Replace moldy floor/carpet w/hardwood?

Hi again all, I just posted some questions about the mold/moisture in our son’s bedroom. As a follow up, I’m wondering if it would be wise to put hardwood flooring in our son’s bedroom? He’s four and has asthma. I’m finding it hard to believe that a small spot of mold in the corner of his room caused this but I’m certain it doesn’t help. We’re going to tear out the carpet in his room due to the small mold area (we couldn’t really see any mold on the carpet per se but overall the carpet looked “dirtier” in that corner and we’ve decided to play it safe). Once we resolve this moisture/mold issue what do you guys think about replacing the carpet with some hardwood? I think it may be wise considering his condition, I hear carpet is bad for people with asthma.
Do you think this would hurt the resale value of the home if we had hardwood – instead of carpet – in a small 10×12 bedroom? The rest of the second floor is all carpet.
Thanks,
Rob
Replies
I think getting rid of the carpet should definitely be done. You should of course talk to your doctor, but the friends of mine who have athsma were told by their doctors that going to a hard surface in the bedroom would help.
No, I don't think hardwood would hurt the resale value in the least. Many people like it, and a new owner could always carpet over it. You could go with laminate, too, because it's totally seamless, but the look is not as admired as hardwood.
You do have to find the source of the moisture and eliminate it. I doubt it is just an isolated colder spot in the room. I'll bet something on the outside of the house beside or above the spot is leaking -- a window, siding, roof, etc.
The mold should be killed with bleach. It doesn't have to be real strong. If you are going to spend the money to put a new floor down, it's probably not a bad idea to replace the one little piece of plywood and any damaged sheet rock. You're talking less than $50 in materials. If the studs have mold, after the mold is killed and the wood thoroughly dry you can seal the wood with shellac.
Another thing which helps is to have an electronic whole house air cleaner if you have a forced air system. They are considerably better at removing small allergens than any furnace filter. I had one in my last house and it made a big difference in how oftern I had to dust.
A central vac is somewhat of a pricy luxury, over $1200 by the time you buy all the accessories, but if you have lots of money they have the advantage of discharging the dust outdoors. In a regular vacuum cleaner about 15% of the dust is fine enough to go through the bag and back into the room.
I understand that athsma can be aggravated by all sorts of chemicals. It may be wise to use as few as you can, getting rid of hair spray, air fresheners, cleaners with organic compounds, etc. There are good web sites with much more details about the medical aspect and triggers of athsma.
I would agree on the HEPA units, they are small and for a room like that would be perfect. though spending the money on good furnace filters definatly helped me as well. I dont have astma but sever sinus probs at times, those two things sure help...
Frank
I only use my gun whenever kindness fails...
What I was suggesting is different from HEPA. A HEPA filter is a synthetic "fabric", like a standard furnace filter but designed to trap extremely small particles. HEPA was developed for research on infectious diseases many decades ago as a way to keep germs from getting out. HEPA's are effective.
What I was mentioning is a unit that uses electrically charged grids. They've been around for over 30 years in homes, and were the only way to get ultra filtration before HEPA's came down in price. The grids are removed and washed in the dishwasher, so there is no ongoing cost.
Either would probably be as effective as the other for dust control, though an allergist would know for sure.
Interesting...thanks for the advice. Historically I've just used the el-cheapo furnace filters in our forced air system. My wife complains about the amount of dust in our home (she's very particular about cleanliness). Since we're only going to be in this house for another 1 1/2 - 2 years I may skip on the charged/hepa stuff but it sounds like you guys feel the higher end filters would help w/the dust issue?
Thanks, Rob
It's not sok much the carpet itself that is a problem but the fact that it holkds thre dust which feeds the dust mirtes which shed their own little nasties. When I got asthma conditions the doc gave me a she4et of do s and don't s which included vacuming daily.
you can buy furnace filters that are HEPA rated, made of foam, and washable so the long term cost is negligible.
The hardwood is definitely a good thing for him and will improve the resale value if anything.
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We did exactly what you are suggesting in my daughter's room last year and it was a great decision. She was 2 and had been struggling with upper respiratory problems (croup, sinus, etc.) for over a year. The humidifier made the problem worse, the HEPA filter didn't help, and professional cleanings of the carpet weren't improving anything. We took out the carpet and replaced with bamboo and her health has been SO improved, it's like a different kid. We aren't sure if it was the floor, the tubes in her ears, or just growing up a little, but I think the floor was definitely part of the reason. It is much easier to keep clean in there, and the whole room feels better.
Two things to be careful of. One is to make sure you have taken care of the mold issue as you plan. The second is to make sure that you don't replace with something that is going to offgas chemicals, such as formaldehyde. Some engineered woods offgas from the glues used to make them. If you are going with a nail down solid it isn't a problem, but other products should be well researched. We paid extra to get a bamboo that didn't have formaldehyde.
Thanks for the tip. Where did you buy your bamboo and any specific type/species?
We ordered our bamboo from Bamboo Hardwoods out of San Francisco. Their quality is OK, not spectacular, but they don't use formaldehyde in their glues, and that was important to us. They advertise that their bamboo is harder than Moso (the most common in flooring) - we'll see as time goes on. I've also seen GreenWood Bamboo floors highly recommended on this site. We didn't go with them only because they never responded to my emails. But if you have luck getting them to call or write you back, then they are being recommended by pros rather than a simple homeowner like myself.
Did you put this down yourself? I know this is the wrong thing to say in this forum but I work so d*mn much that I find myself outsourcing more and more. I've called "Mr. Handyman" over to my house twice in the last two weeks. To get at the problem areas he had to walk by a bunch of tools but I just don't have the time to do it anymore. And what limited time I do have I choose to spend w/my wife and kids.
I may just go down to Home Depot and look up a local contractor to tackle this project.
We did it ourselves in about a day, spread out over a couple of days. If you are short on time, piffin's idea of snap together flooring is a good one. In which case, I'd probably suggest you look at Kahr's, which has a decent product that snaps together.
The reason a humidifier didn't helpis that the higher the humidity is, the more mold spores and dust mites grow.
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I know, but doctor's orders were to have the humidifier for the croupe. We were in a catch-22: she had an illness that needed treating with humidity and that same treatment made the conditions perfect for other respiratory ailments. Getting rid of the carpet was the best solution for all of the problems. And it makes a much better base for the towers we like to build out of blocks!
Have you thought about tile. Tile does not off gas.
Jason
A hardwwood floor doesn't off gas either, and is much more pleasant in a bedroom than ceramic tiles
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No, but s/he hasn't mentioned what the subfloor is. If concrete, then solid hardwood isn't an option without doing extra prep work. Given a choice of any hard material for a bedroom, I'd pick the solid hardwood. Second for me is engineered wood. Our bedrooms are below grade on concrete, so we are limited to that choice.
Our son's bedroom is on the second floor. Subfloor is plywood. Only downside is that the subfloor squeeks in a number of spots. I tried screwing the heck out of it before we put the carpet down but had limited success in solving the squeaking. Regardless I think we're going to try the hardwood floor...because A) we're only going to be in this house for another 18 months or so, B) because I think we have a responsibility to try and do 'something' different for our son's sake and C) if we like it then it will be a no-brainer to put it in his bedroom in the home we plan to build.
Thanks again all. - Rob
For a short term floor like this, IO would justdo a snap down floating engineered flooring
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