I nudged a few of the surrounding tile; they came off as easily as a dress after the prom.  Knowing what mold spores can do, I sent the girls out of the immediate vicinity.  Well, that and they were both grabbing my arms and yelling at me to stop doing that!  The youngest was crying; she just doesn’t like letting go of anything!

Here’s what it looked like after I quit prodding.  Yuck!

Was that really behind there?

So we headed out to find someone who might know what the next step should be.  In this case, it turned out to be a man at Lowes.  He said the best step would be to just rip out all the drywall rather then peeling the tile off.  That way we could avoid spreading the spores everywhere. He also said that lumber from 15 years or more ago had anti-mold properties that today’s lumber doesn’t have. He said that in 1985 the government no longer mandated the use of chemicals to prevent mold. To my relief, he was more or less right – at least above the tub.

I did that, and decided to go ahead and replace the insulation behind the drywall I removed as well.

The new insulation comes wrapped in some sort of plastic.

I also added some Great Stuff to the gaps where I could see daylight.

See that yellow foam-looking stuff?

I’m lucky enough to have a friend who worked in construction for 10-15 years, and he was a perfectionist. He says you should do it right or not bother. So I had a video call with him via Skype. (Why doesn’t everyone use Skype? I don’t get it…) He said I might as well take out all the tile on the floor. And look under the tub. And… He makes me think this might be an opportunity rather then tragedy.

I think this tub needs replacing!

Smish-smash I was taking a bath!

The black spots near the tub were bothering me, so my friend told me how easy it should be to pull the tub as it was mostly likely steel and not that heavy. I did manage to snap off the drain pipe; thankfully it’s PVC. Here’s the nastiness underneath.

Black spooge.

Don't look in the corner.

I’m going to pull the sink next. Might as well see what’s what. But unfortunately before I can begin repairs I need to fix the sagging garage where the dumb-ass “handyman” cut through a support beam to install a garage door opener.

Right through a support beam!