walls.

We're about to open up the floor and wall, and we'll know then the scope of work we're facing.  While our insurance company is quite sure the problem is ice damming from the winter (our heat tapes failed), we'll do a hose test while the wall is open to see if we need leaks plugged.  

However, if we open the wall and find a mold monster, our contractors are going to shove a lovely array of chemistry at us.  I want to know if there are any alternatives to, say, KILLZ or whatever that stuff is they like to use to destroy mold.  SInce at this point we don't know how many house components are involved in this, I know it may be a little tough to pinpoint.  Still, any info you may have would be helpful.  Thanks so much!

Martha Beddoe
mebeddoe at rochester.rr.com
Peace is every step - Thich Nhat Hanh