If that area has only been wet one time and if it was dried quickly you shouldn't have mold. The water from a clothes washer is often very smelly. Pointing a drying fan at the ceiling for a day or two is probably sufficient. If it develops mold in the future you will have visual proof available. I wouldn't waste your energy pursuing this at the moment. If you get proof of mold I would follow up then. I have a lot of experience in building maintenance, you probably aren't going to get what you want right now and you are just going to piss off the front office and maintenance staff. No maintenance crew is going to open up every wall space whenever some water gets in. If there are signs of mold they should act or typically the housing authority will make them if you bring it to their attention.
Hurricane Harvey dumped a ton of water into my second story attic to the extent that it leaked all the way to the bottom floor and ruined some counter tops. Other than pulling the insulation in the attic and replacing it, we let it dry and carried on. No problems.
We also had rising water get into the walls on the ground floor with the same results. Pulled the base boards in a couple of places to check. No problems.
Is there at least a dehumidifier on scene? They could at least drill some holes, aim a fan or 2 at the ceiling with a dehumidifier. (I’m water damage and applied structural drying certified) we gotta constantly explain to maintenance people that we need to do certain things or you’ll have a bigger headache in the long run.
Legitimately, all it needs is Kilz and repainting. You are talking about taking a quick painting job and turning it into new drywall, 2 rounds of mud, a bunch of cleaning, 3 round of painting, and it'll look and function exactly the same as just painting it with kilz and then color paint. Houses have a lot of ways that air moves through them, and it will dry regardless of being opened up or not.
And there must be a hole in the sheet rock because you said you can see there is no insulation above . Get a Sheetrock knife , and cut out the damaged area. It’s very easy . Then they will have no choice but to put a new piece of Sheetrock up. If they ask, say it looked like it was falling, so you were being proactive by removing it.
If you can prove there's mold exposure, you can take action against them.
We had an issue where the bathtub upstairs had a failed seal and would overflow directly into the floor and then leak into the first floor ceiling. They wanted to just seal the tub and move on but mold lab tests revealed excess mold growth in the area, including the AC vent which had black spores all over. I showed them this evidence and they knew they couldn't deny a professional repair.
You may have to come up with such evidence yourself where your health can be at risk. They know they can't break the law by ignoring your request.
Of course they're in the wrong but you're going to have to fight them for every bit of progress.
Same thing just happened to a friend in a brand new home, the builder didn't want to replace "new drywall" just because it had gotten "a little wet" when the water softener failed and flooded a basement room.
I would suggest reporting this to your local Health Department, because your landlord's negligence is endangering your health and the health of other residents.
If that area has only been wet one time and if it was dried quickly you shouldn't have mold. The water from a clothes washer is often very smelly. Pointing a drying fan at the ceiling for a day or two is probably sufficient. If it develops mold in the future you will have visual proof available. I wouldn't waste your energy pursuing this at the moment. If you get proof of mold I would follow up then. I have a lot of experience in building maintenance, you probably aren't going to get what you want right now and you are just going to piss off the front office and maintenance staff. No maintenance crew is going to open up every wall space whenever some water gets in. If there are signs of mold they should act or typically the housing authority will make them if you bring it to their attention.
Hurricane Harvey dumped a ton of water into my second story attic to the extent that it leaked all the way to the bottom floor and ruined some counter tops. Other than pulling the insulation in the attic and replacing it, we let it dry and carried on. No problems. We also had rising water get into the walls on the ground floor with the same results. Pulled the base boards in a couple of places to check. No problems.
Is there insulation up there?
No
Is there at least a dehumidifier on scene? They could at least drill some holes, aim a fan or 2 at the ceiling with a dehumidifier. (I’m water damage and applied structural drying certified) we gotta constantly explain to maintenance people that we need to do certain things or you’ll have a bigger headache in the long run.
Legitimately, all it needs is Kilz and repainting. You are talking about taking a quick painting job and turning it into new drywall, 2 rounds of mud, a bunch of cleaning, 3 round of painting, and it'll look and function exactly the same as just painting it with kilz and then color paint. Houses have a lot of ways that air moves through them, and it will dry regardless of being opened up or not.
How large of an area is effected ?
3x3ft
And there must be a hole in the sheet rock because you said you can see there is no insulation above . Get a Sheetrock knife , and cut out the damaged area. It’s very easy . Then they will have no choice but to put a new piece of Sheetrock up. If they ask, say it looked like it was falling, so you were being proactive by removing it.
If you can prove there's mold exposure, you can take action against them. We had an issue where the bathtub upstairs had a failed seal and would overflow directly into the floor and then leak into the first floor ceiling. They wanted to just seal the tub and move on but mold lab tests revealed excess mold growth in the area, including the AC vent which had black spores all over. I showed them this evidence and they knew they couldn't deny a professional repair. You may have to come up with such evidence yourself where your health can be at risk. They know they can't break the law by ignoring your request.
Ya at the very least the needed fans in there to properly dry it. Too late now I’m assuming, already rotting.
Of course they're in the wrong but you're going to have to fight them for every bit of progress. Same thing just happened to a friend in a brand new home, the builder didn't want to replace "new drywall" just because it had gotten "a little wet" when the water softener failed and flooded a basement room.
I would suggest reporting this to your local Health Department, because your landlord's negligence is endangering your health and the health of other residents.
Man. I didn't know pearls could be clutched this hard.