•10 Common Indoor Air Quality Problems
Mold and water damaged building materials
When leakage occurs it results in the growth of mold that in turn results in the release of pungent smelling and irritating volatile organic compounds, and allergenic mold spores into your air. Persons with allergies or asthma often have reactions to such contaminates in the air while others may have no reaction at all. People with compromised immune systems may even contract infections from some molds.Fungal infections are more a product of a...
•Basic Fungal Biology For Homeowners And Mold Inspectors
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms, which means unlike bacteria they all have true cells with at least one nucleus in the cell and that nucleus is inside a nuclear membrane. The other cell organelles also are in membranes. Fungi are not photosynthetic like plants; thus, they cannot make their own food using sunlight and carbon dioxide like plants.
But like bacteria and plants, the fungi have rigid cell walls, and like bacteria and some primitive plants (Mosses, liverworts, and ferns), molds...
•Can Rats, Chemical Odors, Or Even Stress, Cause Mold Like Health Reactions In Homeowners And Office Workers?
Mold is and always has been a major contributor in building related illness. I have seen many clients who were ill as the result of living with mold. However, one must not overlook the possibility of other contributing factors such as cigarette smoke, non mold related bio-allergens such as cat and dog dander, rat and mice allergens, and chemical contaminates such as pesticides or volatile organic compounds. Sometimes the culprit is stress or psychosomatic illness, when the latter is expected...
•Carbon Monoxide Carbon Dioxide And Volatile Organic Compounds
Carbon Monoxide is a poisonous gas that is 250 times better at binding with hemoglobin in blood cells than is oxygen. If inhaled carbon monoxide will cause adverse health effects starting with dizziness, light headiness, shortness of breath, and nausea, exposure may also lead to sleepiness coma and death all depending on dosage and exposure time. Carbon dioxide is a very serious indoor air quality concern that causes more accidental poisoning death each year in America than any other poison....
•Fungal Infection Of The Lungs
The most common type of mold encountered by certified mold inspectors are penicillium and aspergillus, These two genera (large groups of closely related types) each has has nearly 200 species.
Because penicillium and aspergillus spores look the same under the microscope both groups are lumped together in lab reports and simply referred to as pen / asp. In healthy persons with allergies these molds often cause allergic reactions, in unhealthy persons these same molds can in rare cases even...
•Hidden House Mold Problems
We humans have a lot more in common with molds than we realize.
1. Molds enjoy the same indoor temperatures that humans enjoy
2. Like humans they thrive in home environments that provide protection from intense direct ultra violet sunlight.
3. They share our taste in building materials, we like drywall and wood because they are affordable and convenient building materials, mold likes them because they are a great food source when wet.
4. Both humans and molds love modern plumbing, we love...
•Mold Allergy And Other Mold Related Health Issues
MOLD ALLERGY
The leading cause of health problems associated with mold is the common mold allergy. Many who believe they are being poisoned by toxic molds are actually experiencing a mold allergy. Allergenic responses to molds as well as to other bio-allergens such as dust mite allergens, cat and dog allergens, and cock roach allergens can nevertheless be a serious concern and can result in mild to severe reactions that often get worse over time. Mold allergy symptoms include: runny nose,...
•Mold Biology And Mold Related Heath Issues
BASIC MOLD BIOLOGY:
Fungi share some basic similarities with plants and bacteria but are not plants nor are they bacteria. They are in their own kingdom, the Fungi Kingdom.
The terms mold and mildew are often used interchangeably by lay persons, but according to some more specific definitions, mildew is a powdery growth that attacks and grows on living plants while molds are often fuzzy and grow on all sorts of moist surfaces. Molds, mildews, and other fungi usually reproduce by forming and...
•Mold Testing Methods Surface Samples
When a mold inspector takes bulk, tape, carpet/dust, or swab samples, spore numbers are not compared quantitatively to outdoor levels. Thus, the number of spores in these types of samples often are not as meaningful as the numbers found in air samples. Also, because the air is not being tested, your inspector cannot say for sure how much if any of the mold sampled from surfaces is in the air you are breathing. However, these samples can be helpful because they typically provide the analyst...
•The Most Popular Mold Testing Methods
Below are the five most widely used methods of taking mold spore samples from the air during mold inspections. They are used by scientists, industrial hygienists, and mold inspectors.
These mold testing methods have been proven over and over by time, legal trial, and third party scientific lab verification for reliability taking into account many complex factors related to aerodynamics and physics. Surface sample methods just do not provide as much quantitative info as the following 5 air...
•Will Toxic Black Mold In My Home Poison Me?
Toxic black mold or stachybotrys is found by certified mold inspectors about 6% of the time in indoor air samples and about 1% of the time in outdoor samples.
According to literature and according to this inspectors experience it grows almost exclusively on very wet cellouse containing materials including paper, carpet backings, ceiling tile, and especially on drywall.
It is the most feared of all molds, due to the numerous news reports, newspaper articles, and magazine articles attributing...
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