I've been looking at a site called "Mold Inspector Laboratory, Inc", an outfit that offers do-it-yourself toxic mold testing kits. They also sell a book along the same lines titled, "Do It Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Remediation, & Testing Guide".
Does anyone know how legit this company and this approach is?
- Magnusfarce
Given the phoniness of the mold scare craze in general, one would have to say, "not at all legit". This is a newsgroup for home repair, not mental health support.
Of course, if you are neurotically obsessed with this, or a paranoid schizophrenic, or otherwise mentally disturbed, then it is probably just what you need.
The kit itself will just give you an idea of how much mold is in the air in a particular area. You have to have a sample lab-analyzed to tell you what kinds of molds they actually are since most are not a big deal and every house has a certain amount of mold.
Look for a baiting with the kit and a hooking with the analysis services.
Yes, the group does offer a followup mail-away analysis to identify the mold found in the sample trays. If I understand what you are saying, there is a good chance that I will get mold no matter what because of the "ambient" mold present everywhere, and then feel compelled to use the (what I assume is expensive) followup mail-away identification analysis.
Clearly, the previous poster doesn't believe that molds pose much danger to anyone. I'm aware of the overkill warnings regarding the dangers of things like benzene and asbestos, where the real dangers are actually much less than everyone (including the government) would have you believe - does anyone remember that silly E.R. episode a couple of years ago?
Anyway, is this toxic mold scare the same or are there actually risks for the average dweller? What is the consensus out there?
- Magnusfarce
There are not that many risks for the average dweller. I am not the average dweller, well at least my 5-year-old daughter isn't. She is extremely allergic to mold so I have to be very paranoid about it. I do understand that for most people it is not a huge concern. Try to monitor your roof for leaks if you can during every few heavy storms and give as much of your plumbing as you can a once-over to make sure nothing is leaking. This stuff is not really mold paranoia. It's just good sense.
The fact is that you will find mold in your air with one of those tests unless you run your house like a cleanroom. The key is to do a control test outside to get an idea what the mold concentrations are like in your area. Try not to do it when it has rained recently and don't do it when it's overly cold.
It *is* for real. Not everyone is affected by it and there are many, many types of mold/fungus. The spores thrown off into the house air can cause allergic response. In the case of toxic "Black Mold" very young children can develop life-threatening lung disorders. In adults, the response may be a trigger to asthma.
Besides the spores, many molds throw off VOC's (gas) which are toxic. These are called Mycotoxins. Do a GOOGLE for that.
Here are some interesting links:
Jim
Bull. I suggest you do a bit of real reasearch first...before you make another statement like that.
Sure. And radioactive dust mites are crawling all over us all, right now. I saw a scary picture in the newspaper. Get magnetic water softeners on your pipes and liquid siding on your house to be protected.
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