I was and am alarmed, embarrassed, and totally MORTIFIED!
On Saturday I discovered a mushroom growing in my spotlessly clean house!
A beautiful white opaque mushroom was happily embedded in the carpet at the baseboard in Bill’s office/den/t.v.room/napping place/man cave.
Admittedly a manly retreat like Bill’s might offer a peaceful atmosphere for a mushroom to grow up in, but why?
And why am I creating this post? Maybe the mystery of the spores has addled my brain.
Because where I come from (muggy Florida), we had to be vigilant about preventing mold and mildew. That means being spotlessly clean. Keep a closet door closed too long in the era before air conditioning and you inspired the growth of dreaded MOLD (stuff that is dangerous to one’s health)!
So I grew up learning to be spotlessly clean. Please believe me. I am “spotlessly clean.” There is also air conditioning now. And really…… I am spotlessly clean. I keep a spotlessly clean house. That is the truth. Really. A mushroom growing in my house?????? Noooooooooo!!!!!!!
And so begins a journey of discovery about how a spotlessly clean house could nourish a lovely mushroom.
We called Bryan the Plumber first.
We love and admire Bryan anyway, but even more now because he came over right away early this Monday morning.
Bryan cut up the wall and identified a leaky pipe that was bringing fresh water to our master bath commode (via the den wall) and he replaced the pipe. “That should stop the source of the moisture,” he said in his most reassuring voice.
I love reassurance but rather prefer guarantees.
Bryan also identified a huge stand/pod/bevy? of mushrooms growing from our subfloor underneath the house! Who knew there would be a whole FAMILY of mushrooms? And under our house?
Note: There is only so far I will go with spotless housekeeping.
And so, we called Dennis the Carpenter.
We already love Dennis too because he is coming right out tomorrow at 8AM! Dennis will remove more drywall to inspect for further damage. He will also remove a patch, a chunk or a whole area of carpeting to inspect the sub flooring and decide what next to do.
I expect Dennis will also be reassuring (without any guarantees).
We hope Dennis will inspect the sub flooring in the crawl space under the house too.
I have a new high regard for plumbers and carpenters for their brave and arduous work challenges. But now I wish for a magic solution that will exterminate all those lovely mushrooms beneath the house.
All of this will be costly we think.
So we called our Insurance Company.
The insurance company gave us a Claim Number. Evidently Claim Numbers matter but to me that means we have to wait in line. And soon they will assign an Adjuster. Under the circumstances one of their claims agents told me they “understand the urgency” in getting things repaired even if it is done before the Adjuster can take a look. They suggested I take lots of pictures.
Ah! Pictures. And I may as well do a blog post as a kind of documentary evidential piece to present to the Adjusters in our lives.
The saga of the Mushroom in the Man Cave will be continued. Bill is temporarily carrying on manly activities in another room usually reserved for grandkids’ visits. He doesn’t seem to mind the big stuffed puppy in the corner.
Meanwhile, if any of my blogging friends have words of wisdom to impart, or stories of such gruesome experiences, please share.
Are they edible mushrooms? You might try marketing them to offset your deductible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is quite remarkable!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Send the carpenter under the house with the camera! Maybe Bill is secretly gardening in his man-cave? There are all kinds of stories coming to mind…
Hope it’s a relatively easy and inexpensive fix for you, and your insurance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha! I love your idea of offsetting the deductible! Humor. That’s what I need. Humor. Many thanks Judy! 🙂
LikeLike
The perfect word for the perfect mushroom. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your good wishes Patti! But Bill Gardening in the man cave? Nah. 🙂
LikeLike
Oy, vey, do you have a problem! I would be just as alarmed. Nothing like water (in the wrong place) in the house to get me all worked up. In my head, it goes like this: moisture, rot, house falls down. No wonder I freak out! Wishing you a speedy and DRY repair.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow – I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of this before. But- it’s better than a snake in the house!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A friend indeed. I am happy to meet a fellow alarmist. Scary stuff this. 🙂
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
I am very hopeful that you will not have to adjust to sharing your house with mushrooms. There is no insurance for a perfect solution, is there? Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And you were afraid of axe murderers?? This sounds like a new horror movie to me – Attack of the Killer Mushrooms. Bahaha! Seriously though, I hope you find the source of the problem :).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mushrooms? Man-cave? You’re surprised to find mushrooms in a cave? As carpenter friend of mine is fond of saying, “Time and money. With time and money, I can fix anything.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many years ago, before Derek and I met, he had a similar problem in the basement bathroom. An unknown leak behind the walls spark a mushroom patch…yuck! I’m glad you were able to resolve the problem. And I believe you, Dor…I know you’re clean!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Thank you Mr. Mushroom for letting me know! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, if worse comes to worst, see if those fungus (or is it fungi?) are edible and you could start your own mushroom farm right there under your house. There are mushroom farms in our area, believe it or not. So maybe you have a cash cow instead of a money pit?! Seriously though, what a strange thing to happen. Hope it gets resolved easily and relatively inexpensively. If not, Dor, I have the utmost faith in you as Mrs. Spotlessly Clean and I’d hire you to be my cleaning lady. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, fungi is a moisture problem not a dirt problem…and now, it’s an insurance problem! I feel for you dealing with them. We had a hot water heater burst many years ago. Though all was resolved it was still a pain in the butt making all those calls. Hope all turns out well for you; doesn’t look so good for the mushroom though, ha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You post arrived after a morning of cleaning up a leak from our dishwasher. It happened last night. We turned it on and went to bed. We are grateful there were no ducks floating in the kitchen although we see some hardwood floor damage. Always something. Was your mushroom edible? Sautéed onions and mushrooms are wonderful if they don’t kill you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hate the smell of mushrooms growing even though I love them to eat, Don’t worry Dora, THE MEN will sort your mushroom problem for you. Hope you can claim for all the disturbance in ripping up floors etc., After all if it was a water leak which caused the mushroom to grow there’s your evidence. Good luck !!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe better than a snake but could be debatable. 🙂
LikeLike
Mushrooms begone! We think we have it licked (not tasting of course) — just beaten back. Now have a new floor, new wall and a whole lot of dust too. Hopefully no spores. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Horror movie is correct Cindy! The whole thing is repulsively ugly and possibly toxic although the workmen wear no gloves or masks. We are now almost “repaired” and Bill wants to return to his dusty den. I say, “Let the spores rest a bit” but I think he will head back there this evening. Nobody ever listens to me. 😦
LikeLike
So far so good with the man cave mushrooms. They have supposedly been removed or sprayed to death with hydrogen peroxide.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for sharing your similar experience Jill. We are just getting immune to the horror of finding a mushroom growing in our carpet. Yikes! Now we are watching workmen tear the room apart.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha! With our luck we would be dead at the first fungi bite. We have found the cause and supposedly fixed it. Now the room is a disaster area from that one little mushroom. And they found a family under the house so all that has been scraped, sprayed, and new insulation installed. Ikkkk!
LikeLike
Hydrogen peroxide would do it.
LikeLike
You are right suzicate! I now have a file of telephone numbers for the agency, the agency liason person, the insurance company, the adjuster, the appraiser, a plumber, a mold specialist, a carpenter, you name it. And of course I took about 50 photos of the disaster area. Nothing like work-like challenges when you are retired.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am sorry about the dishwasher leak Kate. How did the kitties take to the waters? By the way, I have saved our mushroom in a plastic bag in a remote corner of the freezer. Will be glad to send it to you for tasting. I could pack it in dry ice! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes indeed Rita… the men are sorting out the mushrooms here. There were more under our house in the “crawl space.” I must trust that those have been dealt with. The leaky pipe has been replaced and now we have a new floor, a new drywall patch, and they are coming to paint the whole wall tomorrow. “Such is life.” 🙂
LikeLike
He’s a man – they never listen LOL.
LikeLike
I’ll pass on the mushroom…..
LikeLike
WOW ! That got done quickly ,but I guess it hat to. Praise for the men eh Dora.
LikeLike
That is a new one to me! I have had mold, but never a mushroom in the house. Good Luck!
LikeLike
Oh, horror! Not a leak! But you have to admit it is a beautiful fungus! When my son was living at home and in the lower bedroom, he thought it was really nice to get up to the morning floor that was warm on his toes. Apparently, it was like that for weeks without his telling us! When we did find out, it was right before the hot water started seeping out onto the floor. The first carpenter cut a hole in the wall–had no idea where the leak was! He would have ripped out lots of unnecessary concrete. We got someone else and they pinpointed the leak and did a very precise therapeutic repair! Painless–kind of. Good luck with yours.
LikeLike
I would FREAK. I too, would be buying bottles of bleach and figuring out what spores I could kill with it…even after the leak is repaired. Good luck. Good luck. Life goes on…hopefully without mushrooms.
LikeLike
We are so amazed at how wonderful all these work people are and how quickly they respond. I like to think it is one of the benefits of country living.
LikeLike
It was a new one to us too… I am still amazed, but grateful the mushroom appeared to tell us about the larger problem and we got it taken care of in time.
LikeLike
Who knows what horrors are happening under our floors and in our walls?! What a great story about your son enjoying warm toes before the water seeped out. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes… I did freak! And thanks for your good wishes Barb. We did learn something important though. Nowadays bleach doesn’t kill mold… the mold expert who came to our house confirmed that. He said hydrogen peroxide is the best remedy.
LikeLike
Only great as a past item!
LikeLike
Hi Dora, Thanks for your comment on my blog abt Linear B tablet (Wheat) I have left a reply with a link to Ancient Foods blog if you are interested.
LikeLike
Oh yes, I will check out the Ancient Foods blog Rita. Ancient grains are mentioned in the book I read because if they were still “ancient” and not processed as they are today, they would be acceptable fodder for human consumption. I am taking all of this with a “grain of salt.”
LikeLike