Leaky Toilet = Mold

We noticed a slight leak in our bathroom a couple of months ago, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. In fact, we weren't even sure if it was a leak because we only noticed water behind the toilet when we were bathing Ethan - I just figured it was due to too much splashing and would mop it up. No big deal. Well, a month ago Sean cleaned off the small accumulation of mold on the wall behind the toilet and we finally determined where the leak was coming from - the pipe near the back of the toilet with the water shut-off knob. It still didn't seem to be producing much water and we weren't too worried about it. Then about a week ago we realized the mold had all come back - much quicker than it had taken to build up last time. The drip was more constant and beginning to quickly fill the container we had set underneath it. Time to call the landlord. Thursday night, disaster struck. I was looking for something I thought may have fallen down the side of the filing cabinet in the dining room. I pulled it back from the wall and this is what I found (see picture at right).
Mold up to my knee!! GROSS!!! Of course, Sean was in Salem still for a 2-day conference he was in charge of and I was just getting ready to go to bed. Dang it! So out came the bucket with hot, soapy bleach water, a scrub brush and a towel around the face for me - I wasn't going to breathe in those nasty mold spores. I got everything all cleaned up - luckily it came off the wall quite easily. Everything seemed to be exterior damage and the walls were solid - not even a slight give, so that was a good sign. I decided to move on to the bathroom since I already had all the cleaning supplies out. I got all of that mold cleaned up - again, exterior only and solid walls, and then it donned on me that a utility closet also shared that wall. Sure enough, when I went to check in the carpeted closet, I found more mold once I moved a couple of (plastic) storage boxes aside. By the time I got all of that cleaned up and the contents of the closet stacked in the dining room in case the landlord set someone over the next day, it was 1am and I was exhausted!

So... Friday morning I called the landlord, who called the owners, who called their usual plumber, who called me to set up an appointment. Luckily he works Saturdays, so we were able to schedule a 10am (which, in plumber time meant 10:45am) appointment. I was gone getting my hair done, so Sean and Ethan were there to greet him. He got the leak fixed (yay!) and then inspected the walls and checked the pictures I had taken. It seems that we caught the leak pretty early because I was right about the damage only being exterior. Other than keeping a fan on in the closet for a couple days to make sure everything was dried out, it doesn't look like there will have to be any additional repairs. Thank goodness. That was enough excitement for us.