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IGNORING
POSSIBLE MOLD
HEALTH SYMPTOMS
If one or more occupants
in your home or building is suffering from unexplained health problems
this may be an indicator that you have a hidden mould contamination.
Symptoms such as ongoing itchy eyes, nose congestion, runny nose,
skin rashes, skin sores, coughing, bloody nose, sinus problems,
headaches, breathing difficulties, memory loss and not thinking
clearly, and/or chronic fatigue can all be as a result of inhalation,
ingestion or absorption of mould spores from a hidden problem.
Remember that some people may experience mould health symptoms, while
others may have none whilst all living or working in the same mould
contaminated building. The young, old and individuals with compromised
immune systems will typically be the first to show symptoms.
IGNORING MAINTENANCE
PROBLEMS & MOLD CLUES
If you ignore roof
leaks, water stains on ceilings, plumbing leaks, sewer line leaks, a
wet or damp basement, a wet or damp crawl space, the indoor smell of
mould, visible mold growth and high humidity you are exposing
yourself to a potential mould problem that could be very costly to
remediate. Keep indoor relative humidity between 30 to 40% and if
necessary use a programmable
dehumidifier to
prevent possible mould growth from starting.
USING CHLORINE BLEACH
TO KILL MOULD
Do not use
ineffective chlorine bleach to try to kill mould growth and mould
spores. Bleach is often too weak even when freshly manufactured to
kill mould. Bleach that sits on store shelves and in your home
continually gets ever weaker over the passage of time. In addition,
read the manufacturer’s usage directions on the bleach container. The
manufacturer does not recommend its use to kill mould. Bleach is NOT
an EPA-registered
fungicide.
USING OTHER
INEFFECTIVE PRODUCTS TO KILL MOULD
Applying products such
as Kilz, regular paint, paint containing a so-called fungicide or
mildicide, oil based paint, Lysol, ammonia, and other household
cleaners and disinfectants are completely ineffective at killing mould
in addition to the fact that dead or alive, the mould spores are
equally as toxic. Painting over a mould problem does not solve it, it
only hides the problem temporarily and provides the mould with
additional nutrients to feed on in the paint itself!
ASSUMING THAT KILLING
THE MOULD WILL TAKE CARE OF THE
PROBLEM
Just spraying visible
mould with chemicals that are designed to kill moulds does not solve
the mould problem and often the chemicals applied can have other
effects on the indoor air quality. Mould on both non-porous and
semi-porous surfaces must be professionally cleaned and/or removed, as
applicable, from the building, and all of the water and mould damaged
building materials and porous materials need to be disposed of and
replaced with mould-free building materials.
ASSUMING NO VISIBLE
MOULD MEANS NO MOULD PROBLEM
The worst mould
contaminations are often the ones that cannot be seen because they are
hidden inside floors, ceilings, walls, basements, attics, crawl
spaces, and in the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning)
equipment and ducts. Airborne mould spores are invisible to the eye.
They are extremely light weight and are easily aerosolized to be
carried in air currents or in the air flows of your heating/cooling
system. This is natures way of spreading the spores to ensure the
survival of the mould species. This means that mould spores can
contaminate the entire building from just one hidden mould problem.
ASSUMING THAT AFTER A
WET AREA HAS DRIED, THAT IT IS THEN MOULD SAFE
Mould needs moisture to
grow and to multiply as it decomposes the building materials and
personal possessions. This moisture can come from elevated indoor
relative humidity, direct leakage such as from a roof leak, flooding
such as a burst pipe or accidental spillage such as knocking over a
bucket of water. When the moisture source is removed the mould spores
do NOT die. Instead, they become dormant, and can wait years for
access to high humidity or a future water intrusion to begin their
growth again. In addition, mould spores are aerosolized and disbursed
in search of a new moisture source. Dormant mould and the aerosolized
spores can cause heath problems in mould-sensitive people.
TRUSTING THAT
THE
CONTRACTOR KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING WHEN IT COMES TO MOULD
REMEDIATION
Many insurance loss
contractors and general contractors claim they perform mould
remediation but they are often inexperienced and do not specialize in
mould remediation. In addition, many mould remediation companies
cause and leave more mould problems AFTER the alleged remediation than
before their work began because of poor work ethics and general
incompetence.
Typical causes of
incompetent work include:
1) failure to utilize
proper mould containment procedures and effective mould remediation
techniques.
2) taking shortcuts that
undermine the remediation effort.
3) poor and inadequate
training.
4) failure to find and
fix all of the mould infestation locations in a building due to
incomplete mould inspection and mould testing.
Only retain the services
of Certified Mould Inspectors, Certified Mould Contractors, and
Certified Mould Remediators who have been trained and certified by the
Professional Certification Institute. Insist that the Remediation
Contractor is insured to perform mould remediation. Standard
contractor insurance specifically precludes mould remediation work
from the coverage.
TRUSTING THAT
INDUSTRIAL HYGIENISTS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE EXPERTS IN MOULD
PREVENTION, INSPECTION, TESTING, AND REMEDIATION
Although there are many
mould knowledgeable and mould experienced industrial hygienists, most
are not. Hiring an industrial hygienist [trained in industrial safety
and health] to find and fix mould problems is often like hiring a
painter to fix the broken toilet. Retain the services of a Certified
Mould Inspector if you value the health of your family or co-workers
and the value of your building. Some government websites often promote
ineffective and outdated mould remediation ideas like using bleach to
kill mould. Government employees do not have the personal experience
of having to work in the real world to find and deal with real mould
that is often hidden from view in areas such as walls, ceilings and
floors.
ASSUMING THAT A NEW
BUILDING IS MOULD FREE
Today’s new buildings and particularly
homes often come with built-in mould infestation problems. These
problems are related to poor design, poor construction and poor
quality materials. Building materials are often already mouldy when
shipped to the construction site. The use of "green" lumber with a
higher moisture content in lieu of the more expensive kiln-dried
lumber can result in mould growth on the timber framing. The builder
and its supervisors/employees fail to do quality control to inspect
for, and, thus, prevent mouldy building materials from being used in
the construction. In addition,
builders often store
the inventory of building materials on site with no plastic sheeting
to protect the building materials from rain. The use
of modern building materials like
particle board, Aspenite, OSB, wafer boards, drywall and plywood, all
of which moulds grow prolifically on under the right conditions has
lead to an increase in mould problems in newer buildings.
For a Mould
Inspection, please click
here.
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