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Mold Health Effects: 5 Tips to Stay Safe

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Mold Prevention, Uncategorized.

Mold—a word that might make you shudder, and for good reason. Often lurking in hidden corners or damp spaces, mold is more than just an unsightly inconvenience. It can pose serious health risks, especially to certain vulnerable groups. In this blog, we’ll explore how mold affects health, who is most at risk, and what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones.

What is Mold and Where Does it Grow?

Mold is a type of fungus that thrives in damp, humid environments. Found both indoors and outdoors, it spreads through airborne spores. Common indoor sources include leaky pipes, poorly ventilated bathrooms, and basements with moisture issues.

Fun fact: Did you know that mold spores are nearly everywhere, but they only grow into colonies when given the right conditions? Unfortunately, those “right conditions” often overlap with our living spaces!

The Health Risks of Mold Exposure

Mold exposure can lead to a range of health problems, depending on the type of mold, the level of exposure, and an individual’s susceptibility. Here’s a breakdown of common effects:

Respiratory Issues: Mold spores can irritate the respiratory system, causing coughing, sneezing, and throat irritation.

Allergic Reactions: Many people are allergic to mold, which can trigger symptoms like itchy eyes, a runny nose, or skin rashes.

Asthma Complications: For those with asthma, mold can exacerbate symptoms or even trigger attacks.

Chronic Effects: Prolonged exposure to toxic molds, like *Stachybotrys chartarum* (commonly known as “black mold”), has been linked to more severe issues like memory problems, fatigue, or lung inflammation.

Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable to mold’s effects.

Signs of Mold in Your Home

Mold doesn’t always announce itself with a musty smell or visible patches. Other signs include:

– Persistent water stains or peeling paint.

– Increased humidity or condensation on windows.

– Health issues among family members that improve when they’re away from home.

Preventing and Addressing Mold

To keep mold at bay, try these tips:

1. Control Humidity: Aim for indoor humidity levels below 60%, ideally between 30-50%.

2. Fix Leaks Promptly: Whether it’s a dripping faucet or a roof leak, address moisture sources quickly.

3. Ventilation is Key: Use exhaust fans in bathrooms and kitchens, and ensure proper airflow throughout your home.

4. Regular Inspections: Check damp areas like basements, under sinks and behind toilets sinks for early signs of mold.

Thermal imaging device

5. Professional Help: If mold infestation is significant, consult a mold expert. A few hundred dollars for a mold inspection can end up saving thousands of dollars in damage

Conclusion

Mold is more than just a household nuisance; it’s a genuine health concern that warrants attention. By understanding its risks and taking proactive measures, you can create a safer and healthier environment. Remember, the battle against mold starts with awareness. Share this blog with friends and family—they might thank you for it!

For more information about Mold’s Health Effects, visit the CDC web page about mold

Should you buy a house with a crawl space?

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Air Quality Testing, Mold Prevention, Uncategorized.

When buying a house with a crawl space, potential extra costs include: crawl space encapsulation (to prevent moisture and pests), repairs for existing moisture damage like wood rot, additional insulation, pest control treatments, and potential structural repairs related to water damage; all of which can significantly add to the purchase price of the home.

Moisture is the plague of crawl spaces everywhere and is a big deal because it can impact finances and physical health. So what are the consequences of moisture in a crawlspace?

#1: Energy Costs

Vented dirt crawl spaces are costly since they create damp conditions upstairs, which requires more energy to heat. Damp air also puts more strain on an HVAC system.

Taking care of humidity problems in a crawlspace can save 15-25% depending on the size of the house, whether ducts are located in the crawl, how many stories the house has, etc.

Simply caulking around windows doesn’t fix the problem.

#2: Pests

A moist and moldy crawl space attracts pests. Rodents, insects, snakes and more can make their way into the home; some die in the crawlspace. As they decay, they create offensive odors that rise into the occupied space.

High humidity conditions in the living space invite dust mites and their droppings. These droppings exacerbate symptoms for allergy and asthma sufferers.

A moist crawlspace also favors termites due to the abundance of wet wood and since homeowners rarely visit their crawlspace, they don’t know that the home is being eaten away from the inside.

#3: Mold

Moisture settles on exposed surfaces, including joists, beams, fiberglass insulation, and drywall. As long as moisture is present, mold grows and spreads. If you’ve ever visited an older home and smelled a musty odor, mold probably was the culprit and 9 times out of 10, that musty odor comes from a basement or crawl.

Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Dehumidifiers

Mold in the crawl (or basement) has a direct impact on people living in the home. Because of the “stack effect,” air moves from below-grade spaces into the upper levels of the house. Warm air travels upward and escapes through cracks, windows, vents, and other openings. As the air rises, it carries allergens, spores, soil gases like radon, mold gases, dust, and harmful elements that infiltrate the living space. This often causes asthma, allergies, and respiratory problems for occupants.

#4: Rot

Moisture leads to mold and mold leads to rot. Rot eats away at wooden joists, beams, and drywall. It causes structural issues, like spongy floors, doors and windows that don’t close properly, buckling or sagging floors.

The options are to fix the moisture problem or replace floors and repair the foundation. 

Controlling humidity and water intrusion are essential. To accomplish that, an encapsulation system, dehumidifier and sump pump are usually recommended.

The Solution

Crawlspace encapsulation by a crawlspace expert will insulate damp earth and keep the area airtight, dry and energy efficient. A vapor barrier is installed on the walls and floors of the crawl, preventing water vapor and humidity from reaching vulnerable surfaces like joists and subfloor. The liner is mold and mildew resistant and usually comes with a 25-year warranty. This liner creates an inhospitable environment for pests and prevents summer heat and winter cold from invading.

Then a large dehumidifier is installed. These are usually efficient, low-maintenance systems that come with a 5-year warranty and are designed for usage in below-grade spaces. Ideally, the contractor will install a crawl space door composed of inorganic materials (foam board or plastic) not susceptible to rot and rust. It’s crucial to create an airtight seal between the crawl and outside air.

If necessary, your contractor may also recommend a drainage matting system to be installed underneath the liner to direct water to a perimeter drain and sump pump system to keep water from pooling and creating long-term damage.

The adage “you pay now or pay later” certainly applies to crawl spaces!

For more information about crawlspaces visit https://www.fema.gov/about/glossary/crawlspace and

https://www.energystar.gov/saveathome/seal_insulate/basement_crawlspace

WHY MYCOTOXINS NEVER DIE

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Indeed, mycotoxins don’t die, because …
Mycotoxins were never living organisms to begin with.
Mycotoxins are chemical substances deliberately produced by hazardous molds, mostly with the objective of inflicting damage. Why do molds produce mycotoxins?
Well molds have a great sense of survival and they will do whatever is necessary to safeguard their space, their food source and their existence.
Why do molds enter a defensive state and produce mycotoxins?
  1. Defense Mechanism — In response to threats from other microbes, mold synthesizes mycotoxins to keep the competition away. Consider it their declaration of territorial ownership.
  1. Competition for Resources – Mycotoxins keep other mold species and bacteria away to safeguard their food (dust) and habitat (damp or wet surface).
  1. Environmental Stressors: Variations in temperature, humidity, or nutrient availability may prompt mold to excrete mycotoxins as a survival mechanism.
It is crucial to acknowledge that mycotoxins may persist in your environment even after you’ve removed the mold from your house. This is why we recommend a detailed cleaning or “Bio Cleaning” after remediation. Mycotoxins are chemically very stable and will endure long after the mold has disappeared.
Mycotoxins burden the liver and kidneys, undermining your ability to eliminate toxins. This can cause a variety of symptoms even after the mold is gone. This underscores the significance of mycotoxin testing. Eliminating the sources of mold constitutes merely the initial element of the cleanup process. The second phase involves eliminating the byproducts disseminated by those sources within your residence (bacteria, beta glucans, mites, etc.).
For more information on testing your home for mold and mycotoxins, contact our office at 800-MY-AIR-TEST.
Above illustration courtesy of Mosaic Diagnostics, formerly Great Plains Laboratories

I Had My House Tested For Mold By A Professional. No Mold Was Found, but I Can Smell it!

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Mold Inspection, Uncategorized.

If you continue to smell mold in your home even after professional testing showed negative results, you’re not crazy, and you’re not alone. There are different types of mold testing available to home owners, and some are better than others at finding hidden mold growth.Unfortunately, many current mold-testing methods are simply limited and often miss the mark. The most common types of testing employed by professionals today involve using “spore traps” or “tape lifts.” These types of tests focus on mold spores only. They ignore other substances produced by molds that can make you feel awful such as mycotoxins, microbial VOCs, beta-glucans, and often bacteria and their toxins (endotoxins).

Other common testing techniques focus on ambient air rather than where mold usually hides, such as inside walls, ceiling cavities, HVAC systems, under basement stairs, in closets, and in carpeting and insulation. We’ve even found it in C-Pap machines, in refrigerator ice maker dispensers and drip pans, and in mattresses.

What if a window leak is causing water to drip inside a wall cavity, and mold is growing on the back of the drywall, studs, and fiberglass insulation? Will the mold spores come out of the wall and float in the air to be captured by an air test? This is unlikely but, depending on airflow currents inside walls, the other compounds produced by molds might. Like the VOCs that produce the unmistakable musty odor. Oftentimes, the ambient air in the room tested “normal,” but when you sniff the electrical outlets in that room, you can smell the mustiness.

This is an example where wall-cavity testing (often called a wall check) is in order. Twenty-plus years of testing and tens of thousands of air samples have shown me repeatedly that an air sample taken in a room will not detect mold behind the wall. The wall cavity itself has to be tested.

Some professionals argue that wall cavity testing is unreliable because some walls that tested high on mold tests looked fine when they were opened. Often that’s because the spores are in the fiberglass insulation. The mold causes a musty odor, but you can’t see the mold because it’s hiding in the fiberglass insulation on the back of the drywall. Sometimes it is underneath the bottom plate (bottom stud), and there is no way to inspect that stud’s underside.

The same applies to carpeting, especially in basements, where carpeting is installed on concrete. Mold in carpeting is rarely visible and will not show up in an air test. Concrete slabs emit moisture, which over time, may cause mold growth in the carpet. At Indoor Environmental Testing Inc, our process begins with scanning walls and ceilings with an infrared camera, and conducting a walk-through of the home with special attention to areas around plumbing or water appliances (dishwasher, fridge ice maker, showers, vanities, laundry, etc.).

Using our specialized equipment, we scan walls and suspected areas for damp spots, temperature differentials, and particle counts, which may indicate potential mold growth. A visual and olfactory observation are also used to detect problem areas during the survey.

Finally, we use sampling equipment to collect samples of air or dust throughout the indoor environment. If a carpeted area is identified as a source, we will take samples of the carpet dust. When the IR camera indicates a suspicious spot, we may sample the air inside a wall cavity (this requires drilling a small 1⁄4” hole in the bottom of the wall, behind or right above the baseboard).

All samples taken from the indoor environment are sent to the lab for microscopic evaluations (2-3 days) or cultured at the lab and analyzed with a microscope to identify mold species (7-10 days).

If you are concerned about hidden mold growth in your home and especially if your intuition and nose tell you there is still some lurking — don’t give up. Consider doing your own testing through Indoor Environmental Testing Inc. You deserve a healthy, peaceful home.

Martine Davis is CEO of Indoor Environmental Testing, Inc and has been testing homes as a certified Building Biologist for over twenty years. She has dedicated her life to helping others get to the bottom of their indoor environmental issues, especially those who are suffering from health complications due to mold toxicity, air pollution, and electro-magnetic radiation.

 

 

FREE EMF Educational Seminar

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The best Building Biologists have created a great educational video which is available for free on YouTube. It is almost 4 hours long with great information presented by different professionals. You can easily go to the part you are interested in. There is minimal marketing for a new RF meter but the information presented is very valuable and covers basic concepts for newbies.

 

Indoor Environmental Testing Inc now offers water testing (Well Water and City Water)

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Contamination of drinking water can expose you to harmful chemicals you can’t see, taste or smell. we are now equipped to collect a certified lab sample to identify potential risks in your home’s drinking water.

Lead: detected in more than 20% of tap water, lead is a neurotoxin and very harmful to children, impacting brain development and behavior.

Arsenic: Perhaps the most potent carcinogen in US tap water, arsenic is detected in 10% of all samples submitted.

Nickel: Many people have skin and throat allergies when they ingest nickel at elevated levels. Not EPA-regulated, nickel is often detected if a home has nickel plated fixtures.

Coliform and E. Coli Bacteria: If your water comes from a local utility, bacterial contamination is uncommon but private well water should be tested for bacterial pathogens.

Nitrates: Nitrates and nitrites may indicate possible contamination from nearby agricultural runoff. It is particularly a risk in rural and suburban areas.

Hardness: Hard water clogs and breaks your plumbing, leaves film on glassware, prohibits soap from lathering and can taste chalky.

IET uses certified laboratories, provides unbiased water treatment advice and health-risk assessment. Add water testing to your next air quality inspection!

How to minimize entry of pollutants into the home

Written by Martine Davis on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Favor smooth-surfaced furniture (faux-leather, microfiber) over cloth upholstery, hard surfaced flooring over carpeting, metal or wood window treatments over draperies. Reducing clutter is essential to keeping dust down.

Vegan chair
Faux-leather Chair
Faux-leather white sofa

Check for leaky clothes dryer vents.

Implement a no-shoe-policy to reduce bringing outdoor pollutants.

Showering in the evening will reduce dust particles deposited from hair onto pillows, linens and into the bedroom.

For people who work outdoors and/or in polluted environments i.e. farmers, gardeners, carpet cleaners, mechanics, pest control applicators, construction workers and people who work in basements often like plumbers, heating & cooling contractors, pest control applicators etc., removing work clothes immediately upon returning home is essential to prevent “shedding” mold fragments, road dust, mouse and cat allergens, pesticides, etc. from clothing and hair. Use tacky mats and have shoe covers available when workers are going in and out of the house.

Most importantly, never let your cleaning service use its own vacuum cleaner in your home. The majority of vacuums leak very fine particles into the air, adding pollutants in your home from warehouses with rodents, office buildings with pesticide applications, and homes with mold and dander. If dust is going to be leaked in your home from a vacuum, it should be your dust, better yet, buy a non-leaky vacuum like Miele or Sebo.