Re: Advice is always welcome from anyone who listens...

[Guest guest]

Beth,

Two possibilities:

1. Seal the ducting in the crawlspace with foil duct tape (not the

grey smelly stuff). Put it on all corners, connections, joints and

seams. This will help isolate the " stuff " in the crawlspace air from

the ducting and then being blown throughout the living space.

2. The A/C coils may be the source. When the A/C runs it chills

the air, condensing humidity onto the coils making them wet.

Mold, and more importantly, bacteria thrive there. The forced air

system the blows the " stuff " throughout the house. When you use

heat it dries out and creates less MVOCs, but is still present.

Find a member of NADCA or ACCA in your area from their Web

site who will clean the system, especially the cooling coils,

according to their standards.

NADCA standard ACR 2006 at www.nadca.com

ACCA standard ANSI-ACCA HVAC System Cleanliness 2007.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

> Ok, so my latest delima... my house was practically killing me for a

> while, but the weather has changed since then. I believe the main

> source of my sickness was from our return air not being sealed tight

> enough and air from the crawl space getting into it. I breathed that

> air in for about 2 weeks, got a bad cold and haven't felt " normal "

> since(about 2 months now). Now that its getting cold & we've been

> using the heater instead of ac, it still smells a little funky, but I

> think the air being colder and dryer might have cut down significantly

> on the yucky stuff that was in the air vs. when it was warmer with

> more humidity...

> I still don't feel " great " while in the house, especially in the

> bedrooms, but I think this may be more because they are smaller, more

> closed in areas and whatever had been in the air is probably more

> concentrated in the carpets. We are going to get an air test,

> hopefully tomorrow, since it will still be warm during the day, but I

> am worried that the freezing night weather might have caused whatever

> was making me ill to go dormant and we wont be able to find it until

> it either rains again, (on thurday actually is forecasting rain, but

> that is thanksgiving and after that we will have snow, which is too

> cold for sure) or gets consistantly warmer and we use the AC again. I

> am afraid to stay in the house, but if the air test comes up negative

> for any problems, my husband will accuse me of being crazy for reals

> and try not to let us get out of it. Also its been harder for me to

> tell if its even the house that's bothering me anymore because I

> believe I am developing MCS and everything bothers me now. I can't

> even hardly go into the shoe stores any more, and just walking from a

> non carpeted room into a carpeted one, new and old houses alike, gives

> my sinuses a squeeze. Ugh. So frustrating.

> I might make it through the winter, but if it gets bad in the spring

> again... I just don't know...

> I'm really just venting here, so if anyone has some stories they'd

> like to share, please, I'm all ears. All I want is to feel normal

> again. Really.

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

> FAIR USE NOTICE:

>

>

[Guest guest]

Beth,

Your still in the house? Did you find the source of the mold yet and did you

have it tested/analyzed for species identification? Your never going to get

better if your living in a home with toxic mold in it no matter what you do

PERIOD!

Eli

From: TheBeth <thebethinator@...>

Subject: [] Advice is always welcome from anyone who listens...

Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 10:19 PM

Ok, so my latest delima... my house was practically killing me for a

[Guest guest]

We're supposed to be getting an air test today if the damn guy will

get back to us. I have no where else to go, we've been trying to find

an appartment but everythings so expensive right now. And there's no

" visual " mold so we're not even sure thats the problem (though I am

pretty sure by how I feel)

>

> Beth,

> Your still in the house? Did you find the source of the mold yet and

did you have it tested/analyzed for species identification? Your never

going to get better if your living in a home with toxic mold in it no

matter what you do PERIOD!

> Eli

>

[Guest guest]

As for sealing the ducts... the return isn't in the crawlspace, its

right on top of it & the unit is brand new, but they used the closet

that had the water heater and the old furnace in it to put the new

unit in. The return sits unerneath the unit on top of the crawlspace.

My husband did his best to seal the return because it had been just

old, very dusty wood that had gaps between the slats so it would

definately have been open to the crawlspace & the water heater is a

new one because its obvious the old one had leaked & rotted out the

drywall along the floor of it & the return was also open to the

underneath of the bath tub. but n e ways, my husband used some kind of

blue styrofoam insulation board to box in the return inside of the

closeted space & he lined all of the seems with the metal duct tape,

so the only air getting in should be through the filter in the

hallway, but somehow, do to the smell when we ran the ac, i believe

that the air is getting either through the seams (maybe the metal tape

doesn't stick to the plastic well enough) or through the styrofoam

itself. I was finally able to discover that there is definitely air

getting in from the top of the return, I held a dryer sheet to the

wood above the return & it sucked it to it. I haven't been in the

crawlspace under the return to try this there, but do to the smell, me

getting sick & staying sick etc... its gotta be some how, but I dont

know what else to do for the return, there were too many beems of wood

& such in the area for the return to use the fiber glass insulation

which my husband says is porous any ways... I am pressuring my husband

to look into it more & am going to talk to the owner of the comp who

gave us the unit.

>

> Beth,

>

> Two possibilities:

>

> 1. Seal the ducting in the crawlspace with foil duct tape (not the

> grey smelly stuff). Put it on all corners, connections, joints and

> seams. This will help isolate the " stuff " in the crawlspace air from

> the ducting and then being blown throughout the living space.

>

> 2. The A/C coils may be the source. When the A/C runs it chills

> the air, condensing humidity onto the coils making them wet.

> Mold, and more importantly, bacteria thrive there. The forced air

> system the blows the " stuff " throughout the house. When you use

> heat it dries out and creates less MVOCs, but is still present.

>

> Find a member of NADCA or ACCA in your area from their Web

> site who will clean the system, especially the cooling coils,

> according to their standards.

>

> NADCA standard ACR 2006 at www.nadca.com

>

> ACCA standard ANSI-ACCA HVAC System Cleanliness 2007.

>

> Carl Grimes

> Healthy Habitats LLC