Mold

A question I hear a lot is, “if there are molds outside, isn’t it unreasonable to expect our homes to be mold-free?” Yes and no. So yes, there is mold outside and yes it does enter our homes on our bodies and feet, but there is a significant difference between outdoor mold and mold from a water damaged building. Certain spores are more common in a water damaged building and some of these strains, like Stachybotrys (aka - black mold) are much more dangerous when they multiply uncontrolled in an indoor environment than the strains we are exposed to outside. It’s true that an outdoor mold can become elevated in a house for various reasons, but the more concerning strains and quantities come from water damaged buildings.

Our son’s worst PANS/PANDAS flare was triggered by exposure to mold, both in our home and at his school concurrently.  

Remember that mold can be anywhere, not just in your home, but also in schools, libraries, therapy buildings, doctor’s offices, work places, even cars, RVs and boats, etc. They must all be considered if the person spends any time in the environment regularly.  

Anyone and everyone with health issues involving the immune system should absolutely consider the possibility of mold in their environment, not just their home, but any environment frequented on a regular basis. About 25% of the population has a specific genetic haplotype in the HLA-DR genes, predisposing them to sickness from water damaged buildings. Their body doesn’t recognize mold toxins as foreign, causing these toxins to accumulate rather than being excreted. HLA-DR genes tell your body to make antibodies to fight toxins. Without them, your body could not remove these toxins. For these people, the antigens remain in the body causing global inflammation leading to multi-system symptoms known as CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome).  It doesn’t mean someone without this haplotype can’t get equally as sick with enough of an exposure, it just means someone WITH this genetic sequencing is more likely to get sick easier and more severely. Unfortunately, it is very common to have mold growing indoors, especially in newer style homes, because of the more recent building practices used.  Sadly, this also means that having a new or newer home doesn’t mean you’ve escaped mold. In fact, I have seen plenty of photos of new construction framing lumber covered with mold from improper storage and handling.

Mold will begin to grow on a porous substrate within 24-48 hours of water exposure under the right conditions, if it is not properly ventilated and dried out. Keep this in mind when you have your next water emergency at home, having the recommended supplies below will help you prevent mold, if you respond quickly enough. So when you think back to “minor” leaks or floods, did you respond in time? Did you dry out the materials properly and quickly?

Mold is microscopic until it grows out of control, so just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. If you DO see it though, it’s a huge problem. Having no active and obvious leaks, doesn’t mean you are out of the woods either, because hidden leaks can be brewing inside walls without visibility. We had three of them, which probably began when our home was built based on the location and the extent of the damage. There were very tiny, dripping leaks behind the walls, and it wasn’t until the problem escalated under unique circumstances that we saw visible evidence of the leaks on the interior of the home. Once we dug into them, it was clear that these leaks had been going on for years, unbeknownst to us. To complicate matters, many homes are now being built with moldy lumber in the framing and all it would take is humidity over 50% to set the stage for mold growth, since the lumber was seeded with mold spores even before the home was built.

I have extensive experience with mold so if you are feeling confused about navigating mold investigation and remediation this would be a good time to join my private coached community FB group. It is $24.99 for the first month and $17.99 each additional month to maintain access to me for guidance and advice. You will be guided to document your health journey using my free living journal so you know that you’ve left no stones unturned. Pairing the journal and this website with my experience will ensure that you are tackling this from all sides, and SAFELY. With mold, safety must be a top priority!

Air purifiers

Clean air is imperative to health. The EPA ranks indoor air quality as a top five environmental risk to public health. EPA studies found indoor air pollutants were generally 2-5 times greater than outdoor pollution levels and in some cases, this soared to 100x greater! Many things contribute to this air pollution, like:  poor ventilation, the use of air fresheners, chemical laden household cleaners, toxic paints, varnishes and furniture treated with fire retardants, mold biotoxins and so on.

DUST mold testing

These are at-home tests you can conduct yourself by swiping dust samples on a cloth that is sent to you by the company.

The standard method of testing in the industry is air captured, which is only a small representation of what is going on in your air, in that particular room, during only that particular moment in time. There are many heavier molds that don’t spend much time in the air and various conditions can effect testing. For example, Stachybotrys is a heavier mold and spends only about 90 seconds airborne. Considering this is also one of the most lethal water damaged building strains, you will want to consider testing that captures settled spores as well. The more ideal representation of the mold index of a home is captured by an ERMI test. It uses vacuum or fabric to swipe for sample collection from dust that has settled on surfaces in the home, and the results are much more accurate (assuming you captured the best samples possible), because they test for the DNA of the mold strains in the dust samples.

LAb testing for mold biotoxin illness

Although it is helpful to test the home environment for mold contamination, it is entirely possible for exposure to come from somewhere other than home. The best way to determine if you are dealing with mold exposure in any of your common environments is to test your body. Mold can grow on (finger and toenail fungus, skin problems) and in (thrush, ear infections, sinusitis, etc) the body. These are signs that the immune system is fighting and not winning!

It is important to consider any environment you frequent: offices, schools, gyms, libraries, stores, family homes, caregiver homes, boats, RVs and so on. If your home testing isn’t conclusive, but you suspect mold illness, or at least want to rule it out as a contributing factor to health problems, testing the body would be ideal.

Consider testing that includes:

• Comprehensive panel of blood antibodies like IgG and IgA for different species of molds

• GI tract - which would look like mold or yeast overgrowth since yeast and mold are essentially the same thing

• Nasal culture - especially in humid climates where sinus problems are an issue

• Mold toxin excretions from the body - including urine and blood

It’s estimated that 25% of the population has a genetic predisposition to mold sensitivity due to an inability to eliminate mold toxins. If you’d like to learn more about genetic testing for mold sensitivity, this article from Avoiding Mold should help you.

Environmental Probiotics - PureBiotics by Chrisal

Environmental probiotics. Yes, there is such a thing! Our indoor environment suffers from toxin overload due to building materials and stale, closed up conditions resulting in recycled air. This isn’t good news for the microbiome of the indoor living environment. The outdoor environment doesn’t typically endure this phenomenon, because of a balanced ecosystem. When we see that ecosystem suffer from water damage, the resulting imbalance creates an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, fungus and viruses. Many indoor environments are subject to mold growth due to the nature of building materials. Learning from nature, soil-based beneficial bacteria which are critical to our outdoor microbiome balance, can be used to balance and harmonize the indoor environment too! Here you will find all purpose cleaners and mists to use throughout your home. We have used these probiotics religiously to clean and mist just about everything. Considering we have successfully remediated our home from mold contamination, I’d say these are an essential addition to anyone’s routine.

You can literally clean just about anything with them. We use the All Purpose Professional cleaner concentrate (which literally lasts forever) to clean and we use the Mist to spray upholstery, carpets and anything fabric. We have even fogged them throughout our home, basement and attic.

The applications are endless: you can spray your furniture regularly to keep it free of dust mites and microbes, spray the soil of your plants (or pour it into their water), put a few sprays into your garbage can after putting food in it to prevent odor from bad bacteria, sponges, showers and tubs, dishwashers, they are great for pet beds and toys and even to spray right onto your pets, you can use it for musty front loading washing machines, for cleaning off new furniture (or used) that enters your home for the first time, spray your damp bath towels down, your door knobs, handles and light switches, and for those of you who have guests from moldy houses visit for the weekend, you can even spray them and their belongings down! We also like to periodically clean our phones (cell phones and house phones) as well as any remote controls with it. The probiotics will continue to clean the surfaces you spray it on for days!  I don’t travel anywhere without my probiotic spray. Hotels are host to all kinds of travel buggies. 

Pairing the PureBiotics mist with the Fogmaster Jr. fogger is a great way to get into all the nooks and crannies as well as adding a protective layer over your furniture.

**If you want to try a different brand with a nice sprayer bottle for touch up around the house, this company also makes personal care products like shower gel, hand sanitizer, fruit and veggie cleaner, laundry additive and pet products. Their products are very versatile. I like their sprayer bottles much better than Pure by Chrisal, they are a finer mist with a long consistent spray which is easier to use for areas like carpet and couches or bedding touch ups.

Enzyme cleaner

Enzymes are very similar to using a probiotic cleaner. They use non-pathogenic, “good” bacteria to digest the protein in waste and stains. They can even break down viruses! The bacteria do this by producing enzymes specifically designed to break down certain molecules (waste/soils) into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces become “food” for the bacteria. So you will want an enzyme based cleaner specifically for mold. These can even be used in your laundry! I tend to use both enzyme cleaners and probiotic cleaners. I choose based on the need and my intuition in the moment. When the freezer in our garage started growing a small area of mold where the humidity was creating the perfect conditions for mold growth, I cleaned it first with an enzyme cleaner, then wiped it down with the probiotic spray as well. The mold has not grown back and it’s been months. This particular cleaner uses only enzymes, water and natural surfactants. It is so safe it can even be used as an on the go hand sanitizer and toothpaste! Not sure I want to brush my teeth with it yet, but watch the owner of the company demonstrate just that on his video on this page!

Zyme Away has a wonderful website full of information and other products.

This is another good product to use in the Fogmaster Jr. fogger. Unfortunately, the Fogmaster Jr. fogger goes in and out of stock so you may have to search for it somewhere else if it’s out of stock. Just be sure to find one that doesn’t heat the enzymes. A better fogger, with a higher price tag, is a ULV cold mist fogger. We also have this one and notice the mist is so fine that it doesn’t wet things as easily and the mist travels further.

We always fog our beach house with enzymes and then environmental probiotics before we arrive for the summer. I don't know if we are duplicating efforts to use both enzymes and environmental probiotics, but here is my take on that. The difference between enzymes and probiotics are that enzymes are biologically active proteins, while probiotics are living bacterial organisms. 

Probiotics produce enzymes, but I tend to believe that with the more concentrated enzymes, the better the action. I use these first as a deep clean. Then I layer a probiotic on top of the enzymes 45 minutes to an hour later, which creates a protective barrier that continues to work. Live bacteria will eat sources of mold and toxins as long as it remains alive. So I tend to start with enzymes, then I go on to continue by cleaning with the environmental probiotics.

An added bonus is that probiotics degrade biofilm which can build up on objects just like they can inside of our bodies. That biofilm will protect the pathogen so if you try to clean it off with a commercial cleaner, it won’t get through the biofilm. Cleaning with probiotics degrades the biofilm for a true clean.

Moisture Meter

One thing I would never be without again, as a homeowner, is a moisture meter! This small investment has saved us countless times. Water damage is hard to avoid. There is no way to guarantee that accidents and leaks won’t happen, but with a moisture meter, you can assess the extent of the damage immediately. You can also follow the drying process by monitoring the materials that were wet. Gravity ensures that water will travel to the lowest point. That may not be a straight line either. So by using a moisture meter, you can ensure that you know the full extent of the exposure.

The ideal moisture content for building materials, like wood, to grow mold, is 20% or higher. If you are getting readings higher than or equal to 20%, you need to assist the process, and fast. See my guide on how to thoroughly dry out building materials after a leak. You will learn how to apply the tools available here, but having them before the leak is essential. Don’t wait until you have a leak and you are scrambling around to find the right tools.

This meter has both pin (with two sets of pins in different lengths) and pinless options, making it really versatile. You won’t be limited to only one style of reading and from experience, I can assure you that both will be helpful in different circumstances.

Moisture hygrometer

If the humidity in your home (or room) is above 50%, you run the risk of mold proliferation, especially if there was ever a previous mold problem in the home, because escaped or disrupted spores are floating around and attached to various household goods, just waiting for the right opportunity to flourish. Every home contains some mold, it’s inevitable, but by giving those spores the opportunity to thrive overgrowth can become a major hazard, especially if the home has water damaged building species like stachybotrys, chaetomium, fusarium, aspergillus, alternaria or cladosporium.

Mold needs three things to grow uninhibited: water (humidity above 50%), food and oxygen. Without these three things, it won’t spread, however, it CAN remain dormant and even in it’s dormant state, it produces mycotoxins. This is why it’s so important to remove, not kill or cover up mold during a proper remediation (join my coached community group if you would like more guidance on remediation). Mycotoxins are neurotoxic and often cause more harm than the spores themselves, so how you manage mold in your home or vehicle really does matter. Many mold remediation companies will misinform you suggesting that their cheaper treatment options are viable. They aren’t and this is why.

I personally prefer analog hygrometers, because they can be calibrated manually and tend to be more accurate than the digital counterparts, but there are many digital devices available, if you prefer something more sleek in design.

Air Mover Blower 1/2 HP

When you encounter acute water damage, you need to dry it fast. This commercial air mover will do the trick. Pair with a dehumidifier and a moisture meter, and you have the right tools to dry surface materials fast.

Regardless of the size of the water damage, all wet sheetrock should immediately be cut out right away, because sheetrock absorbs moisture rapidly. If wood is wet, as long as it can be reached by air, it can be dried if you can get the moisture content below 20% within 24-48 hours. If there was ever a leak in the same location previously or it was over 20% moisture for longer than 48 hours, however, do NOT cut out the sheetrock without proper containment from a reputable mold company, because doing so will spread mold spores throughout the house.

When in doubt, leave it and call an emergency on-call service to do it right. If it was caused by an event, like a burst pipe or a child overflowing the tub, insurance should cover the service. I personally always prioritize getting the emergency service out there before calling insurance, because it’s more important that you handle it properly and swiftly. It won’t change the coverage decision, but it can change the mold outcome.

I personally like having tools like this on hand for immediate action.

IVATION Dehumidifier

Humidity above 50% creates a prime condition for mold growth. If your basement is musty, you need a dehumidifier, if you have a spill or a leak, you need a dehumidifier, if you live in a humid location, you need a dehumidifier. Ever since our first mold remediation project, we’ve had dehumidifiers running in our homes 24/7.

Not only does a dehumidifier benefit the surrounding environment, but it benefits human health, as well. When less moisture is in the air, it makes the living environment incompatible with tiny pests, allergens, and dust mites that may cause irritation. Feel relief from sneezing, stuffy noses, rashes, and coughing that can occur from high humidity levels. This dehumidifier helps eliminate allergy triggers that should not live in your home, and more importantly, your respiratory system. Additionally, this dehumidifier reduces the threat of mold, which can damage your health and valuable items in your living space.

Under sink Xtreme mats

These are life savers! Whether you have a small dripping leak, a spill from a product or a larger accident, these mats will save you! We had our garbage disposal fall off (don’t ask!) and dump gallons of water out. NOTHING got wet in the cabinet, not even a drop spilled out of the mat which is designed to hold 3 gallons. It was full to the brim though! Unfortunately, the way the disposal fell, it did dump a little water on the floor in front of the cabinet, but that was easily cleaned up and dried with the use of the tools listed above (moisture meter, fan and dehumidifier).

These are truly worth their weight in gold!

WAshing machine drain pan

More prevention products! These can either be installed with a drain or just as is to catch small leaks or spills. If you have a larger front loader washing machine, you may need to order from somewhere else, because they can be much larger than these standard pans. Just make sure to measure before ordering, and remember that the washing machine must be lifted up into this pan! It took two large men and an assistant (me) to manage that in a tight space.

Dishwasher catch pan

This catch pan works a little differently than the washing machine pan. This is designed to push the water forward so you know there is a leak under the dishwasher therefore it is three sided.

SafeCoat grout sealant

To prevent mold from growing on your grout and working it’s way behind the grout, periodic sealing is very important. We use SafeCoat grout sealant because it is zero VOC and is non-toxic. We apply it every 6 months or sooner, if I see any areas that are beginning to grow little specks of mold.

Clean the grout well, let it dry sufficiently, and then just paint this on the grout, that’s all!

Toxic fungi-mold nosode

Homeopathy works to stimulate the immune system using nanoparticle-doses of substances that trigger a healing response. To reduce sensitivity to mold, this homeopathic mold nosode can be used during flares from acute exposure or to reduce overall sensitivity to toxic molds.

Citrus mold elimination candles

As the candles burn, the flame aerosolizes the all-natural, fragrance-free, botanical ingredients embedded in the soy wax. In 3 hours burn time, the candles can reduce mold counts by more than 90%. Independent lab tests confirmed that these candles can destroy airborne mycotoxins! This is huge, because when a home is remediated and the inhabitants are still reacting to it, there’s a good chance they are reacting to mycotoxins that were produced during the remediation process.

Each candle will effectively treat a 12 X 12 room (or 600sq ft of space) lasts approximately 16-22 hours.

These are especially great, because they are small and easy to travel with, or for use in guest rooms that are rarely used prior to having guests over.

Sporicidin mold enzymes

This is just another brand of enzymes used to break down mold. This one has a “citrus” component to it.

The Sporicidin Mold Stain Cleaner concentrate is an effective enzyme combination of protease (to remove protein), amylase (to remove starch) and lipase (to remove fat), which also quickly dissolves and removes mold and organic matter. Recommended for use on floors, walls, ceilings, painted surfaces, metal, tile, concrete, cinder block, brick, carpet, fabric, upholstery, plastic, glass, vinyl, latex, wood studs, joists, beams, sub floors, and other materials subject to moisture.