Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
ination, and protect you from older items that are moderately contaminated. Good
sources for these items are:
http://www.natlallergy.com/
and
ht-
• It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of mold remediation with before-and-
after mold-count measurements in the major rooms in your house, including all
rooms where any mold work was done. There's no point in moving back in if the
house still has high mold counts.
• There are different schools of thought on killing and cleaning mold. Some say that li-
quid chlorine bleach (always use a respirator and eye/skin protection when cleaning
with strong bleach solutions and other toxic chemicals) and fastidious cleaning, in-
cluding a thorough rinsing, is the best way to kill and clean mold without leaving a
toxic residue behind that could further contribute to the health problems of an already
sick person. On the other hand, Michael Pugliese says he has been called in to per-
form several mold remediations after his predecessors had relied on bleach and the
mold came back. Pugliese says that bleach is not an adequate mold decontaminant,
and will not kill certain highly dangerous black molds. Instead, you should use EPA-
registered treatment from companies such as BBJ Environmental Solutions and En-
virocare Corp. to ensure that surfaces are treated with low-toxic solutions to prevent
the regrowth of mold at a later date.
• You will never get all the mold out of upholstered furniture and wall-to-wall carpet-
ing, and they should be junked. We got rid of all of our home's wall-to-wall carpet-
ing, and replaced it with hardwood flooring and tile. We have a number of rubber-
backed throw rugs that we wash once every other week with a capful of Moldzyme
in each load of laundry.
• When you super-ozone a room or entire house, it will temporarily remove mold
spores and toxins from the air, but I have never seen it fix the problem long term. If
you can smell ozone, it is harmful to your lungs. If the ozone is not strong enough to
harm your lungs, it will not harm the mold. Use an ozone generator, such as ones
from Air-Zone, with a built-in timer to allow the ozone to shut off and dissipate for
several hours before reentering the room.
• Some people find that misting their home regularly with Moldzyme and/or Heartland
Microbes (in Sanger, Texas) keeps their mold reactions down to a manageable level.
• Refrigerator cooling coils, personal computers with air-cooled cabinets, and other
electronic devices with dark, air-cooled chambers will harbor mold spores inside
their dusty recesses that you will never be able to entirely eliminate. If you move out
of a home with a severe toxic mold problem, and bring any of these items with you to
