water damage

[ruffianxc]

Hello,
I'm actually a renter but I was wondering about something in my apartment. My sink appears to have some sort of water damage underneath. the wood on the counter is black and very swollen under the sink and impinging on the ability to close the dishwasher, until they shaved some off.

my concern lies in the fact that there is a large chunk of swollen wood under my sink because the counter top is not sealed over the open wood. They said spray lysol but i'm thinking this is a mold, bacteria, etc hazard.

I have had three upper respiratory infections this year and one was rather severe considering i'm a pretty healthy 23 year old.

is this a serious hazard? should i make my landlord fix it?

they also wanted to spray lysol to treat the fact that the previous tenants smoked a lot each day for 11 years instead of cleaning the ducts. we eventually got them to clean them.. twice before it was fixed.

is this something i should pursue.

[HayZee518]

Black mold is hazardous to your health. In houses and apartments where there is a cool/cold wall that is damp will harbor the micro-organisms that create mold. A mold is a spore, very similar to yeast spores in the air. your sink top is a cheap unit. it is made out of mdf or osb. mdf is a wood chip adhesive constructed wood product. when it gets wet it expands as you have found out. when it dries after expansion it will not go back to its original construction specs. it must be replaced. your landlord is responsible to provide a health consious apartment and the sink isn't doing its job. spraying lysol on the sink parts is not gonna destroy the mold. Bleach won't do the job either. It must be scrubbed off. High temperature steam will destroy the spores.