Question about water damage

[Orrex]

My wife and I own an older home that's in generally good shape, but it's seen some incidental water damage over the years. The only current problem is in the wall at the landing.

The windows are pretty old (we'll replace them when our budget permits), but for now I've resealed the gaps around the frame, so I'm pretty confident that no new water will get in. But the interior plaster wall is pretty messed up, and I'd like to replace it.

I'm reasonably confident in my ability to do the removal and replacement, but it just occurred to my wife that we could have mold in the wall.

How can I tell if mold is dangerous? At this point, we haven't seen any, but I don't want to find out the hard way. Is there a handy test-kit to sniff out the offending growth?

My intent is to put up a sheet of drywall, cut to match the window of course. Is regular drywall suitable for this kind of work, or should I install some sort of vapor barrier?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

[NMDemDist2]

1. this article may help and there is a new drywall that uses less paper

to give mold less of a chance to "feed"

the article is a bit draconian since you don't have mold you can see, but gives you some good ideas on handle the demo to keep anything that might be there from spreading

good luck :hi:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/blackmold2

http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pname=DensArmor+Plus%e2%84%a2+Interior+Drywall&pid=4659&hierarchy=pc

[brook]

2. My Ace Hardware

sells a Mold Detector 'test kit' for about 6.99. Might be worth checking with your local store.