During a typical mold investigation, one of our first steps is an interview the client to determine specific details in regards to any known mold problems, any health complaints, or any known changes or defects at the subject property that may have resulted in mold or moisture problems.

Next, a comprehensive visual inspection is conducted of accessible areas of the Florida property, concentrating in areas of known mold problems, in areas where plumbing fixtures and AC units exist and where condensation problems and moisture damage may exist.

Usually inspections and testing takes us about 2 to 3 hours and around 5 to 10 air samples are taken on residential mold investigations, sometimes more and sometimes less. Most testing firms use Air-O Cells or Micro 5 spore traps, however, CyClex, Andersen and other impactor plates are also used. With these airborne spore testing devices at least one outdoor sample is taken as a control for comparison. Samples are used for measurement of spores per cubic meter of air and for identification of mold genus. Some mold testing firms take air samples from inside suspect walls.

Direct samples of actual mold or moldy materials called bulk samples, or impression type samples of mold using simple clear tape or swabs are sometimes taken as well for identification of mold types. Such sampling methods lets the inspector know the type of mold growing on the surface that was sampled, but this provide less information in regards to your air quality.

Because of high humidity in some area such as Florida, both indoor and outdoor readings of humidity are also commonly taken during mold testing.

Temperature and dew point levels should also be monitored.

A moisture meter should be used to measure moisture levels in representative building materials.

Finally, after sample results are returned from the lab, your inspector will rely upon his or her knowledge of your specific buildings conditions, general building sciences, lab result interpretive skills, and interview information they obtained from you to draw conclusions regarding your mold problem. They should also come up with solutions to the problem as well. Information should be communicated to you in the form of a comprehensive and professional written report.

Some examples of the type of information you should expect to find on your report are as follows:

1) The causes of moisture or humidity problems at your property.

2) Did toxic mold testing indicate airborne mold spore levels at your property to be higher than normal.

3) What should be done to professionally and safely correct the mold problem without causing the mold spores to be dispersed during cleanup.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports. For more inspection information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

I once received a call from a potential mold inspection client who feared that she may have hidden mold in her walls. She was concerned about possible hidden mold because a mold inspector told her that the ants observed in her property were a very likely sign of hidden \”house mold\” because ants eat mold.

Forget about house ants

Before we discuss a few basic tips on how to look for mold and moisture problems around the house lets talk about how not to find mold. Do not depend on ants to let you know if you have mold. In my home state of Florida as well as in the rest of North America ants are not a sign of mold infestation in your house. They are a sign that you have scraps of food or droplets of water in the house that the ants have discovered.

What about leaf cutter ants

Some ants eat mold, but these ants are not found in our homes. They do not even live in the United States. These specialized ants (called leaf cutter ants) live in large, underground colonies in the jungles of Central and South America. Furthermore, these ants do not enter people’s houses looking for mold not even in the jungles of Central or South America. They tend to their own private gardens of cut-up leaves covered in fluffy, white mold in underground mold farms. They only consume the mold that they raised in underground mold farms they build, and they only grow and eat a very few specific species of mold. If there are any ants in Florida that eat house mold, I have never seen one - despite having done home inspections since 1993 and mold inspections since 2003. I have seen lots of homes, lots of mold, lots of ants and never once have seen ants in the vicinity of the mold. Most ants probably don’t like house mold anymore than humans do because of the natural mycotoxins, beta glucans, allergens, and volatile organic compounds mold produces. In fact, it is predators (such as ants, other insects, and microbes) that prompt molds to produce many of the noxious chemicals most house molds produce.

Check for odors

So what are some signs of mold? if you have had a leak then the first sign of mold will either be musty/moldy odors in the vicinity of the leak. Of course you do not want to be looking for or sniffing for mold, or touching mold if their is even a slight chance that you may have a compromised immune system, allergy, asthma, or any other conditions that would put you at risk of a negative reaction resulting from any form of mold exposure. In addition this article in no way will equip you to conduct your own mold inspection, it is just intended to give you a few simple tips. If you suspect a mold problem contact a certified mold inspector.

Check for odors near your AC ducts

Another trick to check for mold in your house is to turn your AC off for a while, the longer the better but just several minutes will due if you have a serious problem. Next turn your AC back on and immediately stand directly under the path of air flowing from a duct. If your AC unit or your homes ductwork is contaminated with mold you will smell the musty mold odors blowing in your face. Remember do not do this if you are asthmatic, allergic to mold, or have a compromised immune system, do not do this if their exist any chance that you may have any of the above mentioned conditions or any health conditions that could become a problem as the result of exposure to mold.

In ducts the odors build up when the AC is off and may dissipate after the AC has been on for a while. Please note minor moldy odors and minor mold contamination are not unusual in AC units and may not cause a problem for most people. Having a mold inspector sample the air from your ducts may not do you much good because mold in AC units is often vegetative, in other words in may be growing without producing many spores. Further investigation by having an experienced certified mold inspector inspect inside your AC may be of more benefit.

Look for mold on AC registers and coils

Metal AC register grills become cold as air exiting your duct passes through them. If you have high humidity condensation may form on these registers. AC coils are designed to form condensation when you simply use your AC unit in the cooling mode, this feature helps the system to remove humidity from your air. AC registers in humid buildings and coils in any building have a good chance of forming a mold problem. The bottom sides of AC coils sometimes grow large amounts of velvety Grey cladosporium mold or clear jelly like bacteria masses, and AC register form black cladosporium mold. So check your AC registers and coils for mold.

Look for spots in basements and closets

Sometimes mold does not start as the result of a leak in your home but may occur as the result of humidity problems, in such cases the mold typically starts in areas with poor circulation such as in basements, closets, and bathrooms and may spread if your homes humidity is above 60%RH to 65%RH. Mold growing on drywall in bathrooms is typically black cladosporium or it may be pen asp. In closets powdery mildew like white or even powdery light green spots of mold are common. To find these molds look for light spots on black clothes, luggage, and shoes, it does not show well on light colored clothes.

Look for spots on water damaged building materials

Small spots, smug marks, or a powdery residue in the area that became wet is good indication of mold. Most mold spots are black, brown, green, or white. These initial growths of mold are typically very small at just a few millimeters across in the start. One way to tell a smudge mark, a bad paint job, or other marks and stains from mold is to rub it with a dry cloth. Most mold will at least partially rub off or smear and leave a streak mark on the surface. This is because mold is intentionally designed to be friable (easily broken) in addition mold spores are intentionally designed to detach easily for dispersal. Discoloration from scuff marks and paint etc will often not smear easily. Of course this method does not work all the time and is not full proof, but some times it is helpful to a degree in providing some preliminary info on what you may be dealing with.

Check window caulking,

Hidden mold inside walls is common and one of the primary reasons for hidden mold inside walls is window leaks. If you have even minor hairline defects in your window caulking it may let small amounts of rain water or sprinkler system water into your walls. Moderately or Seriously defective caulking causes many mold problems in this mold inspectors experience.

Inspect baseboards

When water enters walls if flows down and soaks into your baseboards and causes them to swell, when they dry they shrink. Swelling and drinking causes baseboards to separate from the wall slightly, you will see a small crack between the top of the baseboard and the wall. Water in your walls that causes baseboards to separate from your walls means water and water in your walls that may have caused mold.

Check tack strips,

Tack strips under your carpet will become stained and rapidly rot if you have water entering your walls. Water in your walls means possible mold in your walls. Peeling your carpet back to see the tack strip located under the perimeters of your carpets may loosen or even damage your carpet, so if your carpet is important to you don’t pull it up to check your tack strips.

Don’t forget your wallpaper

If heavy wall paper is installed any moisture that enters these walls will become trapped behind the wall paper, moisture trapped behind wall paper mixed with wall paper glue is a perfect recipe for a serious mold problem. During mold inspections wall paper is not typically peeled thus hidden mold may not always be discovered but it is common to find mold hidden behind wall paper. The vast majority of moldy wall paper is on perimeter walls, as apposed to on interior partition walls.

Perimeter walls are the walls of a building that abut the exterior of a building, these walls receive moisture from cracks and defective caulking on the exterior side of the walls. Inspecting behind sections of wall paper may reveal large amounts of hidden mold.

If you think you have a house mold problem and are concerned about possible resulting health problems, do not rely on the tips from this article, do not rely on hungry ants, humidity-seeking silverfish bugs, cheap mold inspectors, petri dishes, or divining rods. Hire a professional mold inspector who utilizes moisture meters, humidity meters, borescopes, and air samples to detect mold problems and who provides professional remediation recommendations.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports.

For more inspection information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us
http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

Ok the title is a bit over the top but in a round about way it is true. Many swimming molds live in and swim through the thin film of water on wet plant leaves and ruin many important crops during extra wet growing seasons. These molds often have a very negative effect on agriculture and are directly responsible for the deadly Irish Potato Famien.

Some make their homes in moist frog skin and cause a deadly disease that has been decimating frog populations around the world for several decades now. While others cause a common fuzzy white growth of mold on tropical fish.

These molds in at least some stages of their complex life cycles propel themselves through water with the aid of tiny whip like structures called flagella. Flagella are those long whip like structures that are found on some cells such as sperm cells and are one celled plant like Eugenia protozoans which push themselves through water.

In his book The Fifth Kingdom Dean Kendrick noted mycologist (mold biologist) discusses three phylum (large groupings) of swimming molds.

1) PHYLUM CHYTRIDIOMYCOTA

The first group is known as chytridiomycota these are true fungi and they have a single flagellum at the rear of the cell, this flagellum propels the mold cell through the water just like the flagellum at the rear of a sperm cell propels sperm cells. Around 1998, Joyce Longcore determined that a type of chytridiomycete mold was causing the death of many frogs around the world by infecting their skin. You may not have heard of it but widespread frog deaths have been a serious concern for decades now.

2) PHYLUM HYPHOCHYTRIOMYCOTA

The 2nd group that Dean goes on to discuss is the kingdom Chromista phylum hyphochytriomycota. They have a single harry flagellum at the front. Though similar to the above molds, these are not true molds.

3) PHYLUM OOMYCOTA

The Third group is the kingdom Chromista phylum oomycota, they seem to be split and cannot make a clear decision on if it is better to have one smooth flagellum at the rear or to have a harry one at the front, so the oomycetes have opted for two flagella at the side, one of the two is a harry flagellum that points to the front and the other is a smooth one that points to the rear.

Oomycetes make up the water molds that cause many common fungal infections in fish including tropical aquarium fish, as well as downy mildew that cause serious crop damage around the world every year. Most importantly oomycetes caused the Irish Potato Famine. This famine caused the death of one million Irish people and caused millions to emigrate from Ireland including the ancestors of Al McNamara of Abode Inspections, one of Americas first ASHI home inspectors. He was my mentor and introduced me to the home inspection field in 1993.

Some of the above organisms have a flagellum during it’s reproductive state only while a few exist as a single celled flagellated mold it’s entire life. Most of the above live in water, moist soil, or in the thin film of water on wet plant leaves. A few even live on the surface of single grains of flower pollen. Obviously, none of the above water molds are common in moldy homes. However, it is interesting to understand that these microscopic molds swim and cause serious negative impacts on humans, plants, and animals around the world.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports.

For more inspection information visit:
http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us
http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

Stachybotrys not always, but almost always exhibits a circular growth pattern forming round colonies of about 1 inch or less to about 1 foot across approximately. Sometimes the circles are complete. Other times, the circles are incomplete and form semi circles or crescent moon shapes when one side of the colony grows but the other side does not grow well, possibly due to a lack of moisture or competition with other mold types on the weaker growing side of the colony.

Also, the mold often forms concentric circles of one circle inside another circle. When this or most molds grows in areas where building materials have been very wet for an extended period of time, such as months as opposed to days or just a few weeks, then the colonies grow into each other this is referred to as confluent growth and the circles are not longer distinguishable and all you see is irregular black patches of mold growth on the wall.

Stachybotrys is an extremely dark black mold. It is often reported to be shiny or slimy in appearance, however, from personal experience, this is only true when the mold is wet. When it is dry, it can be very dark black and powdery. Please note that all the above descriptions will sound wrong to a mold lab tech because the above are descriptions of how the mold looks when it grows on walls.

In a Petri dish the same mold probably does not grow in concentric circles and it looks more fuzzy and may start out whitish, and it turns black later as it produces spores. In Identifying Filamentous Fungi by Guy St-Germain and Richard Summerbell the mold growing in a petri dish can be white, pink, orange, or black on the surface; bottom of the colony can be pale, orange, pink or black. Stachybotrys requires high-cellulose, low-nitrogen food source, such as drywall or cardboard and very soaking wet conditions for an extended period of time.

It is a slow grower. I have seen thousands of Stachybotrys colonies and have never seen it growing on metal objects, air conditioning ducts, or clothes. Its most common habitats in homes appears to be on the underside of wet carpets, or the bottom of wet cardboard boxes or other papers, or on the surface of drywall materials. When it grows on drywall, it is actually growing on the thin paper that coats both surfaces of the drywall.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports.

For more inspection information visit:
http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us
http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

Stachybotrys is a slow growing mold and requires high levels of water in it’s substrate. This inspector commonly finds it growing in wet, dark, hidden areas. It loves areas where a slow hidden leak can continue unnoticed and uncorrected for a few weeks or months such as inside wall cavities.

According to literature and according to this inspectors experience it grows almost exclusively on very wet cellouse containing materials including paper, carpets, ceiling tile, and especially on drywall. It loves drywall because of the cellulose paper on the front and back surfaces of drywall. Wood contains cellulose, and yes stachybotrys will grow on wood but it is not found growing on wet wood as often as one would think. The cellulose food in wood is protected to some degree by wood’s lignan. In water damaged buildings the wood surfaces are more likely to be colonized by Chaetomium and pen asp.

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.

It is the most feared of all molds, due to the numerous news reports, newspaper articles, and magazine articles attributing possible brain damage, infant deaths, expensive property damage and other horrible consequences surrounding its growth in residential settings.

Many molds produce mycotoxins (toxic chemicals that molds use in a type of microbial warfare). Living things that do not possess claws, fangs, or a hard shell to use in self defense or fast legs to run away from predators, will typically revert to the use of camouflage or the production of poisons. This is very common in nature.

In reality, toxic molds like Stachybotrys also known as toxic black mold and others may have to be either consumed in mold contaminated foods, or physically handled so that excessive physical contact is made between human skin and the mold in order for toxic reactions to develop. At this time most scientists do not believe that breathing in toxic mold spores can have toxic effects on humans when inhaled at the levels typically encountered in homes and offices.

Public opinion may not be in support of the above statement and in the future we may find that the above statement is not true and perhaps one day we will find that toxic molds cause toxic reactions via inhalation but currently scientific evidence does not support the view that toxic molds can poison you via inhalation at levels found in indoor environments. To support this statement please review the following abstract from the International Journal of Toxicology Volume 23, Number 1 / January-February 2004 pages 3 to 10.

\”Risk from Inhaled Mycotoxins in Indoor Office and Residential Environments

Bruce J. Kelman A1, Coreen A. Robbins A1, Lonie J. Swenson A1, Bryan D. Hardin A1 A1 GlobalTox, Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA

Abstract:

Mycotoxins are known to produce veterinary and human diseases when consumed with contaminated foods. Mycotoxins have also been proposed to cause adverse human health effects after inhalation exposure to mold in indoor residential, school, and office environments. Epidemiological evidence has been inadequate to establish a causal relationship between indoor mold and nonallergic, toxigenic health effects. In this article, the authors model a maximum possible dose of mycotoxins that could be inhaled in 24 h of continuous exposure to a high concentration of mold spores containing the maximum reported concentration of aflatoxins B1 and B2, satratoxins G and H, fumitremorgens B and C, verruculogen, and trichoverrols A and B. These calculated doses are compared to effects data for the same mycotoxins. None of the maximum doses modeled were sufficiently high to cause any adverse effect. The model illustrates the inefficiency of delivery of mycotoxins via inhalation of mold spores, and suggests that the lack of association between mold exposure and mycotoxicoses in indoor environments is due to a requirement for extremely high airborne spore levels and extended periods of exposure to elicit a response. This model is further evidence that human mycotoxicoses are implausible following inhalation exposure to mycotoxins in mold-contaminated home, school, or office environments.\”

Regardless of if toxic mold can poison you with mycotoxins via inhalation, it is a fact observed by this inspector many times that mold can make some people very sick. Asthma attacks, allergies, and sinus infections from mold appear to be very common. Such conditions in turn can cause people to loose sleep, loose energy and concentration, miss work, and in general feel as if they were being poisoned by mycotoxins.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports.

For more inspection information visit
http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us
http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

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 the investigator must find some tactful way to encourage the client to see a doctor who can help determine if that client is under to much stress.

In many cases homes have no unusual mold conditions but have roof rat infestation (Ratus Ratus) in the attic. This is more common in the South especially in Florida. Rat infested attics often goes unnoticed for years while the occupant suffers. Poorly maintained AC units with damaged AC ducts or loose fitting panels causes rodent odors and allergens in the attic to be sucked into the building where the client may or may not notice a mild dusty or woody or attic odor. This is not uncommon and it is unfortunate how often it goes un diagnosed by short sighted AC service persons looking for proper temperatures at the AC unit or and short sighted mold inspectors looking for mold only.

I have seen more than one case where occupants have been sick for years, after extensive testing and inspection for mold in the building I enter the attic to literally find thousands of rat droppings, rat trails, rat urine stains, and even cute little rat foot prints in the dust on top of AC ducts in the attic.

Other times chemicals are present such as sewage gas. If your roofer replaced the roof but did not vent the plumbing vent pipes through the roof then sewage gas (hydrogen Sulfide) will build up in your attic and eventually back up into your home or office. I discovered this exact problem at a bank in the Florida keys. This bank had an attic and that attic was full of hydrogen sulfide gas. The builder who should have been able to figure this one out did not figure it out and instructed the bank employees to light scented candles, by the way this gas is explosive, and fortunately the bank did not explode.

At a beautiful house own by an interior designer in or near Miami Florida the client was concerned about unusual odors, mild mold odors were coming out of the AC ducts and also she had 3 or 4 AC units in a house that only required one AC unit, thus the AC units were cooling the air before they had a chance to dry the air thus this created a humidity problem that in turn resulted in humidity in her AC ducts and mild mold odors coming from her ducts.

Even with mild mold odors in the ducts her real problem was not mold at all. Testing the air for gases with something called a to-15 canister revealed a veritable cornucopia of at least a dozen or more gasoline ingredients including benzene a carcinogen. After much effort with a hammer we were able to open the tightly sealed crawl space door where strong fumes poured out.

Apparently someone had dumped large amounts of gas into the crawl space nailed the crawl space door shut and sold the property to the interior designer who had purchased the house a few months before my inspection.

At another property spots that the client feared were mold turned out to be stains from a bad paint job. When obtaining an inner wall sample a strong pesticide odor came out of the wall. It appears that the landlord may have used too much pesticide in the wall prior the tenet moving in a few months earlier. The client was mildly obsessed with a fear of mold despite the fact that to most observers the spots did not look like mold.

Strangely enough this client admitted that she was a bit mentally ill. It seemed strange that she admitted this. Many people experiences at least a tiny bit of mental illness at some point. Stress, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders, and paranoia effects one out of X number of people in America at some point in their lives. I say X because I am not a therapist but a mold inspector, so I do not know the actual number. After your read this article go to some therapist’s websites, do a little research and I am sure you will find out X is a high number.

Sometimes it becomes apparent that their is a strong likelihood that clients are not suffering from mold allergies or any other indoor pollutants, but from possible psychosomatic illness or stress. Often these persons are under stress and also these persons read large amounts of mold information written by fear mongers who are not scientists and who do not perform mold inspections.

Other unfortunate clients get ridiculous information from persons claiming to be doctors. Yes their are doctors out their who like sharks detect stress, and emotional instability in patients and instead of trying to help them they encourage the patients down this path so that the doctor can get more visits and more money from persons who fear that mold is making them sick when it is just fear, stress, overwork, unhappiness at home, mold obsession, or cigarettes making them sick.

I have seen more than my fare share of previous stressed out people with tons of mold website information on the dining room table and no mold in their homes. One thing these people have in common is that their symptoms are more like unusual symptoms in the articles they read as apposed to more common mold symptoms coughing, sneezing, itchy throat, watery eyes.

Stress has long been recognized as a contributor of building related illness. But in 2006, recent studies from London and Singapore point to the possibility that stress is a much more important contributor to building related illness than most investigators realized.

The following is from a Green Building Press Article.

According to researchers in London and Singapore, sick building syndrome may be a stress related disorder, rather than a fault of building design. UK researchers asked 4,000 civil servants from 44 buildings in London about their environment and job pressures and about symptoms such as coughs and tiredness. They found dry air and hot offices increased symptoms slightly but the most important factor was stress.

The research is printed in Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal. A similar study by the Singapore Ministry of the Environment produced similar findings.

The London researchers argue that many of the symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, and unusual tiredness could be linked to work-related stress, rather than something wrong with the environment in the building.

The study found high job demands and low levels of support were linked with high symptom rates, especially for those with little decision-making power.

They used outside observers to assess civil servants’ physical work environment by measuring factors such as temperature and light. The volunteers were also asked if they had any physical symptoms and about the demands of their job, including levels of support at work. Some 14% of men and 19% of women reported five or more symptoms associated with the syndrome.

The team found higher levels of symptoms in buildings with temperatures outside the recommended range, poor humidity, airborne bacteria and dust. But lower levels of symptoms were reported in buildings with poor air circulation, or unacceptable levels of carbon dioxide, noise or volatile organic compounds. Workers who could control their immediate environment by turning down heating or opening windows also reported fewer symptoms.

The study authors said: \”Sick building syndrome may be wrongly named - raised symptoms reporting appears to be due less to poor physical conditions than to a working environment characterized by poor psychosocial conditions. \”Our findings suggest that, in this sample of office based workers, physical attributes of buildings have a small influence on symptoms.\”

Co-author Dr Mai Stafford of the Epidemiology and Public Health department of University College London, said: \”We are not making claims that buildings don’t matter. There certainly could be buildings which do have physical properties that are very bad, but for the general workforce job stress and job demands seem to have a bigger impact\”.

The Singapore study examined the role of work-related psychosocial stress in sick building syndrome and tested the theory that in buildings with no recognized environmental problems, health complaints typical of the syndrome were primarily stress-related.

Data was gathered from confidential questionnaires to assess symptoms and perception of the physical and psychosocial environment among 2160 subjects in 67 offices. Working conditions were also inspected and indoor air quality monitored.

Researchers found more symptoms of sick building syndrome among office workers who reported high levels of physical and mental stress and decreasing climate of cooperation. This association was sustained even after adjustment for personal and environmental exposure factors.

They concluded that stress was a significant and independent determinant of the health complaints, and that symptoms compatible with the sick building syndrome in many cases were stress-related, commenting, \”Our findings underscore the importance of personal and organizational stress management to prevent ill health at the office\”.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building inspections in South Florida since 1993. For more information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

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.

Carbon Dioxide on the other hand carbon dioxide does not typically build up to levels in the ambient indoor air that can result in serious negative health effects. Carbon dioxide itself is not a serious concern in most indoor environments but is tested as part of an indoor air quality investigation because elevated levels of carbon dioxide indicates poor building ventilation, and this same poor ventilation not only results in the build up of typically harmless carbon dioxide, but also causes the build up of various air born irritants such as body odor, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and bio-allergens. Indoor levels of carbon dioxide should be under 1000 ppm or no more than 700 ppm higher than outdoor levels.

High levels of carbon dioxide can cause similar effects to carbon monoxide if it can build up to dangerous levels indoors but this does not typically happen indoors. Hypercapnia is typically caused by extreme concentrations of carbon dioxide such as are encountered from re breathing exhaled carbon dioxide such may occur with scuba diving complications, not breathing properly (hyperventilation suffocation like conditions), or from volcanoes belching out massive amounts of carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide itself is not a direct indoor air quality concern in most indoor environments however considering all the various industrial processes going on in indoor environments every day their always may be some strange exceptions where neglect and carelessness can result in indoor levels of carbon dioxide becoming high enough to limit the amount of available oxygen.

Volatile Organic Compound levels in indoor environments (VOC’s)

What are normal levels of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) levels Global consensus has resulted in the emergence of preliminary guidelines or tVOC standards for IAQ (Australian NHMRC, 1993; Finnish society of IAQ, 1995: Seifert, 1999: Hong Kong EPA, 1999; Japan MoH, 2000).

Depending on Location (home, school, etc.), recommended levels range from 200 to 1300 ug/m3 or about 50 to 325 ppb .05 to .325 ppm (Toluene units) or approximately 100 to 650 ppb .1 to .650 isobutylene unis.

By all acounts the IAQ tVOC threshold for normal environments should not exceed 500 ppb (0.5 ppm) Toluene units, which is equivalent to 1000 ppb (1ppm) isobutylene units.

Field experience suggests the following guide for the use of PIDs to assess indoor environments:

< 100 ppb or (.1ppm) isobutylene units: normal outdoor air

100-400 ppb or (.1-.4ppm) isobutylene units normal indoor air

500 ppb or (.5ppm) isobutylene units: indicates potential of IAQ contaminants

Reference RAE Systems Application Note AP-212

About The Author:
Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building inspections in South Florida since 1993. For more information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

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 with more than just the mold spores so that identification of mold type can be more accurately conducted by viewing various structures of the mold, not just spores. In addition to providing more structure for direct microscopic examination, bulk samples are sometimes grown in the lab or run through PCR testing for analysis to the species level.

Mold Testing with Tape

When a tape sample of actual mold from a moldy surface is taken using Biotope, a clear piece of Scotch Tape, or a sticky Cyclex slide, the sample will often show entire mold structures including spore forming structures and hyphea. These can be used to confirm mold growth more confidently and rule out the possibility that the sample was just settled spores only.

Mold Testing of Bulk Samples

When a bulk sample of actual mold or moldy material is sent to a lab, the lab may use clear Scotch Tape to take a sample from the bulk mold material for examination under the microscope. The lab may culture some of the bulk mold specimen in a Petri dish for analysis of the colonies to the species level.

Mold Testing of Carpet Dust

When a dust sample is analyzed it may be place on a slide for direct examination to view spores hidden in the dust directly. This is a very common method used by most mold inspectors labs and has become accepted in the industry. This popular method may be helpful but many spores are not seen because spores are hidden behind dust, or the spores blend in well with dust. The lab will often report very low spore levels even if the carpet sampled was obviously very moldy. This inspector has seen this happen many times with various dust samples tested at different labs. When studies are done on what are normal and what are elevated spore levels in carpet dust, the scientist working on the projects and the mold labs they utilize for dust analysis use very different methods for analysis.

They wash the dust and dust filter out of the collector with a mild solvent and culture the spores in a petri dish. This method will typically reveal tens of thousands of spores or even hundreds of thousands or millions of spores. Your inspector must be aware of the different methods and the different results to be expected when interpreting dust sample results.

Mold Testing with Swabs

A sterile swab provided by a microbiology lab is sometimes used for sampling. This inspector dislikes this method because unlike when using tape, the mold structures are always broken up when using swabs. Therefore, meaningful mold structure identification and spore counting cannot be done when testing mold with swabs. Many poorly trained mold inspectors will use a swab on nearly every inspection done, not because of a well thought out sampling plan, but simply because the lab gave them swabs.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building inspections in South Florida since 1993. For more information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

Volatile organic compound also known as VOCs are common indoor pollutants composed of organic chemicals that evaporate into the air easily at room temperatures. VOCs often cause chemical odors, respiratory irritation, headache, and other indoor air quality related complaints. At certain high levels they can be dangerous. These chemicals are released by paints, paint thinners, varnish, new carpets, new cabinets and furniture that contains particle board, household cleaners and air fresheners, gasoline, improperly vented combustion devices, photocopier machines, blueprint machines, and many other sources. All buildings contain some level of volatile organic compounds, determining what are normal levels and what are elevated levels is important in diagnosing a buildings indoor air quality. The following information gives some idea of what are normal and what are elevated VOC levels.

Global consensus has resulted in the emergence of preliminary guidelines or tVOC standards for IAQ (Australian NHMRC, 1993; Finnish society of IAQ, 1995: Seifert, 1999: Hong Kong EPA, 1999; Japan MoH, 2000).

Depending on Location (home, school, etc.), recommended levels range from 200 to 1300 ug/m3 or about 50 to 325 ppb or .05 to .325 ppm (Toluene units) or approximately 100 to 650 ppb .1 to .650 ppm isobutylene units.

By all accounts the IAQ tVOC threshold for normal environments should not exceed 500 ppb (0.5 ppm) Toluene units, which is equivalent to 1000 ppb (1ppm) isobutylene units.

Field experience suggests the following guide for the use of PIDs to assess indoor environments:

< 100 ppb or (.1ppm) isobutylene units: normal outdoor air

100-400 ppb or (.1-.4ppm) isobutylene units normal indoor air

500 ppb or (.5ppm) isobutylene units: indicates potential of IAQ contaminants

Reference RAE Systems Application Note AP-212

In summary the above states that the general consensus among most experts is that recommended indoor levels of total volatile organic compounds is .1 to .6 ppm isobutylene units.

Indoor levels above .5ppm isobutylene units indicates potential contamination and levels should not exceed 1ppm isobutylene units.

Please keep in mind that the above applies to homes offices and schools etc. Exposure limits allowed in industrial settings will be much higher.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building inspections in South Florida since 1993. For more information visit http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com

Toxic black mold is the most feared of all molds because of numerous news reports, newspaper articles, and magazine articles attributing possible brain damage, infant deaths, expensive property damage, and other horrible consequences of the growth to this type of mold in residential settings.

Often toxic black mold is present, but other agents - such as cigarette smoke, water damaged building materials, or general unhealthy and unclean conditions resulting from flooding - are also present that may have contributed to some of the serious health problems as well. As of 2005, science has not demonstrated as a fact that breathing in toxins from mold can or cannot result in health problems in residential settings. It is a fact that eating stachybotrys can result in toxic poisoning.

You see, many molds produce mycotoxins; these are toxic chemicals that molds use in a type of microbial warfare. Living things that do not posses claws, fangs, or a hard shell to use in self defense or fast legs to run away from predators will typically revert to the use of camouflage or the production of poisons; this is very common in nature. Various species of toxic mold have the potential to produce mycotoxin. Toxigenic molds are commonly found by our Ft Lauderdale mold inspectors and Broward county area mold inspectors.

Many scientifically-established negative health effects have been connected with mycotoxins produced by stachybotrys mold, pen / asp and other molds. Many of these negative health effects, such as cancer of the liver, cell death, neurological damage, suppressed immune system and many others that are cited in lab reports given to you by mold inspectors, are (in almost every case) the results of lab animal studies conducted on mice and brine shrimp cultures, and cell culture studies on mold toxins.

Human and horse exposure to stachybotrys mold infested hay that caused toxic reactions in the Ukraine around the 1920’s is well documented. Industrial level exposures of mycotoxins such as at peanut processing facilities, composting facilities, or farms has caused documented toxigenic and severe allergenic problems. Countless farm animals have died as a result of eating food contaminated with toxic molds, in one extreme example that occurred in the mid 1960’s 100,000 turkeys died in England after consuming moldy food shipped from Brazil. The causative agent was aflatoxin from aspergillus flavus mold. In several such cases of human and animal exposure mycotoxin poisoning is well documented by scientists and doctors. For more information on documented cases and on mycotoxins refer to The Fifth Kingdom, by Brice Kindrick or Bioaerosols from ACGIH by Harriett Burge.

It is very important to not panic but to keep in mind that to accomplish the above serious detrimental effects, toxic molds like Stachybotrys and others may have to be either:

1.) Consumed in mold contaminated foods,

2.) Physically handled so that excessive physical contact is made between human skin and the mold, or

3.) The mycotoxins have to be exposed to living cells in the laboratory.

Various studies have shown that the levels of mycotoxins encountered by breathing mold spores in your home or office appear to be far too low to cause toxic reactions in humans. Of course future studies may or may not change this current opinion held by many researches. Synergistic effects of various indoor pollutants and different mycotoxins mixing together may be more powerful than individual mycotoxin exposures. Fortunately scientist are not in the business of preforming full fledged toxicity studies on human subjects.

However, asthma attacks, allergies, and sinus infections from mold appear to be very common and result in such levels of distress in some persons that they feel as if they were being poisoned.

Discovering the root cause of mold and proper mold removal can be very expensive and very difficult, the longer you wait the more expensive and difficult proper removal will likely be. If you feel that you have a mold problem at your home or place of work contact a certified mold inspection service.

About The Author:
Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building inspections in South Florida since 1993.

For more inspection information visit
http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us
www.florida-mold-inspection.com