This Olde House - Bathroom Ceiling

So. My OTHER bathroom appears to have a problem or two with the ceiling. This isn't the bathroom I recently renovated. This is the "front bathroom," that most guests use. Not only is it horribly out-dated, but the ceiling has paint peeling down and sinister little black spots speckled all over the place.Of course, living down here in Hurricane Alley, we have a problem with mold. Knowing this, Cindy thinks it is the mold that has been making us all sick recently. And if anyone knows Cindy, they know she won't let up on me until I relent and rid her of her woes.

In a quest for peace, I spent the last half of my weekend, all by my lonesome, tearing down the ceiling in the front bathroom and removing the insulation. The bad news was that the insulation was absolutely filthy. Bad enough that I wore a respirator in an effort to fend off any airborne villains lurking up there, in the humid darkness. The good news was that everything was completely dry. No apparent moisture or recent growths of mold. Pretty much bone dry and mostly dust. I honestly think everything was damaged three years ago, by Katrina. I'm betting that the roof was breached, water got in, the insulation was rendered filthy by the rain and replacement of the roof, and the old sheetrock was briefly exposed to mold which keeps seeping through from time to time.

Finally, with everything removed, I mixed up some bleach, water, and Jomax then sprayed everything down. Every beam and board. If that doesn't kill the lingering mold, nothing will.To be doubly sure, I sprayed it TWICE across two days.

Now, the plan is to install a new vent (the old ceiling was un-vented (I'm betting steam contributed to the viability of the old black stuff)) install new greenboard (which is moisture and mold resistant) and coat it all with some Kilz (which loathes mold as much as Cindy does.) That's the plan. I'll see how it goes across the next two weeks.

Looking forward to getting THIS project behind me. In the meanwhile, the ceiling is gutted and hanging open. I imagine it haunts Cindy as much (if not more) than the mold did.