Archive for the “General” Category
A blog post on mold removal
September 30, 2007, 9:54 amAs more people become familiar with the dangers of mold and empower themselves to remedy the situation we see more and more successful stories, such as this one I found on an unrelated blog:
So when we saw what was underneath the cabinets and walls of our kitchen, CD and I had a profound ‘Holy Crap!’ moment. 80-year-old dust and mildew is not unexpected, but then again - who can be prepared for what we found?
After locking our son in his hermetically sealed environment with filters going an mach speeds, we consulted the Internet and our family doctor about what to do.
Short of doing a complete gut removal of the room (which we did with the back room of the house but couldn’t afford to do again) here’s the consensus that we followed.
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(posted in the Resources, General category)
AAOHN Hosts Mold Webcast
August 7, 2007, 11:38 amThis looks like a fascinating event to be held by a respectable organization about the mold crisis that threatens individual and public health:
The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses has recently announced that it is hosting a one hour webcast, titled “The Mold Crisis: An Update on Current Thoughts and Practices,” conducted by René R. Salazar, Ph.D., CIH, on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 at 2 p.m. EST. Participants will receive 1.0 CNE credit.
The purpose of the webcast is to offer an industrial hygiene approach to recognizing and evaluating mold problems of non-industrial, indoor environments. The presentation will discuss scientifically-sound methods of assessing mold problems, common methods of characterizing potential exposures to individuals, and generally recommended remedial response strategies. AAOHN says participants will learn the basic characteristics of mold elements, their ecological benefits, and how they have come to be perceived as hazardous agents.
Salazar holds an undergraduate degree in microbiology, and masters and doctorate degrees in Public Health from the University of South Florida, College of Public Health.
Questions posed to faculty during the live webcast program through a chat function will be answered in the last 10 minutes of the program. Questions not answered during the broadcast will be posted with answers in the online archive.
The registration fee for AAOHN members is $50 if registering online, and $60 if registering via fax or by mail. For non-members, the registration fee is $75 if registering online, and $85 if registering via fax or by mail. There is a 3-for-2 registration offer available only to AAOHN members working for the same employer who register via fax or by mail. For registration information and complete details go to www.aaohn.org or call 770-455-7757.
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(posted in the Resources, General category)
Better to be safe than sorry
February 27, 2007, 8:48 amHere’s a great blog post that includes a passage on how the author was able to take action upon realizing he had a mold situation. I think as more people become aware of the potential presence of mold you’ll see far more people being pro-active, if not preventative.
“Whoa, I can’t go down there. You’ve got standing water there for some reason,” he said. I looked where the beam of light fell, and sure enough, I could see the pools of standing water and mud. It was the middle of a bone-dry summer. The DirectTV installer ended up drilling a hole through the brick facade of the house, and pulling the cable through the wall. But before he left, he said something to me that ended up saving us a ton of money: “You ought to have that water looked at, buddy. There shouldn’t be standing water under your foundation.”
His comment stood out in the back of my mind. A few weeks later, I was talking to a friend from California, who is a realtor, and we were chatting about how business was going. She said something about how California insurers were having lots of problems these days with “black mold litigation”, which was having an effect on her ability to sell houses and get them insured. Hmm, I thought. Standing water. Black mold. Water + wood = mold. Maybe I should have this checked out.
To make a long story short, I decided to hire a building inspector, and he ended up finding that around 25% of our home’s pier-and-beam foundation had been rotted out, and that there was a large mold colony under the house. Somehow–and to this day I dont know how this happened–the original inspector hired by my wife had completely missed both the wood rot and the mold. (My wife, unlike me, isn’t particularly careful about these things, and she bought the house before we got married.) The lawyer in me went straight to work.
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(posted in the legal, General category)
Owners can fix small mold spots
November 13, 2006, 10:06 amThe Detroit Free Press has a great feature called Ms. Builder, in their real estate section. It’s an advice column, where readers submit questions about their homes and related subjects. Recently they had a question about mold in homes, and the answer is quite informative:
Dear Ms. Builder: We are fixing up our house to sell. There are a couple of small moldy spots on the ceiling and walls from previous leaks. They look bad but have caused no problems. How can we fix them? – Cammy W.
Dear Cammy: Homeowners have major concerns today about mold in houses because of the many stories done on dangerous black mold. Actually, most mold looks pretty black on a light surface, so people, especially ones with children, are understandably concerned when they see any discoloration from mold.
Unless you live in the desert with extremely low humidity, your house will have mold growing somewhere in it. Even in relatively dry climates, just the normal human activities in a house create enough moisture to allow some mold to thrive — often in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms.
If potential buyers have a qualified house inspector check your home before they sign the contract, the mold will likely be detected, so it is wise to repair the spots now. Since they are small spots, you are allowed to fix them yourself.
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(posted in the Resources, General category)
Mold debate and controversy
November 7, 2006, 7:42 amI was doing some election day reading this morning, going over some blogs to see what people were thinking as the polls opened, and I came across this interesting post from IlliniPundit.com talking about mold. I couldn’t help but chuckle as even heated politics can be set aside for concerns of mold. Here’s quoting from the post:
A commenter wondered how aggressive I’d be after the election investigating the mold issue. I can assure you that I’ll keep up the fight. Here are just a few of the unanswered questions I have.
Why wasn’t the stormwater detention plan implemented prior to the construction proceeding?
I received a call from a worker who had been told that the mold on the site was nontoxic. In fact, the mold was toxic, so what was done to protect workers?
I received a document from PKD that is dated prior to the primary that says that work would not be completed until July. Why was that timeline not released?
When did the board vote to expand the project from 20 million to 21.6 million?
The environmental experts said that no construction should proceed unless the moisture content of the wood had dropped to acceptable levels. According to my latest FOIA response, there was no testing done of the wood to determine moisture content. Why not?
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(posted in the General category)
Insurers focus on mould risk
March 3, 2006, 11:37 amIt’s good to hear that Insurers are starting to understand the risks that mould poses, not just with regard to health, but with respect to their bottom line. To quote:
With Hurricane Katrina putting an exclamation mark on mould and pollution exposure, brokerage firm Integro is anticipating more risk managers will investigate environmental insurance programmes.
Integro, through its subsidiaries, is an insurance brokerage and risk management firm which specialises in placing environmental policies for entities ranging from real estate companies to chemical plants. Headquartered in New York, it also has offices in Bermuda as well as a handful of other major cities in the US and Canada.
Ed Morales, senior associate in Integro’s San Francisco office, told The Royal Gazette that the aftermath of the third quarter 2005 hurricanes which devastated the Gulf Coast sent a clear message to commercial property owners that they must pay attention to mould coverage if they have not done so in the past.
“The results of Katrina has really put [mould] on the front burner in respect to considering mould as an absolute necessity for coverage going forward,” he said adding that the environmental insurance marketplace is “pretty robust” with most insurers willing to offer such cover as long as they can underwrite to it.
“Certainly the advent of Katrina is really going to raise eyebrows as to how they underwrite to mould,” he said.
Source: Royal Gazette
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(posted in the News, General category)
Mould problem keeps Lab City centre closed
March 3, 2006, 11:34 amIt’s always a little upsetting to find when mould impacts the activities of youth in the community. Here’s a story from eastern Canada:
Tenants at Labrador City’s community centre will have to wait several more weeks before they know when they will be able to move back into the facility.
The centre was closed in January when air quality tests pointed to a mould problem in the building.
This week the town received the results of more extensive tests.
“On a room by room basis, it varied anywhere from a minute trace of mould to considerable mould growth,” said Jeff Boland, Labrador City’s town engineer.
“The building is considerably old but we’re hopeful that at this point in time that the remediation work can be done at a reasonable cost, and that the building can be put back into normal use in short order.”
Source: CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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(posted in the General category)
Fighting Mold — The Homeowners’ Guide | CMHC
February 22, 2006, 11:31 amThe good people over at CMHC have put up a homeowner’s guide for fighting mold. It has some great info, including the following description of mold:
Molds are microscopic fungi, a group of organisms which also includes mushrooms and yeasts. Fungi are highly adapted to grow and reproduce rapidly, producing spores and mycelia in the process.
You encounter mold every day. Foods spoil because of mold. Leaves decay and pieces of wood lying on the ground rot due to mold. That fuzzy black growth on wet window sills is mold. Paper or fabrics stored in a damp place get a musty smell that is due to the action of molds.
Molds can be useful to people. The drug penicillin is obtained from a specific type of mold. Some foods and beverages are made by the actions of molds. The good kinds of molds are selected and grown in a controlled fashion.
Molds are undesirable when they grow where we don’t want them, such as in homes. Over 270 species of mold have been identified as living in Canadian homes. Molds that grow inside may be different from the ones found outdoors.
Source: Fighting Mold — The Homeowners’ Guide | CMHC
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(posted in the Resources, General category)
Haunted by Katrina
February 11, 2006, 11:30 amHere’s another story about how mold has quickly taken over a home in the wake of the Hurricane disaster. To quote:
Vladine Lee Bryan stared in disbelief at the digital photographs on her father’s computer screen. Black mold had spread over the walls of her house in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward. The high-water marks in her son’s room were inches from the ceiling. The refrigerator was overturned in the middle of the living room. The floodwater had rushed through the garage and ripped away plaster to expose weakened wooden beams.
A Harry Potter poster and school-issued plaques celebrating her children’s successes had managed to cling to the walls. But there were few other reminders that she was looking at the place where she, her husband and their three young children had built their life together.
“It doesn’t look like anybody lived there in years,” said Bryan, 31, straining to speak through her tears. “It looks like one of them burnt out buildings.”
After contemplating the photos, which her estranged husband took when he returned to assess the flood damage, Bryan reached for a Valium from the one-month supply she had been given at Manhattan’s Disaster Assistance Service Center. She had been reluctant to take the drug, but if there was ever a time to borrow peace of mind from a tranquilizer, this was it.
Source: AlterNet
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(posted in the News, General category)
Inn at Penn mold not a risk for most
February 6, 2006, 11:24 amIt’s a little disturbing to find so many instances of mold infection in places like hotels and Inns. The good news however is that people are being responsible and dealing with the situation. Check out this article, excerpt below:
Hilton Inn at Penn guests have apparently not been endangered by exposure to mold — which prompted a $9 million renovation project at the hotel.
According to hotel spokeswoman Nancy Barag, “there was never any danger to any guests, and we’re fixing the problem.”
The Inn at Penn renovation project began in November, six years after the hotel opened in 1999. The renovations are slated for completion in September.
Barag said that prior to the renovation project, the Inn at Penn was frequently tested for mold levels and the problem had been remediated several times. She did not specify how the problem had been temporarily remedied.
Barag added that over time, mold can reach dangerous levels. But the mold growth in the Inn at Penn never reached that point.
“The levels of mold spores were never as high as they are outside,” Barag said. “You can walk outside of your house and there’s more mold” than there was in the hotel.
However, a real estate professional involved in the original construction of the Inn at Penn, who wished to remain anonymous, said that “mold is a huge liability for building owners because it’s a recent area of interest in litigation.”
Source: dailypennsylvanian.com
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(posted in the News, General category)
Living with Mold in New Orleans
February 3, 2006, 11:22 amThis is a rather solemn story that brings home the impact of mold in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. To quote from the article:
In the vast wasteland that is eastern New Orleans — mile after mile of industrial wreckage, blown-out storefronts and abandoned homes — a small group of elderly men live alone in flood-damaged apartments off Chef Menteur Highway.
They sleep on mattresses that once were submerged in more than 5 feet of black, polluted water.
Mold that has grown unchecked for nearly five months behind walls and under warped, rolling floorboards produces a damp, headache-inducing smell.
These men have lived in these wretched conditions since Hurricane Katrina wrapped her outer bands around New Orleans Aug. 29.
They are old, sick and alone, and in many of the most battered sections of the city, they represent the permanent population — people who remained throughout the storm and the tortuous aftermath because they had no other options.
Source: New Orleans CityBusiness
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(posted in the News, General category)
Sights, smells show depth of damage
January 29, 2006, 11:13 amThis is a rather disturbing description that comes from the remarkable cleanup effort going on down south:
Although the corps volunteers were not removing debris in areas where officials believed bodies would be found, three bodies were found.
“They had cadaver teams, but not enough,” Wagoner said. “I was sure glad I didn’t find anyone.”
There was odor from rotting food that had been sitting in the sun for more than a month. The odor of mold growing in buildings could be smelled from the street.
“I’m used to the smell of a fish-cleaning station at the lake in summer, so the smells didn’t bother me as much as they did the guy from Philadelphia,” Wagoner said. “He had a hard time and couldn’t eat because of the smells.”
To date, 23.7 million cubic yards of debris has been cleared just in Mississippi, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public affairs specialist Eric Cramer in Kansas City, Mo. That would be equivalent to the length of 50 football fields filled to a depth of 20 feet. The job is about 55 percent complete.
Source: Kearney Hub - Kearney-Area News
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(posted in the News, General category)
Top Seven Ways Insurance Companies Try to Avert Paying All or Part of Consumer Claims
January 20, 2006, 11:09 amThis is an interesting article that looks at some of the various loopholes and practices that are used to reduce some if not all of an insurance claim. Of important note is number seven in the list:
Deny Testing for Mold: The Garfinkel Trial group has seen many cases where insurance companies deny mold testing and payment. Garfinkel Trial Group recommends mold testing. If there is mold present, a claim for remediation should be presented to have the insurance company pay for the affected areas.
Source: Top Seven Ways Insurance Companies Try to Avert Paying All or Part of Consumer Claims
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(posted in the General category)
Media Reporters Don’t Get It Right When It Comes To Mold
April 12, 2005, 5:30 amNow here’s an interesting press release, that seems to counter some earlier information we’ve come across regarding the use of dogs and the detection of mold. Given that we’re new to this area, and just learning, it is quite fascinating to find contradictory information, which of course frames an emerging debate on how to deal with these issues. To quote:
The people who spuriously use “mold sniffing dogs” in their new mold testing businesses do so with dire consequences to their customers, as well as to the dogs. Most customers, we believe, have the ability to sift through the hype about these animals and make intelligent decisions to hire a professionally trained, equipped, and properly certified and insured inspector to assist them with their indoor air quality problem. Unfortunately and regretably, it appears media reports do not possess this same ability to sift through the hype and report on the fact.
(PRWEB) April 11, 2005 — The Mold Consultants, LLC has placed on their website a hard-hitting criticism of the unwarranted fancy that media reporters have for the so-called mold-sniffing dogs.
The Mold Consultants, LLC is a credible, experienced, certified, and reputable indoor air quality consulting and testing company that specializes in mold. Its reputation has been built since 2002 by providing high-quality and low-priced services to well over 500 homeowners and renters. The company is also known industry-wide as a leading authority on contemporary issues relevant to the mold industry. In that regard, the owner of the Company, Mr. Jim J. Hobuss, has written a scathing article lambasting media reporters who report on the hype of mold-sniffing dogs, without doing due diligence to check their facts prior to publication.
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(posted in the General category)
Mold in Residential Buildings
March 27, 2005, 4:04 pmThe National Association of Home Builders has lots of info available regarding mold in residential buildings. What’s really interesting about this issue, is not just the health effects, but the legal and economic dynamics. Check out the intro to their paper on the subject:
The presence of mold in residential and commercial buildings is generating a new wave of litigation against builders, building owners, and property managers for personal injury and property damage. It has been the subject of disputes between insurers and their policy holders. And, while mold growth in indoor environments is not new, the issue has generated national media attention and led to the creation of dozens of mold sites on the Internet. Visible mold growth in a home is never acceptable, however, the scientific and medical literature contains differing opinions regarding the potential health impacts of exposure to mold. Moreover, there is conflicting information about the proper methods for investigating and remediating mold, which has led to uncertainty and fear in the minds of many. This paper is intended to provide an overview of some of the mold issues and to alleviate undue concern about mold in indoor environments.
Read the full document via their website: Mold in Residential Buildings
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(posted in the General category)
Household Mold and Illness
March 27, 2005, 3:35 pmThere’s a lot of interesting anecdotal and scientific research into the health effects of household mold. Here’s a page that has some info, and is quite accessible as far as language and concepts. It also touches upon the difficulty in explicitly linking mold and poor health. To quote:
“It’s pretty hard to prove cause and effect with mold,” says Jay Portnoy, MD, a physician at Children of Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and a representative of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. “There seems to be a relationship between mold and illness, but it’s hard to prove. We can’t blow mold in people’s faces to see what happens. That wouldn’t be ethical.”
Nevertheless, Portnoy says, there is a growing body of evidence that the molds Penicillium and Aspergillus, which are usually found indoors and smell bad, and Cladosporium, present in outdoor air and less odorous, are not good to have around.
Another strain, Stachybotrys, has gotten a lot of press for attacking the houses of high-profile victims such as crusader Erin Brockovich, resulting in crushing lawsuits that have resulted in higher insurance rates and sent homeowners insurance companies into a tizzy. However, Stachybotrys accounts for only 20% of cases, according to Portnoy.
Source: Household Mold and Illness
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(posted in the General category)