new person intro and questions

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm new to the group. Here's my story and then I have some questions.

Almost three years ago I moved into this house, this will be my third winter.

Last December I got very ill, coughing, wheezing, waking up in the wee hours

feeling like I was drowning. I slept sitting up in the living room a lot. I

had dizzy spells, which I attributed to being overweight and out of shape. I

had balance problems. I had sprained my shoulder falling down half a flight of

stairs preparing for my move, but it didn't bother me until I lived here a while

and then it became increasingly more painful. I sprained an ankle on vacation

and was still able to get around and even went to the zoo with my friends. Six

months later, it was limiting my ability to walk. Anyway, a comment that a

friend made to me in the spring made me start doing some investigating into my

home. Without going into all the details, I ended up sending a bulk sample of

the drywall in the master bath to a lab and it tested positive for toxic black

mold. When it was remediated, the entire back side

of the walls surrounding the tub were covered, in spite of the fact that I had

been told it was normal for a little mold to grow in the caulking and on the

ceiling in a shower and to keep treating with bleach. The only indication I had

that there was a problem with this minimal amount of growth around the edges of

the tub and that I got so ill. There was no diclosure of water damage by the

previous owners. However, while the other bath/showers in the house had tiled

walls, the master was covered with that plastic bath stuff they use to cover

ugly tile. When the plastic was pulled back, it was obvious the tile had been

pulled out to make repairs to the shower, probably a leak. There is a mold

rider on our homeowners insurance, so it has been an expensive process. I am

now in healing mode and have a lot of questions:

1. There is mold growing on the caulking and a little bit of the grout in the

other baths. The IAQ test came out negative in those bathrooms, so I am

assuming it is the " bathrooms are moist and mold will grow " normal, not more

walls full of black mold. There doesn't appear to be any cover up in there

except a spot of paint that peeled off the ceiling, revealing mold underneath.

So, my question: if not bleach, then what are you cleaning mold up with and why

not bleach?

2. What's the deal with cedar? I never thought it would be a problem until I

read about it here and it put some light on a puzzling experience I had two

weeks ago. I had been feeling a lot better since the mold was cleaned up,

though not as symptom free as I was when I was out of town. When it got cold

two weeks ago, I took a blanket out of my cedar chest that I had stored there

for the summer. As soon as it got near my face, I started to cough and wheeze.

It was another 3 or 4 days of sleeping on the couch and my dear family washed

all the bedding and cleaned my room thoroughly for me so that I could sleep in

there again. So, again, the question is: what is significant about cedar? Why

does it make people ill?

3. So, I am trying to educate myself on mold toxicity and what all I need to do

to heal, if anything, besides just getting it out of my house. Doing a little

surfing on the net, I ran into: www.chronicneurotoxins.com and took their VCS

test, which came out negative. Before I spend money on his protocol and/or a

phone consultation, has anyone heard of this site and is it reputable?

4. When I fixed the bathroom I put cultured marble, not tile, on the walls.

Does anyone know what, if anything, cultured marble off-gases? Have I traded

one environmental health disaster for another or is it a good choice? Could it

be part of the reason I am not yet symptom free?

5. I need to replace the kitchen floor in my house. The house is thirty years

old and I think vinyl tile on the floor is the original and it's a mess. What

are safe materials to replace it with? I have been looking at laminate, tile

and vinyl. I have shied away from ceramic tile because I have a very busy

household and I am afraid I will not be able to keep the grout clean. Any

recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks for listening and helping me with the next step.

Kata

---------------------------------

FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.