Accepted Answer

Absolutely the water could penetrate behind the siding. With any roof leak water can go almost anywhere. Flat roofs can be especially bad because they have dips in them that allow water to pool. Therefore not only do you get a leak but you get lots of water in any individual leak. The most likely scenario for water getting behind the siding is that it leaked into the attic space, flowed across the top side of the sheetrock on the ceiling to an outside wall and then flowed behind the siding. If your building has no overhangs then it is also conceivable that the fascia board rotted on the edge of the roof and allowed water flowing off of the roof to work its way behind the siding. Mold in the attic is a definite possibility but once the water leak is fixed and the humidity is removed the mold growth will cease until more moisture is present. As for mold behind the siding, I would consider that to be irrelevant as to whether the sheathing behind the siding and the siding needs to be repaired. If there is water damage and regardless of the presence of mold, the siding and underlying sheathing should be repaired. Since you are mainly concerned about the mold, I will tell you that the mold will not be an ongoing problem once the sheathing and siding are repaired unless there is another leak. There is a whole industry built around mold remediation but for the most part it is a whole industry that feeds off of peoples fears of toxic mold. Most mold is not toxic and even the ones that are require two things to proliferate, water and a carbon source (wood, paper etc.). If you take away either of those resources, the mold will stop growing. If you are in the predicament where you have toxic mold growing inside your home then the material needs to be removed and replaced with new material once the leaks have been fixed. The only way that you can determine whether or not you have toxic mold is to have a company sample the mold and analyze it in a lab. This is expensive and is usually not worth it since there is just about as much literature out there that disputes the toxic effects of toxic mold on humans as there is that supports it. The basic idea here is that your management company needs to correct the problem because that is their responsibility. Additionally, they should want to correct the problem because water damage can be very costly to them if it is allowed to continue.

Expert:	Coldwater Creek Homes
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Accepts:
Answered:	10/1/2009

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Extensive experience in carpentry, plumbing, electrical and all other aspects of construction.