Re: Re: Dan--cities with least/ most mold

[Guest guest]

Hi Barb,

Thanks for the post, but I have to question the methods of their

determination. There is a fascinating thing about statistics, you can make them

read whatever you want them to. For instance, california is on the top 10, but

where is the consideration from the desert southern California and the always

wet northern california around the redwoods? It is a very large state with a

variety of weather patterns.

I don't see indiana on the list, but the people who made this list probably

don't suffer from mold illness, are they counting moss, mushrooms, typically

innocuous molds?

From the experience of a family who have been sensitized by mold, here is

our own personal experience. For over 1 year we searched dozens of homes in the

Shelbyille Indiana area, and in the entire year, we found not one home we could

move in to. Granted due to our financial situation, as with many on this list,

we could not afford to move in to the new homes, but we have found mold in some

of them too as their building techniques include leaving the partially built

house, without a roof, to sit through weeks of rain before continueing to build,

then covering the sometimes still damp wood with siding and dry wall.

I know from experience that Missouri, even though not on the list of the top

10, was literally a state of Misery to my whole family, in fact Carmella's voice

was cracking before we got there, but by the time we left she had no voice at

all. Oklahoma had moldy hotels, but as far as travelling through the state, we

found the air to be clean enough that we began improving. New Mexico, one of

the " DRY " states, we found ourselves coughing and leaving many of the buildings

we entered, including a hotel that made our son sick so fast he said he was

going to sleep in the van and left the room. He is 9 years old, but he knows

what he goes through with mold contact. The problem with New Mexico, is the

culture and their love of adobe homes, which is OK, but by customs and style

they build these buildings with flat roofs. They may not have rain for 7 years,

but when they get rain, it stands on the roof indefinately, and if the roof has

developed a leak during the 7 year drought, then the rain gives ample water to

saturate the interiors. The worst moldy KOA campground we found was in New

Mexico!

Granted there is mold everywhere, we have found a very nice clean home in

CO, and even it has a small spot of green mold visible from the basement, which

we will take care of ourselves, but it isn't bad enough to drive us out like

everything else has. Most of the businesses here are relatively clean in

comparison to much we have been through, and the architectural styling is that

of " A " framed roofs. It rains little, and when it does, it runs off due to the

geological features, and dries up rapidly.

Our house was built in 1920's, so it is latt & plaster, not dry wall, the

framework is probably Poplar which is a very hard wood and does not readily

breed mold like pine does. they did use drywall during the remodeling that is

just now finished, along with a new roof, and the water lines and water heater

are in a concrete basement.

While that list may be correct according to their studies, I think practical

experience and first hand exposure may not coincide with their detectors. I do

not carry mold spore meters and air quality geiger counters, but I know what

makes us sick, we can normally walk into a building and tell you right off if

there is a problem. Carmella said she smelled gas in this house when she opened

the basement door, the gas company man said he didn't smell anything and so did

the guy that changed out the fitting on our gas stove, but when they brought the

meter in, they found a leak on a valve that was such a minute leak, it took one

minute for a bubble about the size of a pin head to form when sprayed with a

soapy mixture, none the less, they are replacing the control valve on the

furnace.

I say to anyone who is suffering, travelling through the states during the

" damp " season is the best way to judge, I'll not hinge my family's health on

something some organization tells me, but rather by the reaction we have in the

presence of some of these areas. For example, our intention was to move to New

Mexico because of it's dry climate, but due to their building techniques, they

are as bad in many area's as other wetter states.

Thank you for the list though, it is interesting. Carmella has always had

Asthma but interestingly, neither she nor I had any problems health wise when we

lived in Southern California. Granted we had not yet been sensitized by a sick

building, but that didn't happen in CA, it happened in indiana. I think for now

I'll trust our instincts and our own health reaction to determine what is

healthy and what is not.

Dan & Carmella

[Guest guest]

I've lived in very wet (but also very clean aired) places that many would

probably think were moldy but which weren't, at all.

And some of the worst mold situations I've ever been in were during dry

moths when the humidity was fairly low. (but there had been flooding/leaking

at other times) So I think these outdoor so called 'mold counts " are just

another way people are confused and the real issues muddled. In particular,

the promotion of anything suggesting that all mold spres or kinds of mold

are alike is very counterproductive because it plays into the big lie that

they love to circulate that says that " since mold is everywhere " what is the

point of trying to eliminate the toxinogenic situations.

BTW, the REALLY toxic situations are often predictable by one parameter..

wall cavity relative humidity. In buildings where the insides of walls

reaches >80% or 90% for days at a time, you start to have major problems.

Mycotoxin problems. No building that I have ever been in that was not

plagued by that kind of long term moisture ever had the real serious mold

effect on me. They have mold sometimes with milder, allergic like effects,

sometimes, but never the sledgehammer on your head that makes you think

'this is a sick building', I've got to get out of here, NOW.

You know it when you find it.. its much much worse than the mold you find in

people's basements, attics, etc. That is mold, but its usually not the stuff

that will ruin your life..