Re: Question about testing stuff in storage

[Guest guest]

Kate,

Dr Hooper at Realtime labs http://www.realtimelab.com/ can do

mycotoxin testing of environmental samples but it is still very

expensive. Around $700 per sample. (Tissue, urine and blood

samples are much more reasonable). Minimum detection limits

are still above what the human body can react to.

So my suggestion is to spend the money on cleaning instead of

testing and then cleaning. Upholstry clean the sofa and chairs

and carpet clean the oriental rugs all with hot water extraction

and a mild detergent. If you are still reactive to any of these

contents then I'd replace them. Soft contents such as these will

have spores, mycotoxins and other components of the mold

organism impacted deep below the surface. Very difficult to clean

if surface cleaning isn't sufficient.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

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>

> Hi all,

>

> A sofa, a few chairs and oriental rugs, all exposed to moldy dust through a

central air system, are now in a

> climate controlled storage facility. I was very careful to keep mold spore

counts down in the home were they

> were stored previously, and humidity was kept low most of the time. If these

furniture absorbed harmful

> mycotoxins, then I am imagining that it would be like a pesticide embedding

into the fabric. How do they test

> for that? A fabric analysis? I can understand how fabrics can exude odor like

smoke, or paint residue. Is this

> the danger that one introduces into a home when they bring the mycotoxin

contaminated items in?

>

> I am concerned because my teens are very sensitive to mold VOCs, and display

symptoms of neurotoxicity

> when exposed to harmful molds. We are doing better, but have not recovered

completely since leaving our

> belongings and home behind. My symptoms do not come on immediately, as theirs

do.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Kate

>

>

>