Is there a cheap test I can get to test for mold?
I live in the New Castle PA area. The town got glanced by a tornado. Something the town hasn't had happen in like 30 years --from what I'm gathering from the citizens who have lived in the town for a long time. The whole situation was right in the middle of a massive rain storm.
Basically the rain was a lot and our ceiling in our bedroom leaked so badly we ended up having to order a new bed and box spring which is going to take about 2 weeks to come in so in the mean time we our crashing at my mother in laws and my wife was lucky to get a hotel room tonight (her mother is deaf and she is the type that has to sleep with the TV on. My wife is a light sleeper... Hasn't had a good night sleep.)
Sorry for the long story. Just tired and frustrated BUT the long short of it the room we had been using as a bedroom is basically in need of not only a new roof BUT the landlord needs to rip up the carpet and clean because even though this happened a few days ago The smell of mold and mildew in the room is choking.
Wife and I are arguing about if we should leave the door open or closed. window open or closed. We are trying to keep our cats out of that room BUT we still have many of our clothes in the room and when I do go into the room I start coughing and choking on the smell. Landlord told us he was sending guys on Saturday to fix the roof but they showed up 5 minutes and left don't know what they did.
We want to believe this landlord is actually going to fix everything and not be our second slum lord in a row BUT I do have to worry about my wife's lungs. She nearly died of Fungal Pneumonia 2 years ago. I need to check the mold count. She doesn't go back in the bed area unless she needs clothes BUT still I worry I just want to protect ourselves and have evidence in case we need to take this guy to code enforcement or court. Is there a test I can buy?
We are giving the landlord a copy of the receipt for the bed. The bed cost less than the deductible for our renters insurance AND I have a feeling he will fight us for the money of the bed.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Hi d-man, my suggestion is to put the new bed in your MIL's house and live there until you can find a new place to live. If the room smells that bad there's probably something growing in the rug, walls and attic, of more than one room, and if the landlord is going to give you a hard time, it's going to take a while to get it all cleaned up. With your wife's health problems it might be better to just find a clean place and stay with MIL in the meantime. Good luck. 
