Re: House, Garage and car issues 8( - Help

[Guest guest]

First, eliminate the sources of moisture.. Then remediate.

There is a very good pamphlet put out by the EPA " Mold Remediation in

Schools and Commercial Buildings " that gives the whole process step by step.

Its very good. The key issue is containment. (by, for example, using big

sheets of plastic to create seals over openings and fans in windows to

create negative air pressure in areas that are being worked on..READ THE EPA

DOCUMENT...) And complete removal of moldy materials, not encapsulation.

You need to contain the mold as you go so that you don't make the situation

worse.

Thats important. If you don't follow the proper procedure you could make

your home much worse. Thats how a lot of buildings get so messed up, because

people don't address the root moisture first and then try to clean but don't

contain and/or don't do it completely.

Otherwise you might as well give up now and save yourself the effort..

[Guest guest]

--- In , LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>

wrote:

>

> First, eliminate the sources of moisture.. Then remediate.

The primary moisture source has been taken care of. I dont know if

there are others.

Initial containment has gone by the board since a lot of stuff was

stirred up before mold was even considered as a potential problem.

Also the building has a forced air heating system that blows

everything everywhere. I understand the principles around

containment since I have a science and engineering background.

Sadly, in the beginning I did not have any information that pointed

to mold as a part of the problem. I was also brain fogged and left

some things to other people who handled them poorly.

I am too sick to do anything myself and have little support. I still

do not know the best way to find out what is going on in the

building. I figure that that is the first step and where I really

need advice.

>

> There is a very good pamphlet put out by the EPA " Mold Remediation

in

> Schools and Commercial Buildings " that gives the whole process

step by step.

>

>

> Its very good. The key issue is containment. (by, for example,

using big

> sheets of plastic to create seals over openings and fans in

windows to

> create negative air pressure in areas that are being worked

on..READ THE EPA

> DOCUMENT...) And complete removal of moldy materials, not

encapsulation.

>

> You need to contain the mold as you go so that you don't make the

situation

> worse.

>

> Thats important. If you don't follow the proper procedure you

could make

> your home much worse. Thats how a lot of buildings get so messed

up, because

> people don't address the root moisture first and then try to clean

but don't

> contain and/or don't do it completely.

>

> Otherwise you might as well give up now and save yourself the

effort..

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Can you download the EPA pamphlet and give it a look through? It has the

best free overview of how to clean up moldy buildings that I have seen. You

need to find wherever there was water damage. That may involve looking

inside of walls, etc. There is no way around it. Hopefully it wont be that

complicated but its quite possible that it will. Nomatter what you do you

need PPE. Or you could end up getting really sick. Take it from someone who

knows. I was using N95 masks and it was not enough. I got really, really

sick.

Start with the obvious low hanging fruits first.. You mentioned that the

primary moisture source has been taken care of.. What was that and what

happened? Can you be more specific?

Look, there are other people on here (Carl) who could probably be more

helpful than me.. I am no one to give advice.. But honestly, you need to

realize that one of the things mold does is cause this mental paralysis.

(zombification, I used to call it) and FIGHT that because its really a

matter of life or death..

Look, knowing what is involved and knowing how hard even just moving was for

me when I was sick, I would strongly recommend that if you don't think you

can deal with either doing this or paying somebody else to do it that you

cut your losses, sell, with full disclosure, and move on..

[Guest guest]

SJH,

Reading back through your post and thinking about my own experience,

(It took me months to move out and I just kept getting sicker and

sicker and although I have gotten a lot better in many ways, I am

still sick now)

Everyone here will tell you that they were in denial when they were

still living in it but that in retrospect, they wish they had gotten

out much sooner than they did. Nobody can deal with this situation. I

lost 3/4 of what I owned.. and the rest that I kept ended up varying

degrees of toxic even though I tried to clean it. And a lot of it

still makes me sick.

I think you should put together a plan and stick to it nomatter how

hard it is and that plan needs to be based on ACTION nomatter how hard

it is for you. ACT NOW..

The crucial thing is minimizing your hands on exposure to this toxic

situation until it is fixed, bit also to start fixing it. And if it

can't be fixed, GET OUT of there and don't look back. Chalk one up to

experience. A lot of people are in this situation. You are not alone.

Nomatter what you do, stay or go, you first need to get everything

out of there. I would put ALL of your stuff in storage Pay someone

else to just throw everything in boxes while wearing at least a N100

mask and gloves, and put it in plastic bags inside of cardboard boxes

sealed twice with duct tape, uncleaned. Make an inventory as its going

into the boxes and number every box so you will know where things are.

Put it in storage somewhere DRY.

Then when the house is empty, you need to figure out what is going on,

which will be a lot easier when it is completely empty and you can

have the windows wide open and fans airing it out..and then when you

know if its a temporary issue or a nightmare either attempt to fix it

or sell the house and move, leaving your stuff in storage for

now..dealing with your stuff later, when you are MUCH BETTER..

(I am substantially better than when I was living in the place I got

sick but I am still not able to deal with my old stuff, although I

have tried, so go easy on yourself.. it could be a long time before

its not toxic to you..THE KEY TO GETTING BETTER IS TO AVOID

EXPOSURE...)