Z's Questions

[Guest guest]

I used to post quite a bit about the environment but stopped because there really are a lot of effective methods this forum has come up with. I have also observed there are really quite a bit of cleaning sprays that act as a knockdown or able to compromise these things. After two years, I think the most important thing I could say is the use of an IGR and the right vacum.

In the beginning, I also used a PCO and went through 6 weeks of weekly spraying. We were literally attacked until I started using an IGR on my own accord. That IGR also was combined with a fungicide and it was Neem. If you go back about two years, you should find many posts about Neem. I acquired a garden sprayer and sprayed it myself and through my heating and cooling ducts. I sprayed anywhere there was an outside duct to the inside or outlets, or my sunroof windows, dryer duct, cathedral ceilings, ceiling fans, fire alarms, ceiling light fixtures, foundation house lines, windows, etc. You will also find posts about DE. Lost two vacums to DE and Borax. Carpets responded very well to Nylar, oxygen based detergents, and H202. I found Nylar to work better and it smelled better than Neem. Neem smells like onions and garlic. Yes, they are on your walls, ceilings, in your venting,

fireplaces, carpet, and woodwork is a PITA (pain in the @$$). Orange oil and Neem mixed with a fungicide soap works very well on wood and you can also combine with a wood oil such as 's. I also sealed my dresser drawers with Polyurethane to cut down on porosity. On my tile floors, I used a steamer. I personally don't think the most expensive steamer is the best. Steam is steam and is generated at a consistent temperature 120 degrees no matter what the machine is. I acquired a little one in which cost me at the time eighty bucks and it was so darn convienent, I was able to steam my tile and wood floors everyday in short time with little effort and big payoffs. To the water I added an oxygen based floor cleaner and it smelled soooo good.

IGR's simply take time and patience to work. About 6-8 weeks to notice a huge improvement. what your knockdowns do not kill or cannot reach, the IGR will eventually. With Neem, you need to apply every ten days, with Nylar, I had success every three weeks for walls and ceilings, but carpets and floors were a daily no fail endeavor.

Vacuming with a dust mite allergen HEPA filtered bagged vacum like a crazed french maid without benefit of a uniform is a must. HEPA bags are damn expensive to throw away after eash use, so I put a plastic trash bag over it and sealed it near the bag hole. Every time I needed to use it, I wore gloves and long sleeves and just undid the trash bag at the whole and reconnected it and left the trash bag around it. Bagless vacums are worthless. You simply have to empty them somewhere and unless it is in the next county, you will find them in the air, in your lungs, on your arms, all over the trash can, all over the garage, and crawling right back into your house. I spent a lot of time picking out my vacum and did research on consumer reports. I ended up only paying a hundred dollars for one of the best vacums I have ever owned. Talk about suction, it will lift the carpet off the

baseboards. It is a mite allergen vacum of which I have also posted about in the past here as well. It has a light alarm system in which will tell you whether you are still picking up particles from your carpet and will detect particles down to dust mite size. You wouldn't believe just how long you really must vacum in order to get the alarm or red light to turn green, meaning the area is clear of all particles down to a dust mite size. On the HEPA filters located at each hose or the vents on the sides, I added a sheet of Bounce or Snuggle folded over to vent laundry smells through out the house to cover the Neem and knockdowns and also to act as an extra filter for the filter. I will not nor will I ever store my vacum in a closet with any clothing or coats, or anything really. It sits on a tile floor in an inconspicuous place in which I can spray the hell out of after use. (A suggestion for the smell of Neem

would be to add pure orange essential oil to it. Orange oil is a potent knockdown in itself as it contains limonene and linalool and it always smells pleasant.) You can tell I get very tired of things that smell nasty and taste nasty, I feel it is already bad enough. I do not use DE or Borax and haven't for quite sometime. The mess was incredible and with the amount of people in and out of my home, just not feasible for us. I was able to save my carpeting.

Don't forget the attics, crawl spaces, and basements. Pretty much if you fail to treat one area, that is where they will go and you can also apply that to your body as well. When I finally started seeing my environment change is when I lost my home, because they attacked me and the rest of my family instead and is when I got very sick. It took me two months to recover enough to atleast fake functioning from that and work for a short time in which I relapsed again. It took another six intensive months to get to where I am at now on an internal basis. I do not find mites in my environment anymore and I check regularly. I still vacum like crazy and I still treat every thirty days. I have lived in three different places since this all started. Hopefully this can put moving around in perspective for some of you.

There is hope and an end, please don't give up. Its damn exhausting and the simple lack of sleep and all the creepy crawlies will most likely induce some type of physcoses or the development of a few OCD's. Who the hell wouldn't? That will taper down to as you gain control of your environments and bodies.

To good health......Frito