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Q. We recently purchased our first condo which had a hot water
leak beneath the concrete slab under the bathroom floor for who knows how
long We have stopped the leak by abandoning the piping system under the
slab and have re-piped the entire condo through the walls. My concern is
that there could be mold beneath the bathroom linoleum on the slab & I am
not sure how to handle it if that is what we find when we remove the two
layers of linoleum. The linoleum is a light color and there is no evidence
of mold seeping through nor is their any bubbling of any kind. The condo
does smell a bit musty though, leading me to believe there is the
possibility of mildew in that area. We have removed the flooring throughout
the condo elsewhere and see no evidence of mold, not even on the slab right
outside the bathroom. You should also know that there is no window in our
bathroom and the bathroom is in the center of the condo so it will be
difficult to properly ventilate it during the mold removal. Any advice you
can provide would be greatly appreciated. [Sept. 10, 2005]
A. You should use
do it yourself mold test
kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store
to mold test the air of the bathroom, all other rooms,
attic, garage, and the outward air flow from each heating/cooling duct
register for the possible presence of elevated levels of airborne mold
spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold control test. Since the linoleum
shows no discoloration and you there is no evidence of mold in the concrete
outside of the bathroom, I would shift your attention to the bathroom walls.
If the concrete was wet from the leak, there is likely to have happened
wicking up of water from the concrete into the insides of the nearby walls.
You can open up the walls with small one inch by one inch or bigger squares
of drywall cut out [and then glued back in afterwards] to visually inspect
for mold growth in the middle of the drywall samples, on the backside of the
samples, and behind the drywall [look with a flashlight]. You can also draw
out air samples through the holes with a fan to which you attach an open
mold test kit. Read the fan instructions in the
mold test kit instruction section. In terms of ventilation, run a large
flexible ventilation house connected in the bathroom to an industrial hepa
filter or to a large fan [blocked off except for the tubing connection]. Be
sure the read the 25 steps for safe and effective
mold remediation.
Q.
I am an American currently living in The United Arab Emirates [ U.A.E. ].
I live in the capital which is actually an island connected to the
mainland by two bridges. I have been sick since we moved into this
apartment with chronic sinus, pneumonia, pleurisy (lung infection) body
aches and tired most of the time. My sister in North Carolina recently
mentioned I should read up on Black Mold. Since it is so common you don't
think that it is such a serious problem. Since I am in a very humid
climate I am sure there is lots of mold here. I saw some mold in the
bathrooms and cleaned what I was able to see. I also saw something Black,
Thick and Sticky in the Central air vents. I cleaned one vent cover and
it took me 3 days with a knife and bleach, etc. So I did not attempt to
clean any of the other ones. That was when we first moved in. Now it is
10 months later and I am still sickly and my small children have some
symptoms as well, though I am the worst as I am in the house more than
anyone else. Our contract in this apt is up in August. We have decided
to move but my question to you is what can I do to avoid this problem
again. Building standards etc. are not the same as the U.S. There could
be hidden mold in most of these buildings even the new ones from what I
read on your site. I went to the doctor to be tested and she sent me for
Allergy (Ige) Testing. This made me think that people who don't have an
allergy to mold won't be harmed by it. Also, I found a 10 year old
allergy test I had that said I am allergic to "Alternaria, Outdoor mold
July to October" I found someone from Environment and Public health to
come to my apartment to take samples, yesterday. They took some from the
air vent in my bedroom and told us to sleep in a different room in the
meantime. We did as my 3 year old and I felt sicker in that room. They
checked the false ceiling in my bathroom and said it was clean (though I
find that hard to believe). They said they would take the samples to the
lab and grow it and give us the results in about a week. Well that is as
briefly as I could state my current situation. Here are my questions to
you?
Should I buy a Air
Cleaner? With Ionizer?
Should
I only move into a brand New Apartment?
I am
now on the first floor, should I look for an apt higher up? Should I
look for an apartment with individual air conditioning units rather than
Central Air? It seems your website is offering a lot of cleaning and
removal solutions of which don't think I can tackle in this place. Is
there anything that might benefit me and my family, such as testing what
we have been exposed to?
Anything else I can do to survive while I am looking for another apartment
besides keeping the windows open as much as possible. There are some
plants and trees outside bout 20 feet from my windows. [June 3, 2005]
A.
As to mold health problems you may be facing, read the indepth ebook
Mold
Health Guide, available at
Mold Store.
It will explain not only mold health in great detail, but the book
explains available medical mold diagnostic and treatment procedures.
The
black, thick, sticky mold is likely to be the deadly mold Stachybotrys
that can cause permanent brain damage. With the mold problems as big as
they are in your rental unit, you need to move immediately to a mold-safe
place to live. Moving to a new place does not mean it is mold-safe---read
the info at
New Home Mold. Living higher in the air will not protect you from
mold growth that results from high humdity, and living higher may put you
closer to present or future roof leaks [not too big a problem in UAE due
to modest amounts of rain]. Individual air conditioning units can be
easily cleaned and monitored by you, in comparison to centralized building
air conditioning. Opening the windows is good to increase through breezes
to keep airborne mold spores from accumulating in a closed up apartment.
Use do it yourself
mold test kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store. To deal with the
mold-causing high humidity, operate one or more programmable dehumidifiers
to keep the indoor humidity to a mold-discouraging 30 to 40%.
Q.
I understand that if moisture
is eliminated mold will stop
spreading/growing. I also understand that the spores are still there and
can start growing more easily. I was curious if mold that stopped growing
due to lack of moisture disintegrates or biodegrades? If so, how long
till disintegration or biodegradation happens? [April 20, 2005]
A.
Mold that runs out of moisture to sustain its continued growth goes into a
dormant state [that can last for millions of years] waiting for renewed
access to moisture so that it can resume its relentless growth made
possible by eating cellulose-based building materials and other organic
food. Dormant mold does not disintegrate or biodegrade over time. The
dormant or growing mold can endure being either frozen or high
temperatures [up to 160 degrees F].
Q.
Last night I watched an episode of “Court TV” in which a father and son
suffered irreversible neurological damage due to an infestation of the
poisonous black mold in their home. Theirs was a luxurious multi-million
dollar house, but one leak in the residence caused these terrible
illnesses. The growth of the mold was so serious that the house had to be
condemned. Recently, I suffered inexplicable tears in my both my retinas.
First, the left eye developed four tears, and then the right eye developed
mirror images of the tears in the left eye. I saw a neurologist, and
although he didn’t feel the tears in my retina were related to any
problems in my brain, he did see signs of a part of my brain that seemed
to have suffered a stroke some time ago. I have been living in my house
for ten years. The roof leaks, and once during my occupation of this
residence, water came through the air conditioner, seeped on to the pine
floors and caused the floor boards to buckle. My front door has a crack
in it, and once there was the strangest “object” coming through the
crack. I wish I had taken a picture of it for you. It looked like an
insect, but it was an alien-like mold. I have always suffered from mold
allergies, but the show on Court TV said the family I mentioned earlier
had been tested for mold allergies and their diagnosis was negative. As
you well know, they were being poisoned by the mold, not manifesting an
allergy to it. Is there a way I could test my home to see if the mold in
it is poisonous? I am a single woman of modest income. [Jan. 13, 2005]
A.
The Court TV reported mold tragedy is the tip of the iceberg of the
millions of people whose health is being ruined every day by mold
poisoning from their living in mold infestation. Because airborne mold
spores easily enter one's eyes to cause severe health damage to the eyes,
your eye problems may well be mold-related. You would be wise to have
yourself checked out medically by a lung doctor [pulmonary physician],
neurologist [for possible brain and neurological damage], and an ENT [ear,
nose and throat specialist]. Learn of all of the available medical mold
diagnostic and treatment procedures in our in depth ebook
Mold
Health Guide, available from our
online mold products catalog. It would help
both your doctors and yourself to know the identify of the precise molds
living in your home, as the result of of all of the water leaks your home
has experienced. You should do all around mold testing, in conjunction
with mold lab analysis and mold species identification. To make the
testing and lab fees affordable, utilize do-it-yourself mold air
testing should be your first step to determine whether your home and
workplace have a serious mold infestation problem. If there is even
a hidden mold problem inside walls, ceilings, attic, and the
heating/cooling system, usually detectable airborne mold spores will
make it into the air. If the indoor mold levels are elevated in
comparison to your outdoor mold control test, you know that you
probably have a serious mold problem which needs further
investigation and possible mold remediation. Use do it yourself
mold test kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety
store
to mold test any visible mold growths, the air of each room, basement,
crawl space, attic, garage, the outward air flow from each heating/cooling
duct register, and inside the passenger compartment of your vehicles
[often mold cross contaminated if your home or office is mold infested].
Watch the mold test kits for 7 days. If any of the test kits show a large
number of mold colonies of one more different types of mold [visually
different to you], you can submit the mold test kits to a mold laboratory.. If mold test results indicate a
problem, you may then want to then hire a
Certified Mold Inspector to use fiber optics to inspect inside walls,
ceilings, and the heating/cooling ducts for evidence of physical mold
growth, and to do in depth mold investigation and inspection. Learn the 25
steps recommended for safe and effective
mold remediation.
Q.
After months of agony, I have found we have mold in our house. We are
getting it removed but I have some questions. Will ultraviolet lights kill
mold spores? I know I have it in my body, can I give it to another
individual? I have a friend who has cancer, and is taking chemotherapy.
Can I give it to her? The mold has been sent for identification, but the
expert thinks it is Stachybotrys.....is there an antibiotic I can take to
rid it in my body? Will a dermatologist be able to help or should I go
to...........? (different type of doctor) I must be allergic and my
husband is not, it seems to be worse at night Why? It gets in my hair?
Little black specks of dirt (whatever) is where the spores are. What is
that? Under a microscope the specimens are all different colors- red,
black, blue, green, white, black What do the colors mean? My 2 year old
grand daughter has spent 3 nights per week for 2 years, what are the
chances she has it in her body? [Jan. 1, 2005]
A.
Your granddaughter can easily develop mold health problems from her
frequent visits to your house. So can any others who spend an hour or more
breathing in elevated levels of airborne mold spores in your home. Your
body's mold health contamination cannot be spread directly to
others. It is only your house that can do so. But you can transfer mold
spores from your home to your car, workplace, and other locations on your
shoes, clothing, hair, and skin. People vary significantly in their
sensitivity to mold exposure---thus you can suffer heavily from mold,
while your husband may not. Different color molds mean you have different
types of mold species eating your home. When you receive back the mold
species identification in the mold lab analysis you have ordered, you will
know which molds are resident in your home. Most mold remediation is done
poorly, leaving big-time mold problems still remaining AFTER alleged mold
remediation. Learn the 25 steps recommended for safe and effective
mold remediation. Ultraviolet light in huge levels from multiple
ultraviolet bulbs [at least 388,000 uwats per second of exposure of the
mold spores to the UV light] can effectively kill mold which comes in
contact with the UV lights [usually installed in the return air duct of
the heating/cooling system]. One or two UV lights are inadequate to kill
mold. Usually one UV light has only about 10,000 to 18,000 uwats per
second. To learn more about available medical mold diagnosis and treatment
alternatives, read the in depth ebook
Mold Health Guide,
available kits at our
online mold products catalog. The most
appropriate medical specialists to visit for mold health problems are a
pulmonary physician [lung doctor], allergist, neurologist [possible brain
and nervous system problems], and ENT doctor [ear, nose, and throat].
Q.
I live in a 1964 house that we JUST purchased about 6 months ago. We had a
flood in our first level (not a basement) due to a washer backing up. We
had it remediated and learned there was excessive moisture in the walls,
which led to the determination that there was mold in the walls. We have
had that fixed. However, we had cut a hole in our ceiling to fix a leaky
toilet - our plumber never told us about the mold because he probably did
not notice/know. We left that hole open for about 4 months (still open)
and when the guys fixed the water/flood & mold problem, they noticed mold
in the ceiling there too where the plumbing had been addressed. We have
had SERVICE MASTER come out and look at it for a remediation estimate. We
have been told by them it is nothing dramatic or worrisome in spite of our
very asthmatic family -- all of whom have runny noses, coughs, and these
symptoms have worsened, but it could also be the weather. the doctors do
not seem concerned that it is the mold. We plan to have a test this
weekend and to have it remediated. What can you tell me about a) our
continuing to live here - not sure if we are being dramatic to be worried
and/or if we should be taking this much more seriously; b) our doctor's
responses in spite of their knowledge of asthma/allergies being subdued.
Please advise ASAP...very concerned mother. [November 29, 2004]
A.
Serious mold remediation needs to take place when your family is living
elsewhere in a mold-safe place temporarily. Learn the 25 steps for safe
and effective mold remediation.
Your family's serious health problems, the present ceiling mold problem,
and the mold history of the house should make moving out temporarily very
beneficial to you. Do not move any clothing or personal property without
first doing mold decontamination by washing such items with Borax laundry
detergent in water. Borax is a natural mold cleaner and killer. A list of
Virginia Certified Mold Inspectors has been emailed to you. You would be
wise to have your inspector use fiber optics inspection to look inside
walls and ceilings for hidden mold growth, and to do mold testing of the
air of wall and ceiling cavities, and of all rooms, basement/crawl space,
attic, and the outward air flow from each heating/cooling duct register
for the presence of elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in comparison
to an outdoor mold control test. Of course, you will want the newly
discovered mold in the ceiling to be sampled and mold lab analyzed. You
also need to read carefully the in depth book
Mold Health Guide,
available at our
online mold products catalog.
Q. My husband and I recently purchased a
home in Santa Ana, California, and we have notice that our next door neighbor has mold
crawling out of his bathroom window and spreading up toward the roof. I understand mold
can spread can that be a potential harm to our health. His bathroom and our bathroom are
facing each other. Is there something I can do to prevent mold spreading over to my
property? [June 18, 2004]
A.
Airborne mold spores from the neighbor's moldy house can and probably will travel in air
current movements to enter your house through open windows and doors and through the fresh air
intake of your heating/cooling system. Your first step is to keep close all windows facing the
moldy neighbor. Second, you need to determine whether or not your home already has elevated
levels of airborne mold spores through out your house. Use our do it yourself mold test kits
for a low-cost investigation. Your first and most affordable mold investigative step
to learn the severity and the extent of the possible mold
infestation is to use do it yourself
mold test kits [self observation of results over a 5 to 7 day time
period, or send to a mold laboratory for mold analysis and mold
species identification] to mold test the air of each
room, attic, basement, crawl space, and the outward air flow from each heating/cooling duct
register for the possible presence of elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in comparison
to an outdoor mold control test which you should also do. If you see any visible mold growth,
from each moldy area, scrape some of the mold particles into a separate mold test kit per
testing location for observation over a 5 to 7 day time period, and/or for
mold lab analysis. When scraping mold into a test kit, you would be
wise to use a breathing air respirator [Home Depot or Lowe’s or a
safety store] so that you don’t breathe in extra mold spores that
you put into the air by scraping some mold-like substances into each
mold test kit.
Use do it yourself
mold test kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety
store. If
your home has elevated levels of airborne mold spores, you might wish to
contact an attorney to write a remediate your home letter to the adjacent
property owner. You can also think about filing a complaint with your
local building inspector and health department. If you have elevated
levels of mold in your home, buy GE hepa air purifiers [large size for
about $100 from Wal-Mart] to run in different areas of your house. If your
home is mold contaminated, learn the steps required for safe and effective
mold remediation.
Q. We are owners of a
condominium which about 3 weeks ago was subjected to a flood of water from an overflowing
toilet in the suite above ours. The owners couldn't figure out how to get the toilet
to stop, so it kept flooding for quite a few minutes. Water poured down through
several routes: our smoke detector, inside a wall from where it then flowed out to both on
top of and (apparently) underneath our newly installed "wood" laminate floor, and through
the vent in our bathroom. The restoration company that was called in by the condo mgt. said
everything looked OK and saw no reason to do any restoration work. However,
subsequently, we have been noticing an extremely noxious sour odor that seems to be getting
worse each day. We also haven't been feeling very well - very achy and tired - and are
wondering if there is a hidden mold problem that could be, at the least, causing the bad
odor and, at the worst, making us sick. As there is no visible sign of mold anywhere,
we are wondering if there is a way to test for mold without having to actually tear out
drywall? Also, do you have any other recommendations? [March 19, 2004]
A. One way to detect
hidden mold
growth inside walls and ceilings is to turn off the appropriate electrical circuit breaker,
and then remove the plastic electrical switch and outlet cover plates. Using a small fan
that has been thoroughly cleaned [blades and housing] with rubbing alcohol, tape one of our
opened do it yourself mold test kits to the fan so that the fan air flow directly impacts on
the sticky surface of the mold test kit. Then place a stand of some kind to hold the fan in
place for 15 minutes to draw air from the gaps around the uncovered electrical outlets and
switches. You want to line up the mold test kit directly with the outlet gaps so that the
fan draws air from inside the wall and then directly impacts that air on the mold test kit.
Then seal the mold test kit, and properly mark it as to testing location, your name,
property address, date of testing, and testing method [fan air test]. You can watch for mold
growth over a 7 day time period in the mold test kit, or send the kit to a lab for mold
laboratory analysis right away or after the 7 days. You would use a separate
mold test kit for each hole that you are drawing air out of. You need to
clean the fan blades and housing after every separate test location is
completed. You can do the same procedure to test ceilings, by
disconnecting the screws holding up the ceiling light [letting it hang by
the electrical wires]. In addition, you will also want to mold test the
air of each room, attic, basement, crawl space, and the outward air flow
from each heating/cooling duct register for the possible presence of
elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold
control test.
Use do it yourself mold test
kits from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store. As to the flooring, and likely, mold growth beneath, you need to
drill several well-spaced testing holes into the flooring in several areas to conduct
multiple location fan tests. Click here for
mold inspection
insights.
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