IAQ Testing Question

March 10, 2001

I have a pretty complicated water damage loss with two insurance

companies involved. Anyhow, my question is about clearance testing.

The one insurance company has said that the area they are claiming

responsibility (coverage) for has " passed " the final clearance. I am

not in agreement however. When the initial IAQ testing was performed

(before remediation), the air sampling never came back high, but

surface tape sapmples and wall cavity testing came back positive for

mold (Stachybotrys, Aspergillus, etc.) Every step of the way, I've

had to demand additional areas (wall cavities) be tested. Everytime

the remediation company said they were " finished " , I would pursue

additional testing and sure enough, more mold was discovered.

Well, they are really saying they are done now, but I am positive

there are more walls filled with mold. My carpets were never removed

or dried out and when I removed a few baseboards, I could see mold

growing on them. Also, I had the moisture and humidity tested

yesterday and the moisture level in the walls/wood was off the meter

(20%+). The humidity was at 61 percent.

Is it possible to have ill health effects from a home where there is

definitely high levels of mold in/on the walls but it's not showing

up high in the air samples? Do the air tests reflect the presence of

any mycotoxins? And if so, what infomation can I arm myself with to

explain that they have to get the mold the hell out of my walls even

though it's not showing up in the air? I'm at the end of my rope

with these people - please help!! Thank you!

March 10, 2001

Cat,

Depending on conditions when samples are taken, it is quite possible to

find nothing, yet still have a significant problem. For example, air testing

in winter when relative humidity (RH) is very low, molds are not likely to

be found. But RH inside wall cavities can still be high, particularly

exterior walls with fiberglass or cellulose insulation. Even if the wall

interior RH has dropped, if it was wet a prolonged time period, it may

contain significant dormant mold. You may have no mold odor now, but when

spring comes and RH increases, the mold which started growing inside walls

will reactivate. Hopefully you have read various web sites such as New York

City Department of Health, California DOH, etc. If so, you should have seen

that many molds have tendencies to yield false negatives on typical air

sampling. Another problem is that most testing only is capable of

identifying viable mold spores. But some molds do not remain viable very

long when released from their damp cultures into drier air, yet dead cells

are as allergenic or toxic as live cells (found in Health Implications of

Fungi in Indoor Environments, a 1994 book from Elsevier Science). Mycotoxins

are not identified.

Did you have a flood? General recommendations for flood damage are to

remove all wet carpet and upholstered furniture. Dry wall should ALL be

removed to one foot above the water line. If mold is seen on back, remove to

one foot above the highest mold found. All wall studs should be disinfected

and thoroughly dried before replacing the walls. If this is not done, small

pockets of dormant mold can come back to haunt you later. Similar

precautions should be observed if water is from a plumbing leak or back up,

or from fire fighting. Any wall or ceiling cavities which have gotten

drenched should be opened, disinfected, and dried. You can find info on this

at University of Minnesota department of environmental health and safety web

site, searching for flood damage, starting at http://dehs.umn.edu Other

sites can be found for states affected by floods or hurricane problems.

Good luck at getting proper remediation.

Gil

----Original Message Follows----

From: chattycat@...

Reply-

Subject: [] IAQ Testing Question

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 05:56:26 -0000