Your - Re: Monday is start of remediation

[Guest guest]

Rhonda,

Since you posted this to the group, let me try to help you evaluated

your experience for the benefit of all.

Call AB Control and ask them to remove the insulation and inspect the

inside of the walls where he takes it out. He said he would take

before and after photos so ask him to take photos of this also. Get

the photos. That way you don't have to go down there.

> I need to know

> what was done and see it. I may tell AB guy that I will pay him after

> the encapsulation and I can look under the house. I don't like the

> fact they left moldy insulation up in a hole space leading up to a

> faucet that had leaked before.

This is part of what an independent verification would do - before AB

Control was allowed to remove containment and leave.

> They did come in and hepa vac around vents on the carpet lifting the

> registers out and around the wood that is there and inside the think

> called return area they couldn't get too underneath. Too bad there

> isn't something to put in houses to detox all the nasties out of them.

They should have been removed or cleaned. All the ducting that wasn't

removed should be cleaned.

> Well, Wed. is another big day and AC guy thinks he can install unit

> Wed. too but I bet it will be Thursday.

The returns must be removed or cleaned before the AC is turned on! Or

you will just spread this stuff around. It won't be as much as

before, but you are pretty well sensitized by now so nothing should

be left to chance.

> Mold guy said spores will lessen and lessen over time since no more

> will be blown in thru hvac and contaminated crawlspace. Something

> like that he said and why do Industrial Hyg. say spores die if they

> don't find water and a food source if they are everywere on soft

> things? Guess it's the mycotoxins that live on?

He talking about the spores upstairs that were coming from the

crawlspace, which was the source. Once the source is removed, they

stop coming up. Yes, they will gradually dissipate with ventilation

and cleaning and they won't grow anymore if it stays dry. Dead or

alive, it doesn't make any difference for allergies, irritations and

mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are generated by mold but are not alive.

You are now at a key point in this process where your main questions

will finally be answered:

Is the crawlspace and HVAC cleanup enought to stop your reactions? If

so, you are done.

If not, then there should still be improvement. Is the improvement

tolerable? If so, stop. If not, the most likely source of exposure is

what hasn't been cleaned, like your living space. All the spores,

fragments, " dust " and other stuff that's been coming up from the

crawlspace all this time is still upstrairs. Cleaning to remove this

should be enough to make it at least tolerable. There may be other

souces upstairs you didn't notice because the crawlspace and HVAC

were covering it up.

If not, then there is an additional source upstairs and/or you need

medical help to stop reacting to exquisitely small exposures.

(Shoemaker, et al).

None of those questions could have been answered - even with $10,000

of testing of all kinds by the best of professionals - until you had

the crawlspace work done. The crawlspace work removed sources of

exposure and those exposures have now stopped. Continued reactions

will be from what hasn't been removed - regardless of whether or not

it is in the crawlspace or HVAC or living area.

Let us all know what happens - and Great Luck! You've made a lot of

tough decisions and taken risks. Now you get to see what happens.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC