Not Good

It's 11:30 pm. I successfully removed my countertop and sink. There's no turning back now. But of course I ran into a bit of a problem. I noticed the drywall that was behind the sink was not very stable. I knew I couldn't tile over it, and I also knew that plain drywall was not the right thing to have directly behind a sink where it would be exposed to a lot of water and now I have good proof as to why you don't just stick drywall in moist areas. The inside of the wall is completely covered in mold and mildew. I was just going to cut out a piece of the drywall and replace it with cementboard but now that I see what's on the inside of the wall, I really don't think I should go any further until I get someone out here to professionally clean the mold. I don't know how long we'll be living here, but in case it's a long time, I don't want to just seal up the mold and have it rotting away the insides of my house. So now I'm kind of stuck. And it's going to be really hard to find the right person to take care of the mold because I know there were a lot of mold scams here recently. It's no wonder Chloe has all kinds of breathing problems; who knows how much mold is in this house. So the bad news is my project is going to take a lot longer than I thought and probably cost a whole lot more, too. And the other bad news is that I have to do the dishes in the tub or bathroom sink until I get everything finished. And the good news... Chloe and I are both still alive and pretty healthy. That's always good. I've got to go clean up the kitchen as much as possible now.

Ok, I just took a second good look at it, and I'm not entirely sure that it's mold. I actually think it may be 58 years worth of little bug gross things because the spots are pretty well defined and not fuzzy and built up pretty tall (as far as mold in concerned). And it doesn't exactly smell moldy. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Update: it's now Friday morning and I'm completely convinced that the icky stuff on the inside of the wall is not mold. It doesn't smell like mold, it's not fuzzy like mold, and it's brown like mud, not like mold. Thank goodness. So I'm going to charge on ahead. And there is good news besides the fact that Chloe and I are alive and well: no visible termite damage! I watched an Extreme Home Makeover a few weeks ago about this single mom who bought a house that passed inspection but after removing some wall board, she found that all her interior beams were completely destroyed by termites. I was so afraid I was going to find the same thing if I ever took out the drywall. But the 2 x 4's look just fine. The project will proceed!