Not surprisingly, months after Village Park Rockborough Apartments and Townhomes were flooded, mold is showing up and chasing out some of the residents. Apparently some leaks haven’t been repaired either, and there’s also a pest problem.

Repairs funded by insurance are under way, but they’re tackling buildings one at a time. Someone has to be last, and apparently those are the folks that are moving out, rather than share bacteria and mold with their ac systems.

Understandable.

Just a reminder to you folks experiencing a lot of rain.

Dry it up ASAP. Don’t let it sit around, or you’ll be fighting that mold battle.

I tried to post the national news report here, but they’re not publishing that embedded code, so just take it from me. There is a lot of heat going on, and a lot of rain. That is the perfect formula for mold growth, so keep your eyes peeled, and if you need to, call your trusty inspector to sample.

Guilford County Health Dept has a moldy school on their hands.

Oak Ridge Elementary is going to be closed this summer for mold clean-up after being directed by the health department to:

• Clean and repair the heat, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
• Analyze the school’s dehumidification system
• Continue to fix problems identified in previous reports, which include removing carpets and repairing roof leaks.

A survey of the school reveals symptoms of mold exposure including headaches, dry eyes, unusual sneezing episodes, difficulty breathing or asthma attacks and nosebleeds.

We’re still seeing the effects of last years floods, not just in the homes where the flooding occurred, but also in the people who live in those houses. Mold presents a set of symptoms which are often misdiagnosed. Like coughing.

Though parasitic fungi such as Athlete’s foot are readily diagnosed, easy to catch, difficult to control.

Bleach works for getting rid of surface mold, but it is helpless against hidden mold, mold in the walls, or in crawl spaces. Fanning without filtration just stirs it up and makes it worse. Apart from the mycotoxins, it doesn’t matter to our lungs if a spore is alive or dead when it is the spore itself that is the irritant.

To dry up the mold, dry up the water. That could be a hard thing to do during the rainy season. Rain can expose your house to all kinds of stresses. The leaking roof is the first thing you think of–but then there are also joints in your house-any place two surfaces come together. The home’s unseen water barrier. And then there are windows, especially old-style windows. All of these different locations can be places where water intrudes, but don’t overlook leaky pipes and appliances.

And where ever water goes, mold can follow.

In the California area, if you think you have mold, give us a call; we can test for mold (and toxic gases.)

Byebyemold

In spite of low-income housing residents who fell ill with swollen eyes, flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems two days after moving in, and county-commissioned lab tests identifying four mold species (including Penicillium, Aspergillus and Cladosporium) listed by the federal government as species of particular concern, Rio Arriba County is denying a mold problem.

Symptoms of that mold exposure include nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, conjunctivitis, lacrimation, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath…not surprisingly similar to illnesses suffered by residents.

County Commission Chairman Elias Coriz said “A certified person found no mold” but official lab tests do show dangerous molds.

You can deny your nose all you want, but that doesn’t keep it from sitting right there in the middle of your face.

Re: Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing.

The U.S. Supreme Court has chosen not to examine if the federal government bears responsibility for toxic, mold-infested homes built on the Blackfeet Reservation with federal money.

American Indians say the houses sickened their families with asthma, sinusitis and other ailments.

What will the Supreme Court do if these houses were built with Toxic Chinese Drywall (which they may well have been)?

Black mold was found in the firestation shower, and ever since, the station has been closed.

Other people follow a paper trail. Byebye mold follows the mold trail. So we’re not surprised to hear that the mold in the shower was the tip of the iceberg, and led to a leak. The leak led to the source of the leak, and a mother lode of mold spread by the heating system.

The fire station is taking bids, and hopes to be back in the firehouse by the summer.

When it comes to drying out after a flood, it’s time to call the professionals. Or else, 3 weeks after the flood, your house is starting to smell, and you’re going to be growing a crop of mold in your damp carpet.

Get that mold inspector out there to do readings on your house and find out where you need to point the clean-up crew.

As wonderful as it is, Hawaii is humid–and mold loves Hawaii as much as we do.

Take for example the Hawaii Hilton, with a history of mold. (Closed for mold in the past, and possibly in the future.

Before the so called infestation there had to be water intrusion!

Where water has been, mold will follow, like that water from the fourth-floor pool in the tower that intruded into the spa treatment rooms. Since there were complaints of mold, standing water and degraded air quality, the Health Department’s visit to the Mandara Spa is going to cost up to $70,000. That’s just pennies compared to the hotel’s 2002 settlement of $1.8 million.

Island Sunset
by Vincent Khoury Tylor