Testing for toxins

[Guest guest]

I've done lots of testing for mold spores but wonder if there is any

place I can send bulk dust sample and a carpet section to be tested for

toxins (toxins from both from mold and bacteria)?

I was down cleaning the basement of alot of dust accumlated over the

summer and felt very sick afterwards and wonder if that is why. I wore

a mask and tried not to kick it up unnecessarily, so wondering if I

have more toxins in the house than I realize. Know any place will have

some but wondering if I have high level of toxins in very old carpet

(that has been kept very clean though) and in basement dust.

I took carpet up off of staircase because I couldn't vaccuum it

adequately but kept some of it and some of the padding.

Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Enviro-logix makes a test kit that is used to test for macrocyclic

trichothecenes. (stachybotrys)

You might want to call them and ask who is using their kit who can do

a test for you.

Romer labs can test for other mycotoxins.

In both cases WHAT you test is important. The big problem is that mold

toxins are very strong,

so strong that household items may not be strong enough to trigger the

test even if they make you ill.

Having a sample of the actual mold is better.

You can do QPCR tests from house dusts.. (honestly, I am VERY

surprised that you have not done this already)

That might make more sense for you as it would break down molds by

species and the dust would be an average of

the species. If you did a number of samples throughout the house

systematically and processed them identically,

the differences in species and concentrations from area to area would

be very informative as to where the sources were.

In a practical sense, for a homeowner such as yourself, that makes the

most sense. Armed with the information of where

the concentrations are the highest, you might be able to figure out

what walls to break into faster.

Thats just my guessing what might work best..

This might cost quite a bit but ultimately, I think it would be a good

investment as its obviously still bothering you.

On Feb 3, 2008 5:34 PM, barb1283 <barb1283@...> wrote:

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>

>

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>

> I've done lots of testing for mold spores but wonder if there is any

> place I can send bulk dust sample and a carpet section to be tested for

> toxins (toxins from both from mold and bacteria)?

>

> I was down cleaning the basement of alot of dust accumlated over the

> summer and felt very sick afterwards and wonder if that is why. I wore

> a mask and tried not to kick it up unnecessarily, so wondering if I

> have more toxins in the house than I realize. Know any place will have

> some but wondering if I have high level of toxins in very old carpet

> (that has been kept very clean though) and in basement dust.

>

> I took carpet up off of staircase because I couldn't vaccuum it

> adequately but kept some of it and some of the padding.

>

> Thanks!

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for this info Live. Yes, I have heard of people doing the dust

test but I haven't.

I did what I could understand, which was to target the mold first and

felt cleaning and throwing out would get rid of toxins as a result but

the fact that I became so ill after just sweeping the basement floor,

even though I was wearing a N95 mask with carbon filter in it, and

being careful to not kick up too much, has got my attention. It was

very dusty because house was unoccupied since last spring.

If basement dust is full of toxins, I need to be aware of that. If

basement floor is, carpet may be too but less obvious and maybe better

throw out rather than vaccum, etc.

--- In , LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>

wrote:

>

> Enviro-logix makes a test kit that is used to test for macrocyclic

> trichothecenes. (stachybotrys)