Dealing with mold on hillside house.

[detroit]

I have a house on the side of a hill which means in the downstairs
the inside walls are adjacent to the earth. As a result, we get mold
on the inside walls. I am not sure how the walls were made but
the house was from 1940. The inside walls are sheetrock.

What can I do? Rip off all the sheetrock and put something behind
it? Please advise.

Thanks.

[tooltroll]

Well, you've got to determine where the excess moisture that's causing the mold is coming from. The existing sheetrock should probably be removed in any case, to prevent the existing mold from causing health issues, and you'll probably find the framing/insulation behind it is all moldy, too. Anything moldy should be removed, for health reasons.

Is the foundation tight? The usual suspect in this case is water getting through the foundation and into the interior wall. Waterproofing is always best applied to the exterior of the wall. You might also have drainage (weeping tile) problems, or grading issues causing rain to flow towards the house.

In some cases, there is no problem with the foundation, and the mold is caused by inadequate ventilation in an inherently damp (below grade) environment

In a nutshell:
1-Remove all the moldy stuff. It's ruined, and it'll make you sick when you've been exposed to it for awhile.
2-Examine the inside of the foundation for cracks, leaks, wet spots. Tape a square of plastic to the wall for a few days and see if/where moisture builds up.
3-Examine what you can see on the outside. What shape is the original damp/waterproofing in? Does the grade slope away from the house?
4-If you find evidence of leakage through the wall, have it excavated and waterproofed. Check your weeping tile while they're down there. If the wall seems tight, check the ventilation in the affected area and/or the whole house.

[detroit]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
What I wound up doing was removing the
drywall and then bleaching out and
mold treating the studs and then I put
the kind of cement material found behind
shower stalls on that wall.
Gypsum board I think it's called.
I figured since it was made out of
cement it would not mold.

I feel really smart.

Thanks again.