The tests I had performed on Tuesday were what are called
clearance tests. I will explain this in more detail.
A clearance test can be used
at the end of a remediation process to determine whether
any remaining problems exist. There are several ways
to perform these tests. One is to bring a microscope
on site and sample the air room by room. This is sometimes
done in areas where remediation is being conducted one room
at a time. There are other testing methods that can
be considered but they are merely variations on the available
tests: tape
lifts, air sample, laser particle counter, strobe lights,
infrared photography, and mold dogs. I probably missed
something but one of these methods or a combination of them
is advisable before purchasing a property or declaring your
remediation process complete.
A to Z
What I want to do now is employ
the benefits of hindsight and show how much different the
learning curve is now as compared to early 2001.
The Flood
The measures used immediately
following the flood were simple and straightforward: turn
off the water, start mopping up and suctioning, increase
the amount of air circulation, lift carpets, and run ozone.
Retrospect
I believe the ozone played
an important role in minimizing mold growth. Drying
out takes however much time it takes, but normally a significant
amount of mold would have grown before the walls and floors
were dry.
Air Filtration
If you have read all the pages
on this site, you know I used a lot of different types of
air filtration. I would like to offer the following
perspective that I hope you take very seriously. Filtration
ought to be regarded as a stop gap measure to manage a short-term
problem, not as a permanent solution to indoor air issues. It
is a bandaid and to the extent that the causes of the odors
and sources of harmful organisms in the air are not addressed,
there will be no end to the risks. Moreover, in the
event of a power failure, they stop working. This is
when my dogs would begin vomiting and when I suffered the
most.
Ozone
I used several
different ozone machines, including the one I barely tolerated that was loaned
by the realtor immediately after the flood. It was
a good idea but ozone needs to be understood properly and
not promoted as a panacea. Excessive amounts are irritating;
the wrong type is potentially toxic; and it's harmful to
electronics.
I became a distributor for
ozone machines. If the truth be known, the short-term
benefits were so good that I bought a lot of units but they
are sitting here because I am not actually recommending them
to people. I would not refuse to sell one, but I am
not advocating them.
When I first heard about ozone,
I was told that the ozone ruptures the structure of mold
so it dies. I am not sure about this. Mold has
a shell of chaitin so what happens to mold may not be the
same as what happens to bacteria or mites. I haven't
seen the proof, but I hate the smell of ozone machines and
that tells me something.
My advice is to read the reviews
online, starting with independent reviews. It's
very hard to find unbiased reviews. Read many reviews
and do not get anything that does not offer a complete money
back guarantee. I have tried five or six different
units and prefer the Sharper Image, but you will find lots
of controversy surrounding every brand.
Filtration
Every type of filtration depends
on air movement. If a place has many doors or dead
spots, filtration may not be very effective. Many portable
devices use a combination of physical filtration, a trap
that collects particulates larger than a certain size, with
a secondary method such as ultraviolet light, negative ion
generation, or ozone. The physical filter may be some
form of paper or charcoal or proprietary filter rated to
a certain particulate size. What this means is that
anything smaller passes through. Filters
may also be electrostatic. One of the units I bought
has three different kinds of physical filters. It's
very expensive to maintain and so efficient that it clogged
in one day. I would
only use it in an emergency.
UV Light
Ultraviolet light is
only as effective as the air movement and sensitivity of
the undesirable object to that light. I find UV light
devitalizing to the air so I need to have windows open to
get fresh air to replace the air that feels like it is lacking
prana. There is, however, a precipitous drop in air
quality whenever a bulb burns out so that tells me something. I
have three UV lights in operation nearly 24/7. Two
are portable and one is installed in the duct system.
CleanSpace
The only part of my remediation
process that I regret doing was the CleanSpace. I listened
to contractors at the mold seminar and weighed my options. I
went with the one that was less preferred because the main
alternative would have been twice as expensive and entailed
a moisture. This is a type of cement that
is rubberized. It is blown in and hardens gradually
over a period of 30 days.
CleanSpace is a brilliant idea
in search of perfection. That's the most I can say
about it. I think the laminated sheets are a very fine
quality product but the seams have to be taped and there
is caulking required. These products off gas and feel
inappropriate for use in an occupied space. I hope
they get serious about product research and development because
the idea has merits, but I am not convinced it belongs on
the market yet. I am sure this bluntness will irritate
a lot of people but I stand by my conclusion which is that
anyone with a sensitive nose or vulnerability to chemicals
should not go with this system.
On a positive note, if dryness
is all that is sought, my crawl space went from super high
moisture readings, always above 70% and sometimes into the
90s to 9-13% so it is an effective moisture barrier. This
said, it is another bandaid because the moisture shouldn't
be there in the first place.
Garage Sealant
Again, we are talking about
bandaids. Slabs should have proper vapor barriers underneath. Sealing
from the top should not be necessary, but if it is done,
the product should work. I ended up with something
from solvingconcreteproblems.com and
believe it to be an excellent product. I would use
it again whenever I had a need to seal concrete, but concrete
should not get wet if properly prepared.
Replacement Flooring
I started an article more than
a year ago about the sense of smell. I will try to
finish it and post it. Most people who are allergic
become very sensitive to smell. They need to get rid
of dust traps and the biggest dust trap in the house is usually
carpeting, especially wall-to-wall carpeting. Mold
and mites are usually deep in the pile, close to the backing,
and they are not easily removed by vacuuming.
After the life-threatening
shock of mold exposure, people need time to rest. The
easier their space, the faster their recuperation is likely
to be. The initial restoration in my house involved
replacement of hardwood with bamboo, not really much of a
net gain. When I got rid of the carpets, there was
a gain even though I did not replace them immediately. I
let things air for a long time. I used three different
types of flooring: cork, hardwood, and ceramic tile. Of
all of these, I like the cork the best. It is naturally
fungicidal and it's so peaceful. I have not noticed
any off gassing at all whereas both the tile and hardwood
floors off gas because of grout, laminates, and probably
fumigants.
A few people told me the cork
would fade and look bad. I think they are mistaken. I
have not noticed any change in color at all. If you
have never seen cork before, explore it because it is the
most nurturing and quiet and interesting floor material I
have ever seen. Moreover, it's renewable because the
trees are not destroyed when the cork is removed.
Paint
Again, after serious exposure
to toxic mold, people need to baby themselves for a while. Paint
is often hugely toxic. The volatile organic compound
content is on the label: read
it. You can get
paints with zero VOCs. These may even be made with
milk. Pigments have VOCs so the deeper the color, the
more the risk of odor, but I discovered some pigments
are nastier than others so it's probably partly a matter
of which color and partly a question of how much pigment
is added. I used Benjamin Moore Eco Spec but a friend
of mine used Dutch Boy. You can get a lot of information
on non-toxic paints online. If you are in a place with
environmental consciousness, you can probably find a green
store.
Furniture
Most of the mold is going to
be wherever the dust is. Experts say 80% is on the
dust. Sometimes, mold is in the dust collected by static,
such as on your computer
monitor or TV screen. It
is also probably going to include everything soft like bedding,
padded chairs, wall hangings, and clothing. I had Mac check
my bed, but I have continued to use the TKO Orange and sometimes
cinnamon or wild oregano essential oil when washing my sheets. I
also got new sheets with a higher thread count.
One of the first things I got
was a HEPA vacuum cleaner. I found these in an astounding
range of prices, from $300 to $2000. I got a Miele
and have been happy with it because I really don't notice
dust blowing out the exhaust. This is very important.
There were some things I did
not pursue. There is a product from Dow, a polymer
that is misted into a space. It has microscopic lances
that supposedly make it impossible for mold to grow. Once
used, it is permanent and has a very long warranty. It
can be used on paintings and lamp fixtures and elsewhere. After
I had dealt with the moisture intrusion, I had a talk
with the people who perform this work, EnviroShield. They
said it would not be necessary. Once again, we see
that dealing with moisture is the place to start. If
the moisture and duct systems are addressed, the rest of
the problems might be manageable.
I hope my remediation is complete. The
house is still full of dings and bruises from so much work,
but this is cosmetic and only affects my senses, not my health. Now,
I will concentrate entirely on health issues so the expansion
of the site will go in the direction originally intended. This
said, I want to emphasize that no doctor can be expected
to cure a patient who is continually reexposed to mold. It's
simply irrational to expect to get better until the source
of the infection is eliminated from your life.
Many blessings,
Ingrid
Naiman
5 October 2006
