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Mold exposure is no joke. I lived in a rented apartment that was flooded badly during Hurricane Sandy (and I was on the 4th floor!). Within a few days of the st
by MavisBacon 3y ago
Mold exposure is no joke. I lived in a rented apartment that was flooded badly during Hurricane Sandy (and I was on the 4th floor!). Within a few days of the storm passing I was emailing my landlord, concerned that he apparently hadn’t begun doing anything to reduce likelihood of mold growth. A few weeks later gives us the go ahead to move back in, and within weeks of that I rapidly began developing symptoms.
Initially looked like severe allergies but then I started coughing up blood, waking up gasping for breath, really bad nausea and other GI issues. I was already pissed off with management at this apartment so we moved out about 4 months after the hurricane. While moving out we found all this black mold hiding behind furniture and in corners. Took pictures and then made a point to do mold air quality test before handing over the keys. Saw my PCP who had been overseeing my care the whole time, probably dozens of visits, and mentioned what I found. He then had zero doubt that the mold was causing everything
He ordered a blood test that shows the immune system’s response to mold and it indicated my body was dealing with quite a bit of it. The air tests showed the presence of 3 types/quantities of toxigenic mold and correlated with blood tests
I think it took nearly two years for me to fully recover after moving out of the apartment. Was at least fortunate that all of that documentation allowed me to get a settlement. I had literally emailed the landlord saying I have asthma and the apartment must be safe for me to move back into. I now do mold air tests before I move anywhere
Oddly the house we are about to move into passed the mold air test and then we found a ton of mold in the insulation once we ripped all the drywall out of what is going to be my bedroom
- 4oo4 3y agoWhat do you use to test for mold?
- MavisBacon 3y agoI use companies licensed in mold remediation and testing. If you live in a fairly populated area and google “mold air testing in (x city)” you should hopefully find something. It’s strange to me how infrequently these services are utilized. My realtor, who is one of the most experienced in the state even wasn’t sure who to go to for this when I first asked
- starkparker 3y agoThere's some care to take here, especially depending on state licensing requirements. In some places it's particularly easy or low risk to present fraudulent results or interpretations of results on air tests so they can pitch expensive but unnecessary mitigation. National and regional chains often provide licensing cover for, and set quotas on, operators that enable some of this scamming. One way to vet a mold tester is to go through a property management or landlords' association, even if you're not either of those things (even if you're a renter!). They often refer or have a list of vetted local contractors publicly available. Nobody likes wasting money on property less than a landlord.
- MavisBacon 3y ago100%. for this reason it can be ideal to go with a company that only does testing, not remediation. In smaller markets, though, you might be forced to go through a company that does remediation as well. Had to do it recently but they were honest and helpful, gave us a clean rating
- aarongray 3y agoHERTSMI-2 is the most accurate. Often houses will pass air spore tests but HERTSMI-2 will catch the problem. It isn't necessary to do an ERMI - that tests for ALL molds in your house. You only need to test for Mycotoxin producing molds, which the HERTSMI-2 does. This is the kit I recommend for testing for mold: https://www.envirobiomics.com/product/hertsmi-2/ https://www.envirobiomics.com/product/hertsmi-2/ Only costs $130. Buy the Swiffer kit. Vacuum is not as accurate. Clean the whole house, then wait 2-4 weeks, then use the Swiffer kit to collect dust that has settled in the bedrooms and living room. Don't do kitchen or bathrooms. Interpreting a HERTSMI-2: 0-8: Excellent 9-10: Good 11-15: Possibly dangerous. Deep clean the whole house, especially locations that are rarely cleaned and have settled dust like the tops of ceiling fans, door frames, blinds, etc. Wait 2-4 weeks and retest. If the score is still 11 or above, you have a significant mold problem that needs to be found and remediated by professionals. 16-50: Dangerous. You have a significant mold problem that needs to be found and remediated by professionals.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoI read a detailed account from a non-anon former Apple employee (I can get the link to share) who was similarly sick from per the evidence strong chemical fumes they were ejecting from their factories nearby some of the employee housing. No follow up or accountability and several reasons why they were allowed to operate that way perhaps (besides other team dysfunction). Just terrible stuff like this seems to happen regardless of a biz’s rep w general population and dismissed from attention if it ever receives it NY and Ontario landlords and I’m sure elsewhere have a high tolerance for leaving terrible mold situations in rentals, I know someone who had permanent nerve damage and a condition for life from how the black mold behind her shower that the landlord wouldn’t fix and the state wouldn’t help resolve
- sizzle 3y agowould love a link to read more, thanks for sharing!
- wahnfrieden 3y agoI’m sorry I replied on twitter a couple months ago and they’ve deleted the posts. I followed them and could find that way maybe but don’t want to dox them now that they’ve taken it down. They couldn’t find journalist interest and I tried to refer one. I have no affiliation / authority over this second hand info of course. To clarify, they were not a factory worker, they were corporate (not that it makes it better but it means that exposure to stuff wouldn't have been a part of their employment agreement) and the root cause was that it saved money
- failrate 3y agoIt tested negative, because that mold was still trapped in the space within the drywall.
- graphe 3y ago[flagged]
- callalex 3y agoWhy don’t doctors regularly recommend this treatment?
- hollerith 3y agoMost doctors don't believe the people who are saying that for some people to recover from mold illness requires more than just removing oneself from the moldy environs.
- baby 3y agoIsn’t that enough? I lived in a place with mold around 10 years ago, brrrr
- hollerith 3y agoIf you are one of the approx 16% of the population unable to clear mold toxins from your body, the mold toxins can persist and keep you sick for decades after the end of any exposure to moldy environments.
- troft 3y ago[dead]
- ecocentrik 3y agoWhat steps did you take to secure your own living area? I've been through a few hurricanes and part of the recovery process is multiple deep cleans and constant inspection of your own living space, placing desiccate bags in every closet to soak up the residual moisture, replacing water damaged furniture, rugs... The biggest problem with apartments or condos that experience severe water damage is building management or condo associations that don't want to take on the expense of bringing in experts to repeatedly inspect every apartment for this kind of mold growth. As a resident you and your neighbors, landlords... end up with a significant part of the burden of keeping your domiciles mold free.
- MavisBacon 3y agoWasn’t particularly concerned with cleaning. When we first entered the apartment, pieces of the ceiling had fallen all over the space, probably nearly an inch of water on the ground. Was an absolute mess. As I said, I was told the apartment was repaired and cleaned and led to believe it was safe to move back in so no I didn’t dedicate the hours to cleaning the place myself. Would have been for naught regardless, as the landlord never brought fans and dehumidifiers in (supposed to be done within 24-48 hours) so allowed moisture to fester for weeks