On Tuesday, March 26, 2013 5:59:40 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
A friend bought an apartment on fairly high floor in a high rise, right on the ocean and facing the water, in Florida, and it turns out it has mold. The apartment is vacant. His wife says she's had companies look at it, and they say they will do the job, but they never come back. What's going on? Have all the reliable Florida contractors gone to NJ and NY? Don't some have families and enough business and want to stay in Florida? It's also possible that the wife is doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Any guesses? Did water get in through the windows and doors during storms not bad enough to close the storm shutters, is that the cause? Or maybe a leak from upstairs? Any other possible cause? I owe this friend several big favors and fixing this for him would be a partial repayment. I really don't want to spend the spring or summer in Florida, or even the winter, but if work is almost all I do, may be I won't have to stay too long. How long do you think it would take to do a 3 BR apartment? I know that's a stupid question because you (and I) don't know how big the problem is, but my rough guess is that most of it is under the window and door moldings that face the outside, and also if necessary killing the mold with bleach and painting the walls with mold resistant paint. (Which means mixing anti-mold liquid in with whatever paint the wife wants.) Is 3 weeks a reasonable time estimate? I need the exercise. I can probably only do hard work 4 hours a day to start but after a week or two, might be up to 8 hours a day and after that, 12 hours a day and then I can go home, fit and fiddle. So it might benefit me, too. Do I have to wear a respirator the whole time I'm in there? Can I sleep there without a respirator and not get sick? I had a little mold in my own house, one square foot in the basement for years (I hadn't noticed it), when I spent my time equally on all three floors, and it didn't bother me at all. On another occasion, 6 square feet for 3 months. Again, no problems. Or do these good experiences mean nothing because there are so many kinds of mold. Can I let their 10-year old come in and play while I'm working, or is it too likely he'll get sick? If I say no, I want to have some authority like one of you to blame, so he doesn't blame me. I'd like to hire a helper, but if the building management doesn't have reliable names, not sure where to look. Thanks.

From what I've observed most people are not bothered by mold. But occasionally a few people are. And people that aren't sometimes become bothered by it after years of exposure. So there's no telling for sure but if it has not been a problem for you in the past I doubt a few weeks of exposure will be a problem now. I would wear a mask during tear down. And I'd have a box fan I could stick in a window to exhaust the air.

Without knowing why it has a mold problem or how exstensive the problem is no one can give you much advice on fixing it. It has to be more that "it has a mold problem", someone must have had it evaluated or tested at some point in the past. Can't you get the details of that?