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Cleaning Tips

When Your Home is STILL Making You Sick

by Catherine 10:41 pm

Hidden, Indoor Sources of Mold That Can Keep Mold-Sensitive People Sick

If you are someone who has dealt with mold or environmental illness, you know firsthand how difficult it can be to finally feel safe and secure again in your home, especially if your home is where you became sick in the first place. Even after a major mold remediation, it is easy to sometimes feel like you are just one step away from another mold catastrophe or from finding that one place inside your home that was not fixed and cleaned properly and that still triggers your symptoms. One statistic a heard mentioned during a podcast interview with Dr. Jill Crista, ND, is that one out of every three of her mold patients remain symptomatic due to failed or insufficient mold remediation. They thought they had taken care of the mold problem but remained sick and not improving until additional cleaning work was done, or they found the mold source that had been missed the first go around.

10:41 pm 8 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Products Wellness

Is Your Home a Safe Space?

by Catherine 11:02 pm

Improving Air Quality and Home Health When You’re Stuck Indoors

The concept of “sheltering in place” is probably not new to some of you. Those with severe multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) or chronic illness know all too well the difficulties of operating with a sensitized immune system in this overly toxic world. Isolation and the need to control what materials, scents, people, foods, and chemicals enter your home are not new to me either. I had years, even after fixing my home and my body from the mold, that I could not tolerate perfumes, certain smells, cleaning products, make-up, and even putting gas in my car because of the fumes. Creating a safe home environment where I could breathe clean air made me feel safe and secure. My mold-safe home became my only true sanctuary from the scents and physical exposures that could set my immune system reeling and overreacting.

11:02 pm 4 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Wellness

My New “Normal” During COVID-19

by Catherine 12:15 am

Hunkering Down, Social Distancing, and Making Sense of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Are you doing okay? I am sorry I have not posted in a while. It has been, well, very crazy. I am sure you know what I mean and are feeling it deeply too. No matter where you are in the world, the Coronavirus pandemic has altered work, family, and life altogether significantly. It seems that no one is escaping it, and that we all need to hunker down to concentrate on staying safe and well by “flattening the curve” with social distancing. It still seems as if the best defense is avoidance of exposure.

Until today, I have resisted writing about COVID-19, because I feel that the last thing anyone needs right now is more unsolicited advice or harrowing statistics. It is such a loaded topic. I’ve witnessed relationships degrade over social media based on conspiracy theories or comments that downplay the seriousness of the virus. It makes me so sad. But, I have also fielded many emails and messages from folks checking in with me. Many people seem to be wondering what I am doing to weather this storm and to stay well. Thus, I felt compelled to finally put this post out there.

12:15 am 0 comment

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Interviews Mold Prevention Q & A's

My Interview With Indoor Air Quality Extraordinaire, Author, and Scientist Jeff May

by Catherine 6:04 pm

How to Know If Your House is Killing You With Jeff May

When you are looking for someone to trust on all matters concerning indoor air quality, hidden leaks, mold problems, weird or unpleasant odors, contaminated mechanical systems, and the overall “health” of your home, Jeff May should be at the top of your list. I know he is at the top of mine. As a matter of fact, I learned about Jeff and became acquainted with his expertise in the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and home inspections fields when my family was going through our mold nightmare. At the time, I was desperate to find information on how to fix our home, and found one of Jeff’s popular books, My House is Killing Me! The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma, at our local public library. It was the most comprehensive and helpful guide on the myriad things that can cause a home to get “sick” I had ever seen. Needless to say, I couldn’t put it down and later ordered his book, The Mold Survival Guide: For Your Home and for Your Health on Amazon—I can’t recommend it enough to others navigating the confusing world of mold in their home or anyone suspecting that something in their home is making them sick. To this day, I find myself referencing sections of the book when I am working on articles about below-grade spaces, like basements or crawlspaces, or wanting to understand more about proper attic ventilation or ice damming and mold growth. If it has anything to do with mold in a home, believe me, that book covers it!

6:04 pm 2 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Travel Tips Treatment & Recovery Wellness

Holiday Hacks for Moldies

by Catherine 9:59 pm

Have a Mold-Free Holiday by Managing Stress and Environmental Triggers

During this season of food, festivities, decorations, family time, and gift-giving, it is important for those navigating mold and environmental illness to find practical ways to steer away from symptom triggers, added stress, and anxiety while not feeling isolated and left out of the holiday cheer. Easier said than done, I know. There are expectations, things you want to do, people you want to see, but giving yourself permission to safeguard your health is vital to your recovery. If you read no further in this post, please read this: It takes a lot of effort to regain and maintain your health after mold—ongoing mold avoidance and mold hygiene just scratch the surface. Tossing all of your hard work by the wayside during the holidays doesn’t bring freedom, unfortunately. In fact, it can create additional stress on both your mind and body. This does not mean that you can’t enjoy the holidays, though! You CAN enjoy the holidays like you used to—before the mold—I promise. You just have to identify your holiday symptom triggers, open your mind, and embark upon some mold-specific preparation.

Before I break things down and give you what I am calling my “Holiday Hacks for Moldies,” I want you to know that I totally understand and can relate to wherever you are in your healing process and journey with mold. When you have been debilitated and hit hard by mold, NOTHING and I mean NOTHING seems straightforward or easy anymore. Further, NOWHERE, and I mean NOWHERE feels safe anymore either. Just going to a holiday party, or having relatives and friends come to visit are not the routine, seasonal occurrences that they used to be. Those events become quite loaded and stressful, because you don’t know what you are walking into, or what people are bringing in with them on their clothing and things. Sometimes, the littlest things can send your body reeling from a “mold hit”. These uncertainties can make the holidays feel twice as hard in terms of maintaining your health. Then, there is the added pressure during the holidays to be as “normal” as possible, so as not to let anyone down. Parents especially want to “do all of the holiday things”, so that their children don’t feel weird or left out. Whatever your case or situation, you don’t have to get sick again every holiday season and experience setbacks in your mental fortitude about ever being “normal” again. The madness can stop, and I want to help.

9:59 pm 4 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Interviews Mold Prevention Mold Remediation Q & A's

A Candid Chat With a Professional Mold Inspector

by Catherine 4:17 pm

Brian Karr Discusses Mold Inspections, Mold Testing, and Why Some Mold Remediations Fail

Of all of the questions I get from readers of this blog, the vast majority are from people completely exhausted and burned out from dealing with mold inspections, mold testing, and remediation companies. Some have been mold testing, inspecting, and remediating their homes exhaustively for years, and are still not feeling any better. Many have had multiple mold inspectors come out to their homes to help them find and “solve” their mold problems. They take all advice and have their homes remediated, only to find days, weeks, or even months later that they are just as sick and just as reactive as ever. They embark upon further home inspection and investigation, only to find that the mold is still there, or that the real source of the mold was never found or properly remediated. In some cases, there were even additional mold problems and sources that were not found or addressed in the first place. Then, the mold ordeal begins again, kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, where individuals and families are forced to relive the same experience with only a slightly altered perspective. For some people, this nightmare goes on for years! It is emotionally exhausting and financially draining. In the end, the people who write to me don’t know who to trust, and don’t have any confidence that spending more money on inspections or remediation is even worth it. At the point when I am finally reached out to, the person is just plain ready to give up entirely.

What Can I Do to Help?

Even though I have been there, done that, and know my fair share about mold inspections and investigations, I am obviously not a certified mold or microbial inspector. So, while I can give advice and share heartfelt “if I were you, what I would do,” feedback from my own experience, I am not out there working in the field, so speak, investigating homes and seeing what other homeowners are dealing with. Thus, in order to really do my part to help the people who need guidance, I thought I would reach out to one of the best and most knowledgeable mold inspectors I know, Brian Karr of We Inspect and creator of the Mold Masterclass. (For my in-depth post about Brian and my experience of taking the Mold Masterclass, click HERE.)

4:17 pm 4 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Mold Remediation Products

Carpet Removal for Mold-Sensitive Individuals

by Catherine 10:40 pm

Safe Carpet Removal Guidelines for Better Indoor Air Quality, and a Healthier, More Mold-Free Home

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about wall-to-wall carpeting: It is not the best design choice for optimum health, especially for mold-sensitive people. (I intend to back this claim up, I promise.) Don’t get me wrong–I do realize that carpet can be warm and comforting underfoot, but, in my opinion, it hides more microbes and immune system irritants than the coziness it provides. From an overall health perspective, but specifically from the perspective of mold avoidance and mitigating mold and allergen exposure, limiting carpeting or not using wall-to-wall carpet altogether significantly improves indoor air quality and helps to decrease mold symptoms. For example, when I compare times when I have lived in a “clean, mold-free home” that had carpet to our current situation of living in a “clean, mold-free home” home without carpet, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my family and I are healthier with less mold symptoms in our carpet-free home. In other words, when everything else is the same, but carpet is present, there is a noticeable difference in how much I need to clean and sanitize to successfully keep us well.

10:40 pm 0 comment

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Mold Remediation

Cross Contamination From a Moldy Home

by Catherine 11:15 pm

Do We Really Have to Leave and Get Rid of EVERYTHING?

Mold cross contamination when you have to leave or remediate your home is a huge concern—and, if it is not, it should be. The stressful topic can begin with a large cross-contamination question, like if we have mold, does that also mean that all of our possessions have mold too? And, can scale down to more focused questions: Is my car also contaminated since I drove it while living in the moldy home? Is a mattress contaminated if it wasn’t in the same room in my house as the mold? Can some things be cleaned and taken with us immediately? Can one contaminated object infect my whole home? As you can see, the line of questioning, scrutiny, and intricacies of cross contamination can be totally endless and totally overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be, though. The matter of cross contamination can actually be broken down quite scientifically and methodically to help you with the whole ordeal.

To begin, I think it can benefit anyone dealing with mold to look at the cross-contamination issue from a macro-perspective and to understand how mold, mold spores, fragments and mycotoxins (gases emitted by some mold species) actually spread and contaminate an indoor space in the first place. With that knowledge, you can better approach dealing with your possessions and deciding which things to try to save or to take with you. There will always be unique situations or specifics that don’t fit this guide, but for the most part, it should help just about anyone dealing with a mold problem.

When the Mold Issue Is Small

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I want to acknowledge that not every situation requires drastic action. There are many instances when a mold issue is confined and small. In these cases, simply containing, fixing and remediating the mold problem, and then washing, wiping down, or getting rid of items close to the source is enough. Also, if your immune system is robust and the mold hasn’t affected your health, you may be able to tolerate cleaned possessions better than others would. But, if you are ill, your family members are ill, and you have had to flee a moldy home, you should take the utmost caution in regards to your possessions and cross contamination.

What is Cross Contamination and Why Is It Such a Problem With Mold?

Cross-contamination is the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect. It is an issue in a “sick” indoor space, because mold spores, mycotoxins and the other pathogenic microbes in a water-damaged environment spread by way of central HVAC systems, disturbance, and contact to all surfaces and materials. Porous materials are especially vulnerable to mold. This is because the toxins produced by molds are basically free radicals. They have the ability to bind to fabrics and to release spores and additional mycotoxins over time. The finer spores and particles released by molds can permeate porous surfaces and are not easy to remove.

11:15 pm 6 comments

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Q & A's

Reader Q & A: I Can’t Get Rid of The Mold in My Bathroom, Should I Be Concerned For My Health?

by Catherine 5:05 am

Bathroom Mold:

Harmless and Inevitable VS. Atypical and Worth Investigation

Mold in the bathroom is as anticipated as food in the kitchen, right? I mean, most people do not expect to find one without the other? And, although bathroom mold is unsightly and annoying, there aren’t any real health issues to worry about with it, right? Well, the answer to that question is, unfortunately, not so simple, because it depends. It depends on where that mold is growing, why it is growing, and whether or not you have any other additional water, environmental or ventilation issues going on in that bathroom.

I do want to back up a little, though, to first state that I actually think that you CAN and SHOULD expect to be able to keep “typical” bathroom mold at bay. By typical, I mean the discoloration that can occur around and between tiles and on grout, and sometimes inside your toilet from the water line when it is not flushed often. The truth is, though, that in a healthy home, “typical” mold should not plague you constantly. In fact, when you can’t control the amount or occurrence in frequency of the growth of this mold, and you find yourself constantly cleaning and scrubbing to get rid of mold in the same spots, it might be an indication that you need to dig a little deeper or to look closer at why the environment inside your bathroom is so hospitable for mold in the first place. This is because, at the end of the day, the visible presence of mold points out the presence of mold spores, an avid water source, and organic material for those spores to settle, grow, and spread on. In addition, anywhere there are mold spores and water, a larger mold infestation could take place if the conditions aren’t controlled and monitored. Thus, knowing what to do to control “typical” bathroom mold and knowing what to look for as far as larger issues could help you to catch and prevent a larger problem.

I actually didn’t come up with this topic on my own, even though I have spent countless hours honing my skills and product selection on how to best clean my bathroom and keep mold at bay. (I’m hoping you don’t actually think that all I do is clean and think about mold–well, it is a LOT of what I do, but not my whole life.) Anyway, the impetus for this topic actually came from an email that I received:

5:05 am 0 comment

Cleaning Tips Healthy Home Mold Prevention Mold Remediation

Why A “One-Size-Fits-All” Mold Remediation Template Does Not Work

by Catherine 4:01 am

**And, Why I Do Not Claim to Have ALL of the Answers**

I often receive emails from people wanting a mold remediation template for remediating specific spaces or things in their homes where they have found mold growth. They write to me confused and overwhelmed by the task at hand of trying to make their home or something in it safe and healthy again. Some are small-scale jobs, like a contaminated piece of furniture, while others are large-scale, like a crawlspace or basement with significant mold growth. A common motivation for the people who write to me usually is that they want to try to handle at least a portion of the work themselves to save money, or to make sure that the job is carried out correctly and done with non-toxic products, rather than the biocides used by many professional remediators. Whatever the case, people always want clear and detailed answers, so that the mold can be fixed and they can move on with their lives.

Each time I receive one of these emails, I try to take what info they have offered about their specific scenario to give the best advice I can. But, given the fact that I am not physically able to see the problem, nor am I always privy to whatever else is going on in their indoor environment and with their environmental air quality, or to whatever testing or inspections have been done, my advice is often not definitive and preceded and followed by lots of caveats and disclaimers. In other words, I try my best to give answers, but never truly feel like I can answer people’s questions completely or give them the finite, “this is how you fix the problem” reply that they are looking for.

Let me just say, though, that I definitely get it. I get wanting someone to tell you what to do and exactly how to do it, because I have been there myself–multiple times. I know how daunting finding out that you have dangerous levels of toxin-producing mold in your home can be. Figuring out how to properly plan, organize, and execute even a very small remediation project can be extremely overwhelming. Even when you have professionals helping, there are many things to take into consideration to do it right and to preserve your health and sanity in the process. There are also precautions (aka safety gear, containment, tools and products) that must be utilized to get rid of the mold correctly and safely. If a step is missed or if things are not done in the correct order, you could be looking at a botched job, another more costly remediation or relocation down the road, and more importantly, direct or subsequent health consequences. And, with no two mold infestations being exactly the same, a “best way” or universal template for DIY mold remediation really does not exist, nor should it exist, in my opinion.

4:01 am 0 comment