When Your Belongings Have Been Contaminated by Mold, Can You Save Them?
What Works, What Doesn’t Work, and When to Cut Your Losses
What happens when you are trying to perform the difficult task of remediating your belongings after they have had a significant mold exposure? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. There are so many little things that can affect, hamper, and negate all of your well-intentioned efforts. It can be very frustrating and time consuming. The most maddening part can actually be the fact that, even with the best, most meticulous cleaning and remediation efforts, and the most effective mold-specific products, some items just cannot be saved. This is a sad, but important truth that many people must come to terms with for the sake of their health.
Now, I realize that the topic of contents remediation is vast. There are so many different kinds of materials and items that can be contaminated with mold; therefore, I am not able to address everything in one post. But, I can share with you how I addressed this issue for a reader who tried cleaning some of his belongings that were exposed to mycotoxin-producing molds in his former home.
This reader’s former housing situation was not a good one and made him sick with mold toxicity. He has since moved to a mold-free space and is doing everything he can to keep that new space clean and safe. He is also trying to recover his health at the same time—making his endeavors that much harder, because any exposure or misstep could send him back into a relapse and having to re-initiate the detox and recovery progress. Thus, getting his belongings properly and safely remediated is very important before he brings them inside his new home. Wisely, he has tested all items with mold test plates before and after his efforts, so that he knows if what he is doing is working and which things are safe to introduce into his new home.
The reason he wrote me, though, is not for advice on methods or products to use. His problems are with the very frustrating test results AFTER his efforts to clean the items. As you will see, he tried fogging them outside with EC3. For greater a greater understanding, here is some of our email communication to get you up to speed:
Just seeing the tell-tale water discoloration sent me into a bit of a tailspin. If there is one thing I have learned about water intrusion, it is that the sooner you find the source and stop it, the less likely you are to have mold growth. We DEFINITELY didn’t want to chance mold growth. Thus, remediation and proactive mold prevention efforts began immediately.