Do you ever wonder if you are getting exposed to electricity from things in your home or at work?

Do you ever think you might be exposed to something in the air from all the wireless things we now use?

Even if you don’t use wireless things yourself, are you still being exposed by others?

If you wonder about any of these things you are thinking about electromagnetic fields and radio frequencies.

Electromagnetic fields or EMF’s usually refer to AC low frequency magnetic fields. Magnetic fields are created by electricity flowing through wires. Common EMF sources are power and transmission lines, internal building wiring system, electrical panels, transformers, motors and appliances. Elevated EMF fields are often caused from wiring problems, stray current or bad grounding.

Radio Frequency Radiation or RF’s usually are high frequency electromagnetic radiation due to the use of wireless equipment, devices and data transmission. Common RF sources are radio and television transmissions, cell towers and antennas, portable phones, cell phones, wireless computer networks (WLAN) and radar equipment. In-house wireless network installations have become a significant source of RF radiation in our homes and offices.

To make it easier to see what is EMF and what is RF, here is a table I put together of examples of what things are measured as EMF’s and which are measured as RF’s.

Power lines

Transformers

Internal building wiring

Electrical panels

Motors

Appliances

Influence of power lines and transformers

Electrical wiring problemsCellular antennas

Cell towers

Cell phones

Wireless information

Radio

TV

WLAN

Cordless phones

Baby monitors

Wireless computers

Wireless game systems

Radar

If you want to know what the EMF or RF readings are at your residence or workplace, you can have measurements taken by a professional testing company using professional calibrated equipment.

EMF measurements can be taken outside to see what the magnetic field levels are from various things including power lines, transformers and circuit breaker boxes.  EMF measurements inside the residence or workplace can be taken sa well. Measurements can be taken once with as many electrical devices turned off as possible and a second time with electrical devices turned on. The results are then analyzed by professionals to see if levels are high and if they are, what improvements can be made to lower the levels. Sometimes the high levels are caused by wiring problems that can repaired by an electrician or electrical appliances that need to be fixed or replaced.

RF measurements can be taken outside to see what the levels are and if there are any influences from things like cell phone towers or antennas. RF measurements can be taken inside to see if there are any high levels from your wireless devices. Similar to the EMF results, they are analyzed by professionals to see if there are any high levels and if there are and what can be done to lower these levels.  Sometimes, it is as simple as moving wireless devices to other rooms or switching to hard wired instead wireless.

I hope you found this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading!

-ET&T

Our Hearts to those who have lost. Our Thanks for those who never stopped fighting.

(Click the Link below for full story)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241046/pdf/ehp0110-a00599.pdf

1. You see mold growing inside your house or building.
Mold is everywhere in our environment, but it shouldn’t be growing inside our buildings. We can help you find out if what you think is mold really is mold, what type it is, and how to remove it safely. Some types of molds are known to have more of a health concern than others. Our reports can be taken to your health care professional if you have health concerns for the quality of your indoor air. If repairs are indicated our detailed reports include repair recommendations for a mold remediation contractor to follow.

2. You are buying or moving into a different house or building.
Buying a property is a huge investment and you don’t want to find out there is a mold and moisture problem after you have signed those escrow papers. If you are moving to a rental property you may have to sign a lease. ET&T can help you by doing a mold and moisture inspection before you commit yourself to the property.

3. You smell a musty or moldy odor that is stronger when the windows and doors have been closed.
Often you can smell the odor from mold before you can see it. The mold you see with your eye is made up of thousands of mold spores you can’t see without a microscope. Having a mold inspection done when you smell the odor and not waiting until you can see the mold is important. It may help to prevent some damage to your building and save you a lot of repair work.

4. You have had a water leak or the neighboring unit has had a water leak.
Mold needs a source of water or moisture in order to grow. If you have had a water leak for a few days that may be all the time it takes for mold to start growing. It is extremely important to get the water leak repaired as soon as possible and the building materials dried out rapidly and appropriately. ET&T can help you to assess the extent by moisture mapping to identify the wet areas and prescribe the necessary drying action. We can also document and verify your drying company has done the job right.

5. Your allergies or asthma are worse when you are inside.
This may be an indication that allergens are present. Mold is a common indoor allergen. You may have mold growing indoors that you can’t see or smell. In addition to ruling out mold, we can perform allergen testing for dust mites, cat and dog dander, mouse, rat and cockroach.

6. The building feels damp to you.
We can help you by identifying your moisture problems and recommend strategies to prevent mold growth from occurring.

7. You see condensation on the inside of your windows.
There is more than enough water in condensation to allow mold to grow indoors. Let us find out why you have condensation indoors and advise you in how to reduce the moisture levels inside your property.

8. Your pets have been sick.
Animals can be a good indicator of the indoor air quality for your property. Some animals health can be affected by mold, often sooner and as much or more than people.

9. Water from rain or sprinklers doesn’t drain away and puddles up against your walls.
Even though we think of the outer walls of our buildings as barriers this is not the case. When walls are continually dampened by sprinkler over spray or puddles, water can soak through the outer wall, into the wall cavity and eventually cause damage to the inside walls of our buildings.

10. You see mold growing on your furniture or on items in your closet.

Frequently, we find mold growing on the back of furniture that is pushed up against a wall. Closets are notorious for having mold problems because they often have a colder temperature and little ventilation. Closets are often against an outside wall, near plumbing or stuffed to the brim with possessions we rarely use or move around during cleaning.

If you have noticed any of the situations from this list, you may need to have moisture testing, a mold inspection or mold testing done. We are happy to discuss your concerns and circumstances to help you decide if you need our services or not. If you do need an inspection, we custom design an inspection plan to meet your specific testing needs. Contact Environmental Testing & Technology, Inc (ET&T) at (760) 804-9400 or send us an email at info@etandt.com for a free phone consultation.

Do your drains look like these?  

If you had to answer yes, they need some serious maintenance! You may already have a mold problem brewing!

If this is already your situation, we can help! Give Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) a call at 760-424-2259 or email us at info@etandt.com for a free phone consultation.

A key part of our mold and moisture inspection is the visual inspection outdoors to check on the exterior walls.  In addition to plugged and damaged drains like the ones in the photos above we also look for:

• Planters or planter boxes right up against the side of the building.
• Puddles from watering for too long or too quickly. The ground or drainage system just can’t handle that much water at one time.
• The ground slopes towards the building instead away from the building and creates puddles of standing water.
• Moss or algae growth near the exterior walls.
• Worst of all, No drainage system at all!

These photos show a wet patio can lead to a wet wall inside the home.

Even though we think of the walls as being a barrier from the outside, they can still absorb water. Once the outside walls get wet and stay wet for some time, the indoor walls get wet also. Sometimes there is a damp musty smell inside but you can’t figure out why it would smell damp in that area. We usually expect the dampness to be from plumbing, but the dampness might be from outside!  This may lead to mold growing inside the walls affecting your indoor air quality.

One of the many services ET&T offers is a mold prevention plan specific to your property’s needs where we address preventing water damage from sprinkler and drainage issues.

For a free phone consultation call Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) at 760-424-2259 or email us at info@etandt.com to see if you need a mold inspection or a mold prevention plan prepared.

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Thanks for reading and I hope you found this information useful!

Today many of us rely on automatic systems to do the watering for us. If we still stood outside and watered with a hose we wouldn’t spray the wall for 5 to 10 minutes at a time in the same place. Why do we let our sprinkler systems do that? I know in my case, and many of my neighbors, the sprinklers run at night and we don’t realize there is a problem until it is too late. Sprinkler systems are a wonderful convenien

ce in our busy lives, but we need to maintain them!

As mold and moisture inspectors, we at Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) frequently find sprinklers to be a major cause of mold problems inside buildings.

Here are some sprinkler system problems we at ET&T run into all the time:

• Sprinkler spraying on the walls of the building (sprinkler overspray).
• Plants and grass growing right up against the wall.
• Sprinklers installed too close to the building.
• Broken or leaking sprinkler pipes.

If your sprinklers look like the ones above, you may have a mold problem brewing and you may need a professional mold inspection!

Give Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) a call at 760-424-2259 or email us at info@etandt.com for a free phone consultation.

Don’t let this sad mold story happen to you!

Our walls are like a sandwich. There is the outside wall, the insulating space and then the inside wall. The outside wall keeps getting wet from the sprinkler system, then the insulation material gets wet, then the inside wall gets wet.  Before you know it, you have a funny smell, then you have a water stain inside, then you see a small spot on the wall, baseboard, or flooring.  You clean off the spot, but the spot keeps coming back.  That spot is probably mold!

This photo is of an inside wall that had a sprinkler that sprayed the on the outside wall.

A small spot on the wall can mean a big problem inside your property.

If this is already your situation we can help! For a free phone consultation call Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) at 760-424-2259 or email us at info@etandt.com to see if you need a mold inspection.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this helpful.

Be sure to “Like” www.ETandT.com and follow us at your favorite social media site (Facebook & LinkedIn). We frequently post new indoor air quality information which may be of interest to you.

As environmental professionals, we receive frequent phone calls and emails from individuals concerned about potential health effects associated with the radio frequency (RF) radiation emitted from their Smart Meters (utility meters). We have performed measurements with a number of different instruments to find an effective way to test and evaluate emissions from these meters. What we found out is that this is not easily done. You are welcome to download our technical paper on smart meters, the public’s concern and the measurement challenges: Smart Meter: What We Know

Here are some of the challenges we discovered while establishing ET&T’s Smart Meter RF Radiation Measuring Protocol:

• Smart meter emit RF radiation in the 902-928 MHz when transmissions occur.
• Smart meter emit short RF “hand shake” bursts (mini-burst) on average between 2 to 5 times per minute.
• Smart meter emit stronger RF data transmission bursts only a few times a day.
• The transmission burst have last only a very short period of time (milliseconds).
• The transmission burst is intermittent.
• Many RF instruments cannot detect these mini or data transmissions bursts.

We have seen that many inspectors and building owners purchase inexpensive consumer quality instruments and are likely obtaining erroneous results. Taking measurements at a distance of less than 3 feet from the smart meter brings us into the near field, where measurements get really complicated and cannot be reliably performed with consumer quality instruments. The results become bogus data.

Here are some questions you need to ask whoever is taking your Smart Meter RF measurements:

• Which instrument are they using and is it a professional quality instrument?
• What frequency range does the instrument measure?
• What is the accuracy of the equipment?
• Are they doing data logging (recording measurements over a period of time) or are they taking spot readings?
• Are they picking up other RF sources such as radar or cordless phones which make interpreting the data difficult?
• Were the measurements taken in relevant areas where people spend a lot of time?
• Was the measurement taken outside in front of the smart meter?
• Was it taken inside in occupied areas where you spend extended periods of time such as bedrooms or family rooms? It is important to know at which distance the monitoring was taken.

Smart Meter RF transmission bursts vary greatly depending on meter, model, utility provider and programming. The exposure to these bursts also varies by location, distance and obstructions between you and the meter.

Smart Meters are adaptive and automatically checks itself (self monitoring). We have performed 24 hour monitoring and have seen the following rates in Southern California. Self monitoring burst occur on average between 2 and 5 times a minute and have smaller signal amplitude than when transmitting data. Data transmission bursts occur 2- 3 times a day, the time varies depending on the programming by the utility company and have significantly larger amplitude than the self monitoring bursts.

To collect enough data to determine your exposure you may need to monitor and data log for 12 to 24 hours. Many instruments are not able to data log or be able to detect the mini data burst at the correct amplitudes. This requires a large dynamic range and capability of the equipment.

Standard measurement procedures need to be established to obtain accurate, reliable and sound information on RF emission and the potential exposure. We found out that it is not so easy to measure smart meters. Based on our experience we have developed a suitable, relatively inexpensive, accurate and repeatable measurement protocol. If you have any further question, please contact us.

1. How do they do mold testing?  First off, they shouldn’t just do testing, they need to do a thorough visual inspection too! They should look for water damage, do moisture measurements and look for mold growing. Testing alone is just part of the picture to find out if there is a mold problem or not. They should sample mold they see to make sure it really is mold and to find out which type. They may also take air samples to see if the air inside shows mold spores that are different types than outside or higher numbers of spores than outside.
2. Does the inspector have any certifications and do they do any continuing education? California doesn’t have any licenses for mold testing, but there are certifications which require classes and continuing education to keep current. Examples are: Certified Microbial Consultant (CMC) and Certified Microbial Inspector (CMI).
3. How many mold samples will they take?  Some companies take one inside air sample and maybe one outside air sample. Based on just those samples tell you everything is horrible or everything is fine. That may not be enough data to make an accurate decision if there is a mold problem or not! How many samples depends on the size of your property and if you want the whole property tested or if you have certain areas you are concerned about.
4. What are the qualifications of the person analyzing the samples? What quality control program do they participate in? Maybe they don’t do any quality control! An example of a quality control program is EMPAT.
5. What is the turn around time between the inspection and the report?  You want them to have enough time to write you a good report, but not so long that you keep having to delay repairs being made.  The inspector can give you some information during the inspection.  They can also give you updates when they get the laboratory results. Depending on how big your project is, usually a couple of days to a week is a reasonable time to expect the final written report.
6. Who actually writes the inspection report? Some companies don’t have the same person write the report as did the inspection!  How can someone write a detailed report about the inspection if the haven’t seen your property?  Makes me wonder how helpful that report would be!
7. What type of report do they give you?  Some companies just give you the laboratory data and don’t tell you what it means or what to do next?  You need to know if repairs need to be made. You should ask if they write specific repairs for your property or just give you a general template.  Ask if they can send you a sample report or at least explain what you will be getting.
8. Do they do the repairs? Some think it is a conflict of interest to do both the testing and the repairs. If they don’t do the repairs, ask if they can recommend someone to do the repairs?  If they have been doing mold inspections for years, they know who does a good repair job and who doesn’t. Ask for 2 or 3 referrals so you have a choice.
9. How long have they been in business? You want to make sure they have experience and will still be around if you need anything from them later on.
10. Are they a member of the Better Business Bureau, if so what is their rating? You can contact your local Better Business Bureau and find out what the rating is.

The questions I listed above relate to the most frequent problems we have encountered throughout the years.

Environmental Testing and Technology (ET&T) has been doing mold and moisture inspections in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas since 1986.  We often receive calls from unhappy people who have hired a different testing company and ask us what the other company’s report means and do we think they did the job right.

Sometimes we look at the other company’s report and can help them, other times we can’t figure it out either!  Unfortunately, some of these unhappy people end up hiring us to do a good inspection with proper documentation. This costs them more money and time delays which can simply be avoided by hiring a good testing company from the start.

I hope you found these questions helpful & let us know what you thought, we like the feed back!

If you have any questions, please contact us at 760-424-2259 or email us at info@etandt.com.

Thanks for reading!