CleanAirPursuit.com

Mold Info

• EPA: “Clean Air is important for overall human health and well-being.”
  • I’ll add: It’s often more important than you think.
• Americans spend 90% or more of their time indoors.
• Unfortunately, the EPA tells us that the levels of indoor pollutants can be from two to five times higher indoors than outdoors; in some cases 100 times higher.
• 50 to 65% of homes have been shown to have some sort of mold problem.
  • And Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) issues can go well beyond just mold issues.
• One of my “Super-Experts” stated: “Mold is the Atom Bomb of indoor air quality.”
• The mid-1970’s Energy Crisis prompted construction of “tighter” homes and buildings to conserve energy.
  • Unfortunately, this dramatically reduced natural ventilation, trapping contaminants indoors, including Mold and Chemical vapors.
  • Additionally, some construction materials that are more prone to mold-growth became “the norm”, instead of some of the more mold resistant materials that were more common in the past.
    • Did you know mold experts have nicknamed sheet rock (and its paper backing) “Mold Food”?
    • —-> Because of what happens when it gets wet … or is repeatedly, persistently dampened by serious condensation / humidity.
• By the 1990’s, microorganisms (including mold) were identified as the primary source of indoor air contamination.
• Water damage in houses and buildings can often result in growth of especially serious molds, including those that can produce mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are chemical poisons produced by a subset of molds. Frequently, home owners are unaware of current or past water damage in their home.
  • Past water damage can leave-behind dormant mold. Months or years later, new moisture can suddenly re-activate this dormant mold –> resulting in NEW growth, SPREADING of Mold spores … and impacting health.
  • Some Mold spores have been shown to remain viable for hundreds of years in a dormant state — just waiting for moisture to re-activate them.
• Sheet Rock wetted for 48-hours should be evaluated for removal and replacement, since mold-growth can begin that quickly (or even quicker).
• DO NOT use bleach to try and kill / cleanse mold.
  • 1) Often it does not kill as expected. Especially since mold growth normally is not just on the surface.
  • 2) It bleaches the color, so the visible mold may no longer be seen/noticed.
  • 3) It can cause mytoxin (chemical poison) producing molds to greatly increase their production and potency of dangerous mycotoxins.
• Mold mycotoxins (chemical poisons produced by mold) can last for years beyond when the mold(s) that produced them are dead and even gone. Mycotoxins can remain even after many clean-up methods that you would think would neutralize or cleanse them.
  • Mycotoxins tend to be “sticky” and and may be embedded in biofilms that may prevent standard cleaning methods from removing them.
  • Mycotoxins can travel on mold spores, hyphae fragments, etc.
• Dead mold and non-viable (“dead”) mold spores can still present health risks. These can include allergic reactions, and they may still have mycotoxins (chemical poisons) on them, etc. Dead mold and/or spores will often break into smaller pieces which can more easily pass through filters and penetrate deeper into lungs.
  • One mold inspector shared with me how a mold remediator had sprayed and successfully killed the mold in a building’s air ducts. BUT, then “people started dropping like flies” (getting sick). It turned out the dead mold was flaking off in tiny, invisible airborne pieces which the Heat & Air System was spreading through the air of the building — even though this mold was dead.
  • Moral of “The Story”: Proper PROTECTION and CLEAN-UP during Mold/moisture-mitigation AND AFTER mitigation is very important.
  • Interim Protections and Air-Cleansing prior to when mold mitigation can occur may be very important as well.
• Types of Homes that can experience really bad mold:
  • Nice, Clean, upper-middle-class homes.
  • High-end Homes.
  • Brand new homes, never lived in before.
  • Old homes.
  • Governor’s Mansions (plural).
  • Modest, small homes.
  • Homes left vacant for months or longer.
  • —————————————————————————
  • It depends on the builder, the upgrade or repair contractor, the materials supplier, the roofer, the plumber, the materials-used, etc.
    • including … were key materials exposed to the weather, prior to when the house was “sealed-up”.
  • It depends on every hot water tank since your house was built, the pipes/joints/pipe-glue … or lack of “glue”.
  • It depends on the humidity levels in your region, and how much humidity intrusion your house allows.
  • It depends on the drainage of your property when it was built … and how settling and nearby construction have changed things after it was built.
  • It depends on the original installation and later maintenance of gutters, downspouts, Heat & Air Systems, vents, skylights, windows, caulk-repair, and other things.
  • It depends on the thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice-storms, falling tree limbs: ever-since your house was built.
  • It REALLY depends on the QUALITY of Water Damage Repairs, Leak Repairs, and Mold Mitigation from past water events.
  • In other words — it depends on a lot of things. But remember, an estimated 50 to 65% of homes have some sort of mold problem.
• There are powerful Air-Cleanse / Surface-Cleanse methods that :
  • Use natural ingredients – which chemically sensitive people have told us are not a problem for them.
  • OR use ingredients that “do their job” and then VERY RAPIDLY break-down into common, safe, byproducts.
  • Some are powerful for not only “killing” mold and/or mold spores, but also help neutralize mold mycotoxins.
• The right Air Filters / Air Purifiers / Sanitizers can greatly reduce “bad particles” in the air, including Mold Spores, Mold fragments, Pollen, Pet dander, and Dust (along with the organisms and their feces that travel on dust). –> Cleansing these is an important part of CleanAirPursuit’s focus.
  • Some also help remove smells, odors, and some of the concerning Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s).
  • Some are effective at killing / neutralizing a number of problematic bacteria and viruses.
• And of course everyone knows about Hydroxyls, NPBI ionization, and BETTER –> MCI Ionization (including Hydroxyls) don’t they?
  • I would have saved a lot of money if I knew back them, what I know now.
  • The Great news is: I can help YOU save that money!