We all know the clear signs of mold. Besides the funky-looking spots and webs of mildew, there’s always the smell. Oh god, the smell. Is there anything worse than opening a long-forgotten lunchbox in the back of your fridge and being greeted by an entire mold empire?

What if the mold empire was an Airbnb? That wasn’t even listed in the description? Great heavens. Thus it was that a guy decided to cut his 30-day stay short, beginning a battle for a refund, against the moldy landlord.

More info: Reddit

Going to an Airbnb or a hotel is always a mixed bag, with the surprises you’ll be getting being pleasing or above-and-beyond disgusting

Image credits:  Matheus Bertelli (not the actual photo)

This poster took it to r/mildlyinfuriating to show off the tests he had done in a mildew-stinking Airbnb when the landlord refused him a refund

Image credits: Dawg_Jacket

A couple hours into him settling in for sleep, he woke up with horrible allergies and when he pointed to the mold in the rental, the landlord just didn’t think of it as a big deal

Image credits: Dawg_Jacket

The poster ultimately got his refund in the form of a credit card chargeback, but commenters clapped him, saying his tests were “meaningless”

Checking into a rental is always an experience. Unless you’re visiting the McDonald’s of hotels, you’re liable to find surprises everywhere. Sometimes these surprises are pleasant and invite you to stay again and again. Others are more akin to red subtle red flags.

The best surprise you can get at a hotel are bed bugs. That’s one gift that will stay with you for a while and just keep on giving…

But today’s story isn’t about those funny little critters, although a certain type of fungus can be weaponized to kill them! But then you’re left with fungus in your bedding? I don’t know, I should have paid more attention in the Bed Bugs vs. Fungi biology class in my day.

Image credits: Quinn Dombrowski (not the actual photo)

Mold can reside everywhere, so simple petri dish tests are unlikely to show anything out of the ordinary

Unlike insects, fungi, conveniently, are far easier to detect. The musty smell, the tell-tale staining, sometimes even sprouting from corners and even walls. If you’re at that stage, though, your best bet is to burn the house down and move a thousand miles away.

They can also be an invisible foe – pumping their hyphae behind walls and under carpets, living in ACs and the like – anywhere where they find plenty of moisture, but sparse light.

Especially telling is if you start having allergy-esque symptoms. If you’re in a mildewy-smelling place and start feeling as if you’re suffering an intense cold or something worse, it’s possible that you have some mycological friends.

Be aware that everyone has different symptoms, so your mileage may vary greatly, but you’re bound to feel something, if there’s a sufficiently large concentration of airborne spores wherever you are.

A little bit of mold in the corner of your shower is nothing to worry about, if somewhat unsightly, but it could spiral into a full blown takeover of your home. You should be sure to address any unchecked sources of moisture in your home, leaks and the like, if you don’t want to become a clicker à la The Last of Us.

Image credits: Plymouth Ansbergs (not the actual photo)

A better sign is mushrooms growing out of walls in extreme examples, or those symptoms that the poster had been experiencing

If you’re under assault by fungi, you may want to do something like the poster of this story did, but know that a simple agar plate may not really tell you much, unless you can achieve laboratory conditions and measure the situation in every room over a period.

This is exactly what the teller of this story caught a load of flak for, with many calling the tests unscientific or plain useless.

Spores, like human stupidity, can be found anywhere. Even now, in your relatively clean home, there could be from 1 to 1500 spores in a room and those levels would be considered safe, if there aren’t active colonies or water damage, according to United Water Restoration.

The fun starts from 1500 spores and upwards, which may indicate anything from a dusty home or AC system to a severely neglected and overrun home. For example, a mall during Covid likely turned off its air conditioning to save costs and was totally overrun by a white fuzzy film of mold on every surface in a mere 53 days. You can read more about it in the related Bored Panda article.

Image credits: mrhs1974 (not the actual photo)

It is possible to destroy mold with supplies you have at home and some handiwork, but you may also want to look into professional help

If you find mold in your home, you can indeed control it, the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention say.

For a start, you should address the moisture problem. If there’s mold, there’s a moisture problem. A busted ventilation system in your shower, a leaky pipe, or a long forgotten spill that hasn’t been allowed to dry out could all be the culprits.

People advise nuking small colonies of mold with 1 cup laundry bleach in 1 gallon (3.78 liters) of water solution. Don your rubber protective gear, open the windows and doors, and spray or wipe the offenders down until you can’t see any visible staining.

Then just monitor the situation, keep the humidity in your home down, fix leaks, ventilate your home, and hopefully you’ll be golden. When you’re unwilling to deal with it yourself, call the mold inspectors, who will locate the problem area for you and suggest solutions or offer cleaning for you.

The poster’s story absolutely exploded, achieving nearly 47k upvotes in less than a day and counting! Among the 1.9k comments, many discussed their own experiences with mold (and bashed the poster for using a flawed test to determine those mold levels).

Do you have anything to say about today’s story? Perhaps you’re a total mold wizard, picking mushrooms off the walls in your spare room to cook for dinner? Share anything and everything you’ve got to say in the comments below!

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