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

Dust mites are 8-legged arthropods that live in the house dust of homes where they are prevalent. They have been recognized as a major source of allergens regarding house dust since 1967 and feed on organic materials such as fungi, skin cells, yeast and bacteria. Increased dust mite populations are directly related to older, lower income single-family homes as well as the presence of carpeting and the lack of air conditioning. Moisture, which is an indicator of mold viability, is also an increased risk for dust mites in your home. Although they lack eyes, dust mites are light sensitive and photophobic and thus cause them to live deep within soft substrates such as you mattress, box-spring, pillows, blankets, clothes, and carpet; these are places where moisture is retained and fluctuations of humidity are minimized. It is not uncommon to find thousands of dust mites inside a single gram of house dust. (Click link below for full story)

Dust mite allergy

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.

This is where the trouble started.

The homeowner hired the drywaller to remove the mold damaged building materials and thought things were taken care of. The homeowner later became ill and went to the doctor who suggested they have mold testing done at her Carlsbad, CA home. When we were called to do the mold inspection, our consultant found the ceiling void space was still open to the rest of the house and that the drywaller had left some of the removed moldy ceiling drywall inside the ceiling void space.

We also found additional moldy ceiling drywall.  Our mold consultant collected a surface sample from inside the ceiling void space and the sample showed Stachybotrys, Penicillium and Aspergillus mold growing in the ceiling void space. Our inspector also collected spore trap air samples throughout the home and the analysis showed that Stachybotrys and Penicillium/Aspergillus mold spores had been spread from the ceiling void space throughout the rest of the house!

mold growing in ceiling void space

Our recommendations in the written report for the homeowner were to hire a professional mold remediation contractor to contain (isolate) the mold from the rest of the house and to remove the moldy and water damaged building materials.  We also recommended a thorough deep cleaning of the rest of the house and the use of HEPA filtered air scrubbers to capture and lower the levels of Stachybotrys and Penicillium/Aspergillus spores in the air. Thankfully, the homeowner followed our recommendations and hired a professional mold remediation company.

A containment, plastic room with HEPA air filtration equipment, was set up to isolate the moldy ceiling area from the other areas of the house. They removed the moldy and water damaged building materials and air scrubbers were set up throughout the rest of the home to capture and lower the levels of Stachybotrys and Penicillium/Aspergillus spores.

A professional deep cleaning (HEPA vacuuming  and damp wiping) of the rest of the house was done. We returned for a follow up inspection called a post remediation verification or clearance inspection.  Inside the containment, we verified the mold had been removed properly, the work area was clean and dry and the air sample spore levels were acceptable. We also repeated the spore trap air sampling in the rest of the home to verify the deep cleaning had returned the spore levels to be similar to the outside air. Our results showed the mold remediation company had removed the rest of the moldy ceiling materials correctly and had cleaned up the contamination in the rest of house.

If only the roofer had referred the homeowner to a professional mold testing company and mold remediation contractor in San Diego, the job could have been done correctly from the start!  Not only was the health of the homeowner affected, but there was the additional cost for medical care, the additional work done by the mold remediation contractor to clean up the mold contamination to the rest of the home and extra mold testing by our company.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, please consult with mold inspection and mold remediation professionals.  This is definitely a case where using the right professional for the job would have made all the difference!

For a free phone consultation call Environmental Testing & Technology (ET&T) at 760-424-2259 or leave us a message on our Contact Form and one of our mold experts will get back to you shortly.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this blog post helpful.

Mold and Water Stains on the Ceiling

What in the world would rain gutters have to do with mold inside my home!  Mold needs water to grow. When the rain gutters and downspouts get blocked, the water can’t flow away from the roof line and your building. Water flows along the path of least resistance and you don’t want that path to be under your roofing materials or inside your walls.

Bubbled Paint and Water Stains on Ceiling

If your rain gutters are clogged or draining slowly the water can overflow the gutters leading to water running down the sides of your building. This can lead to puddles forming up against the outside walls of your property.  If the rain gutters are clogged, water can pool up at the roof line. Areas of your roof that are not sealed well enough may allow the water to seep through the roofing material and into your attic and walls. Once the attic and interior walls get wet, the opportunity for mold to grow is present. Even though we think of our walls as being a barrier to the outside environment, water can soak through and get into the wall cavity space and then to the inside of the building. If this is already your situation, we can help!

Maintenance is key in helping to prevent mold growth inside our buildings and homes!

Just a couple of weekends ago, I was doing some yard work and decided I should check out the rain gutters since rain was in the forecast. I live in southern California and we haven’t had much rain so I hadn’t given the rain gutters any thought since last winter. Our neighbors pine tree had been shedding pine needles like crazy and our liquid amber trees leaves were turning the beautiful colors of fall. Well, my rain gutters near the pine tree were so stuffed with pine needles the gutters were over flowing with needles and the downspouts were completely covered up.  If that wasn’t bad enough, when I went to the other side of the house, the downspout had come off of the gutter completely and was just hanging there.  Even though I am on that side of the house frequently, I guess I never looked up!

Once again, I need to follow my own advice. My rain gutters are not very accessible to clean out so I will need to hire someone to take care of that.  It looks like a tree trimming is in order as well, sounds like 2 jobs to be hired out to prevent a mold problem inside.  The cost of this maintenance will be much less than a costly mold remediation project.

For a free phone consultation concerning a mold or water damage issue in your home or commercial building, 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.