Mold in the home: A problem or nothing to worry about?

[Guest guest]

Mark Chamberlain who is referrenced in this article I had been in

contact with for a short period of time and he was also a board

member for a very short period of time. Now I see why. I guess being

a critic actually seeing the truth of the negative effects of these

toxins on ones health was too much for him to handle, since it went

against his opinion. I tried to get him to stay on Sickbuildings to

learn, but he said he was leaving due to conflict and personal

reasons. I understand his reasoning now, he had a different agenda

and it wasn't for the primary concern for human health.

I had contacted him because they had had an outbreak of " strange "

illnesses, really related to fungal exposure. It was in the media,

but he claimed not to be aware of it. Maybe he was blinded by the

mold...

KC

Mold in the home: A problem or nothing to worry about?

Even the experts don't agree on its threat to health

By Janet Ortegon

Sheboygan Press staff - Sheboygan,WI,

http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20070430/SHE0101/704300423/1973

After a local family made the news earlier this year because of mold

growth that drove them from their south-side Sheboygan home, the

question has been asked around dinner tables all over town: Does our

home have mold?

And the answer, without exception, is yes. It doesn't matter how old

or new it is, whether it's a drafty old structure or a tightly

sealed new building — every house has mold.

But even mold experts disagree on whether household mold poses a

risk to human health.

Mark Chamberlain is an environmental health specialist for the

Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services specializing in

human health hazards.

" There are mold spores everywhere, " Chamberlain said. " You will not

be mold-free. "

Whether or not you have mold is the wrong question for homeowners to

ask, Chamberlain said.

" If they find mold in their house, the big thing they need to do is

find out why it's growing there, " Chamberlain said. " When people say

they have a mold problem in their home, they actually have a water

problem in their home and they need to find out where it's coming

from. "

Gobbel, owner of Mold Spore Technologies in Cascade, has spent

the last four months gutting and remediating Brad and

Veenendaal's mold-infested house at 1418 Came-lot Blvd. He said the

flood that hit Sheboygan County in August 1998 has caused a lot of

mold problems in the area.

" In Sheboygan I see it a lot, " Gobbel said. " A lot if it is from

when it flooded back then. A lot of my work is from … Drive

where (Highway) 42 is and South Business Drive all the way to the

lake. I would say 60 to 70 percent of our work is there. "

Buchmann, a Realtor with Three Oaks Realty, called Gobbel when

she spotted the telltale black marks in the bathroom of her home. It

kept coming back even after she scrubbed it, so she called in an

expert and got a surprise.

" The mold in the bathroom turned out to be nothing, " Buchmann said.

As a real estate agent, Buchmann deals with home buyers and sellers

every day. Though she's not an expert on mold, she's being asked

about it more and more.

" Buyers are reading more about it, " she said. " If they see it and

they ask me, 'Is that mold?' I don't know if it's mold. (You have

to) talk to an expert to figure that out. If somebody has a question

for me … or if I notice wetness … I recommend they call . "

But there is no comprehensive record of how many county dwellings

have had mold problems, Chamberlain said.

" We don't have a (mold) database, " he said.

The Veenendaals and their 2-year-old daughter, Makenna, fled their

home when the extent of the mold problem there became known. It was

Gobbel's idea.

" I advised them, because the stachy was so high, to move out of the

house, " Gobbel said. Stachybotrys is a form of mold sometimes

referred to as " black mold " or " toxic mold, " and there were other

forms of mold found in the house as well.

By then, Brad, 36, had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and

Makenna was born with 's Syndrome, a rare chromosomal

abnormality that affects her heart and kidneys.

Is the mold to blame for those problems? The answer depends on whom

you talk to.

The Veenendaals have said they believe the mold in their home is

responsible. But there is no scientific proof.

" There's never been a documented case where mold ever sickened

anybody, " said Werner Binkowsky, president of Lakeshore Insulation

Services and a mold consultant. " I think people think they're being

sickened by mold. "

While studies show a link between health problems in workers and

mold in occupational or industrial settings, Chamberlain said, no

similar link has been found on a residential level.

" In residential settings, there really haven't been studies that

have proven a direct correlation, " Chamberlain said. " That's not to

say there aren't people out there who are affected. Obviously,

there's a lot of anecdotal information. "

When Gobbel got the results of air samples he did inside the

Veenendaal house, he was appalled, he said.

" Their count with the toxin mold was a lot higher than it should've

been, " Gobbel said.

Test results showed that there were 1,227 stachybotrys spores per

cubic meter in Makenna's nursery. In the parents' room, the count

was 10,000. " You should not have any stachy at all in the house, " he

said.

When he takes air tests, he compares the air inside the home to

fresh air outside.

" The count outside should always be higher than your count inside, "

Gobbel said. " Once your mold counts inside are higher, then you have

a problem. "

But Chamberlain, who does home inspections and advises homeowners

how to address the problems that pose health hazards, doesn't agree.

" You can't take mold samples inside a house right now and compare

them to outside because right now we have had such fluctuations in

temperatures that mold will not be growing outside, " Chamberlain

said. " That is not a fair comparison. "

In fact, both Chamberlain and Binkowsky said once a homeowner has

discovered mold in the house, tests to determine what kind of mold

it is are essentially useless.

" It really doesn't matter the particular type of mold, " Chamberlain

said. " What matters is the fact that they get rid of it, and they

get rid of it in a safe manner. "

Or, as Binkowsky put it: " Our theory is if it's mold, it's mold.

Find out why it's growing and then get rid of that problem. "

What can homeowners do?

Binkowsky said that in all the work he's done with homeowners and

mold eradication, he's heard of few cases as extensive as the

Veenendaals' home.

The experts disagree on what homeowners can do to help themselves.

Gobbel said homeowners have to call in an expert to solve the

problem.

" What they should do is if they even think they've got a problem

with mold, they need to go ahead and call somebody to do a test, "

Gobbel said. " A test is the only way it's gonna tell you. "

But Binkowsky said homeowners can get rid of the mold by reducing

humidity.

" Mold grows in 50 percent relative humidity or higher, " he said. " In

most cases, we solve mold problems just by something very simple

people can do themselves. "

For example, installing exhaust fans in the bathroom and kitchen —

and making sure they vent outside and not into the attic — is one

good way to cut the humidity in the house, he said.

Another is to invest in a hygrometer, a device used for measuring

the humidity inside the house, Binkowsky said.

Chamberlain cautioned homeowners to take the seasons into

consideration, however.

" You're going to have 60-70 percent humidity in the summertime if

you're somebody that doesn't use air conditioning, " Chamberlain

said. " The key that people need to be aware of is that every home

has mold and that it's not a problem as long as you … prevent water

from getting into the home. "

Reach Janet Ortegon at jortegon@... or 453-5121.