Protect health, investments by keeping an eye out for mold

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Protect health, investments by keeping an eye out for mold

By Deidre Pike

Special to the Reno Gazette-Journal

March 10th, 2000

Mold can grow in any damp place. A bathroom floor, leaky ceiling or

water-damaged carpet. It can contaminate the air in a home or business,

causing sinus infections, asthma, chronic fatigue and even memory loss.

How do you deal with mold?

Call in the moldbusters, of course.

Suited up in Tyvek protective wear and boots, slips a

full-faced respirator over his face. applies the same care he uses to

remove such toxic materials as asbestos to extracting mold from infested

carpet, drywall or ceiling tiles.

, an employee of Advanced Installations, is a trained member of the

general contracting firm's microbial remedy team that gets rid of the mold

that not only causes bad odors but can be harmful to health and property

value.

The Sparks business treats the dangers of airborne toxins, called

mycotoxins, carefully. Before removing the substance, workers seal off the

contaminated area with layers of plastic sheets and hang daunting signs that

read, " Danger: Authorized personnel only. " They pump air from the sealed

area into a HEPA filter that renders it 99.9 percent pure.

" People look at mold and say, `That gets on my bread all the time, " ' says

Carol Nielson of Advanced Installations. " But it has some serious side

effects when it's in your building materials. "

At one Reno office building, people were continually getting sick and didn't

know why, she says. An inspector found outside water sources seeping into

the building, soaking floors and walls, providing the kind of damp

conditions on which molds thrive.

" No one suspected it, but this is what was causing (the illnesses), " Nielson

says.

Molds that might be growing in buildings include milder family members like

Cladosporium, Penicillium and Alternaria. But it's a bad mold called

Stachybotrys (stack-ee-BOT-ris) atra that can produce the kind of airborne

toxins that can cause dizziness, bleeding in the lungs and even memory loss

or chronic fatigue, according to recent studies.

One Harvard study, reported in USA Weekend magazine, found that half of the

10,000 homes studied across the United States and Canada had water damage

and mold. These conditions led to a 50 percent to 100 percent increase in

respiratory symptoms. A Mayo Clinic study attributes the chronic sinus

infections of some 37 million Americans to mold. And others link mold to the

tripling of the asthma rate over the past two decades, according to the

report.

The mold hype is not overblown, industrial hygienist Rinaldi of

Rinaldi Environmental Consultants in Reno says.

" It's big and getting bigger, " he says. People are becoming more aware that

air quality can factor into their health. But many don't have a clue what's

causing their illness.

Rinaldi recalls the plight of one elderly northern Nevada woman who'd called

everyone she could think of _ including state and federal health agencies _

to get help for her health difficulties.

" No one would listen to her, " he says. " She came across as a bit of a

quack. "

When the woman called Rinaldi, he asked her to identify her symptoms. He

immediately suspected the woman suffered from hypersensitivity pneumonitis,

a condition that results from overexposure to mycotoxins.

" The lights lit up and the lady suddenly made sense, " he says. " I went to

her house and there was mold all over the place from a botched

reconstruction after a leaky pipe. "

If mold removal isn't accomplished properly, the chances are greater for

recontamination, says Advanced Installation president Ed . His team was

once called in to fix a contamination that got out of hand after an

individual tried to remove a two-foot square piece of sheet rock with a

knife.

" After the spores have dried, they can easily become airborne, " says.

" Then they cross-contaminate into other areas. "

That's why Advanced Installations recommends that untrained contractors and

homeowners avoid trying to deal with a mold situation on their own, says

Advanced Installation employee Debra Effenberger.

" It's important that homeowners don't do action that causes further

contamination, " Effenberger warns.

Tips for dealing with mold:

A number of tests can identify a mold infestation in a home or business,

says industrial hygienist Rinaldi of Rinaldi Environmental Consultants

in Reno. Visible mold can be collected in a container and send it to a lab,

sample air quality or collect spores in a mold trap.

Having your home tested could cost $200 to $500, according to the American

Industrial Hygiene Association, www.aiha.org.

But to avoid mold contamination, homeowners can follow a few guidelines to

protect their health and their real estate investment.

Fix any leaky pipes right away _ within a day.

Smell your house for the pungent aroma of molds and mildew.

Watch for discoloration of walls, carpet, ceiling tiles and other building

materials. Newer homes aren't exempt from mold dangers as new insulation can

trap moisture in walls and, when damp, materials like fake stucco provide

healthy snacks for molds.

*Keep an eye one any area that may have condensation. Behind the toilet,

shower, water heater. Also check around air conditioners and swamp coolers.

*Pay attention to your health. Chronic sinus infections, nosebleeds,

fatigue, severe headaches, dizziness and rashes can be signs of mold-related

troubles. The symptoms should get better if you're out of the house for a

few days, then worsen when you return.