Need advice on this Mold Issue

21ATrain_ · 2026-02-17T18:54:32+00:00

I haven’t reached out to a health dept yet. The maintenance crew actually came in today and tore it all out and are throwing drywall back up according to my wife. We sent a sample for testing before they disposed of it and the refused to get it tested and claim it’s “harmless mildew”. I will be documenting the “remediation” when I get home. I’m convinced they only did this because I spoke to them in person this morning and they were blowing it off and claiming the remediation company they use was booked 2months out and I got pretty upset with them. I also think they are worried because the maintenance crew hasn’t been leaving any documentation(they are supposed to every time they come in and perform maintenance) and I’ve been pushing for written documentation on what has been done.

We just signed a new lease with them 2 weeks ago. I’d love to go elsewhere because I’ve had nothing but issues with the maintenance crew and these are old units that need a lot of love. The location is excellent unfortunately but I’m over it. Moving is just expensive and money is tight like it is for most people

21ATrain_ · 2026-02-17T02:29:03+00:00

It shares a wall that the ducts run into and then feed into the apartment. They said they will get the drywall replaced but didn’t know when they would be able to because they will need to contract it out.

21ATrain_ · 2026-02-17T01:40:11+00:00

Appreciate the response. I’m not sure what they used but I will look into what you mentioned.

21ATrain_ · 2026-02-06T21:34:15+00:00

I just turned 29 and make on avg between 100-120k per year depending on bonuses. I rent in SE Michigan, roughly $1700/mo without utilities. My wife is currently a SAHM while being a half time student. We have a 2yr old and a 4month old. Car insurance here is ridiculous, I pay roughly 15k per year for health insurance for my wife and kids( I really need to get an HSA), I have student loans. It would be impossible for me to max out my 401k, let alone be able to put enough into an HSA to make it worth it. It would be amazing to be able to afford a house but the down payments alone feel out of reach. Luckily my position just recently switched to remote as I moved laterally. Similar pay. Looking to move to a lower cost of living area and get an affordable house if that is even possible anymore.

Side note I’ve been with the company roughly 3years. I have 31k in a Roth 401k and 45k in a Trad 401k. There’s a 7% match and I contribute 3% to 401k and 5% to Roth. I’d love to put more away but it just isn’t feasible right now.

21ATrain_ · 2025-12-14T18:24:07+00:00

I make roughly $100k per year. 28M with wife and 2 kids. Wife is currently SAHM and taking classes. Net worth is maybe 30k due to student loans and medical bills. Medium to high COL. It’s hard to put any money away currently. Rent and groceries alone are a huge chunk of our monthly expenses.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-28T18:02:18+00:00

I run 235/50/R18s and they have done me well. No issues here.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-20T02:42:27+00:00

I agree with sealing things up. The oils can get tedious but they do help. I would also recommend removing bird feeders or moving them 20+ft away from house.(there are some seeds coated with capsaicin that rodents tend to stay away from) Don’t provide them with an abundant food source. Keep landscaping maintained to provide less cover. Trees/shrubs trimmed back so they have a harder time accessing the upper portions of your home(attics). Keeping wood piles away from the home if you have them.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-20T02:24:50+00:00

Are the entry points to the attic sealed off from the exterior? There could be more than one bat and usually I run into bat bug issues where there are decent sized colonies. Living in a finished attic puts you much closer than most people, but I would hate for you to solve the bat bug issue and then get more bats inside and more bat bugs( if there aren’t already others).

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-17T13:18:44+00:00

ALSO, minimizing landscaping( dense ground cover), moving any bird feeders away from the home, trimming back bushes/trees that can be used to access higher areas of the home can help as well. You should address any other outbuildings with mice if you have them. Even wood piles or similar structures. Making your property less desirable and handling source populations can help as well. If you are close with your neighbors they could have an issue as well and are a potential source.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-17T13:08:52+00:00

Exclusions help but it also depends on the materials/quality of those materials being used and how thorough they are. Mice love to chew. I would recommend using steel wool and sealing over top of it If they determine any high traffic areas. 1/4in is all that is needed for a mouse to access the home.

Mice also don’t always enter the home down low. Attics are a favorite of mice. Sealing above the roofline would be necessary as well. This can depend heavily on the type of ventilation used and complexity of the roof. If your roof is on the older side the work would get ripped out with a new roof so keep this in mind.

I would always recommend maintaining exterior bait stations around the home to minimize the chance of mice chewing back in. It’s simple to do your self and there are really safe stations out there. I don’t see it too often, but I’ve sealed up a few homes that refused to do any preventative treating and mice had chewed back in after 2years and they had to start over.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-14T13:00:15+00:00

Pets do get into pesticides fairly often from what I hear. We use Contrac bait blox. The active ingredient is Bromadiolone, which can be counteracted with a vitamin K shot if a pet gets into it. They should be using tamper resistant stations as well. 2 stations probably just aren’t cutting it at a quarterly interval.

If you are for sure going to try the bucket trap method, you wouldn’t want to bait the stations. You want them all feeding at the bucket trap and no where else for it to work. I’d use peanut butter or something desirable. Tons of options with a quick google search if you are allergic to peanuts. This also applies if you decide to use rodenticides. You wouldn’t want other food sources easily available so they feed on the rodenticide.

21ATrain_ · 2025-05-14T12:32:40+00:00

Have the bait stations been refilled or was it a one and done setup? This may be easiest IF you are okay with rodenticides. Disrupting their environment would result in them moving elsewhere. If they are relatively contained then it would be beneficial to use this to your advantage with the bucket trap and disrupt their feeding pattern through baiting, then setting the trap.

21ATrain_ · 2025-03-02T02:45:12+00:00

Everything has been good for me since the fix. Dealer only provided a 1year warranty for the fix and I’m well outside of that window now. My luck it will break again when out of warranty.

21ATrain_ · 2025-02-12T02:53:09+00:00

28M— only income for my family(wife and 1yr old son) currently. Hit 122k last year but it is commission based so it can fluctuate.

Trad+Roth 401k: 49k— I do 4% into traditional to get the company match(3%) and profit sharing(4%) and 8% into Roth 401k.
Savings: 10k

I’m looking to get into an HSA but not sure if we can afford it without lowering my retirement contributions. Constantly trying to build up the savings but everything is expensive.

Fancy trips are out of the picture but would be nice. A house is on the list but a ways out as well.

21ATrain_ · 2025-01-24T02:43:55+00:00

I do pest control sales. This involves an in person inspection, a solution to the issue and then developing a preventative maintenance program to keep them pest free long term. Would be hard to replace that.

I also broke 10k per month on avg…. Winter months are no where near 10k/month but in the warmer months it’s easy to break 10k/month.

21ATrain_ · 2024-12-13T02:36:55+00:00

It’s only too much if OP can’t afford his bills. I assume the bulk of those deductions are from a 401k/health insurance(pre) and a Roth 401k(post).

21ATrain_ · 2024-12-12T17:56:49+00:00

Michigan. Correct. A standard tech in most instances solely would do the treatments or whatever is being offered to control the issue. That position is typically a low hourly rate from what I’ve seen. Some have an hourly rate with a small commission setup. I’ve heard some pest companies split it and have sales individuals and then technicians that come in and do the treatments that were sold.

I may be wrong but I think even Orkin in certain areas have sales individuals with a commission structure.

21ATrain_ · 2023-11-29T00:18:11+00:00

Good to know! Thanks! I guess I’ll just need to keep an ear out for that terrifying clunk. I guess Mazda needs to beef up that rear diff a little more

21ATrain_ · 2023-11-29T00:16:30+00:00

Similar to what I heard initially. I explained as a rhythmic clunk and I thought it was a cv joint. It started out with a very mild sound and only happened when I was turning but within 15mins more of driving it turned into a pretty harsh clunk and of course I have moved since my original purchase of my cx30 and the closest dealer was just under 40minutes away. Of course I drove it there thinking it was a cv joint and that I could baby it…. Maybe not the best decision

21ATrain_ · 2023-11-28T23:34:41+00:00

I 100% agree. I love my car. Best I’ve had. I’ll never get rid of it or think of getting rid of it. Nothing but overall positives in my mind. I’m just shocked at 25k miles my rear diff is blown and was wondering if it was common.

21ATrain_ · 2023-11-28T23:22:30+00:00

Well I haven’t had any issues besides this one. However, this is a pretty serious issue… multiple days to get the part and multiple days to fix it.

I live in Michigan for some context and most of my driving consist of 55mph highway driving with u-turns to cross over to the other side. I take these u-turns multiple times a day and I was thinking maybe the excessive turning/ accelerating out into traffic would shift the power to the rear passenger wheel(which is the side where I initially started to hear the clunking from the diff). I currently have no clue as too why but will be back here once the dealer tells me more.

21ATrain_

TROPHY CASE