Study Shows Living in Damp Home Increases Risk of Illness

A recent survey of healthy people in Sweden identified an increased risk for building related illness when dampness or mold is present in the home.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “the term “sick building syndrome” (SBS) is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. The complaints may be localized in a particular room or zone, or may be widespread throughout the building. In contrast, the term “building related illness” (BRI) is used when symptoms of diagnosable illness are identified and can be attributed directly
to airborne building contaminants.”

Symptoms of building related illness include fatigue, mental confusion, sluggishness, sore throat, headache, and other health complaints which present shortly after entering a sick building.

Because symptoms are generally alleviated when away from a sick building and sick building syndrome has been closely examined only in occupational settings, building related illness is often initially dismissed as a person wishing to avoid going to school or work.

A signal that it may be building related illness is a worsening or alleviating of symptoms in certain parts of a building, or upon taking a break outdoors.

The most likely causes of sick buildings include inadequate ventilation; chemical contaminants from indoor sources such as adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, manufactured wood products, copy machines, pesticides, and cleaning agents; chemical contaminants from outdoor sources; and biological contaminants.

The easiest way to prevent a sick building is to eliminate sources of pollution, increasing ventilation, use air cleaning devices, and educate/communicate with building inhabitants. .

The researchers also found that people who develop sick building syndrome from an occupational building are more likely to remain ill if they also live in a damp dwelling.

Dampness leads to mold and mold may lead to illness. Sahlberg and colleagues say, “Reducing dampness in buildings is an important factor for reducing symptoms in the general population.”

References
Sahlberg B, Wieslander G, Norbäck D. Sick building syndrome in
relation to domestic exposure in Sweden–a cohort study from
1991 to 2001. Scand J Public Health. 2010 May; 38(3): 232-8. Epub
2009 Oct 22.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Initials. (2010, April 26).
Indoor air facts no. 4 (revised) sick building syndrome. Retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/sbs.html

It seems that we’ve been spared once again. The floods that impacted the Tennessee area weeks ago are keeping my suppliers of mold remediation projects quite busy. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t come across an article or press release on how mold is impacting the homes & businesses in that area. Another common thread amongst these articles is that many suppliers of mold remediation products are responding to meet the needs of mold remediation contractors.
It doesn’t take a torrential downpour like they experienced to have mold rear its ugly head. Just this past week I’ve been called out to two properties for mold inspections where they were unsure if the drying project to eliminate mold was performed correctly. Wow, is this Deja Vu or what, as I seem to have written a similar article recently. One was commercial & one resendential where the property owners were concerned that they might still have a mold & indoor air quality issue. The latter was a one where the contractor who remodeled the basement wired the sump pump to a light switch that got turned off and when it rained they had 2″ of water in their beautiful, newly finished basement. The contractor took responsibility and brought in one large dehumidifier. During the mold inspection process I noted many things the contractor had done correctly such as keeping the GWB (gypsum wall board) a 1/2″ off the floor and installing an interior french drain.
After scouring over all the contents and building materials I found only one piece of furniture that had mold growth on it. Turns out this was an antique that had been brought in from an unconditioned warehouse. Translation, it could have come in with the mold on it. I had noted, that although the cabinets had not had the kick-plates removed, they were elevated off the concrete slab with shims. As I was completing my mold assessment by utilizing infra-red thermography of the exterior and interior partition walls and the bottom of the high end cabinets for the wet bar, I noticed some thermal anomalies. After scanning with a non-invasive moisture meter and getting elevated readings, I removed the kick-plates only to find mold growing on the back side of them. Invasive moisture meter readings confirmed what the infra-red images had shown. The base of the cabinets had elevated WME (wood moisture equivalent) readings and VMLG (visible mold like growth) which was later confirmed with swab samples. If only the contractor had the sense to educate himself or bring in a professional schooled in structural drying within the first 48 hours he could have prevented the mold growth. The end result now is he will end up having to rip out a tiled counter top that the cabinets support along with replacing the cabinets.
The commercial project was new construction that just been rented out after being vacant and unconditioned for 18 months. The tenant moved in with over 400k of office furniture and supplies. They had been noticing a musty odor every time it rained. After talking with other tenants they were told that the drywall was installed before the building envelope was closed and some of the building materials had grown mold on them. The developer had his crews wipe it off with bleach and paint it, not the proper way to clean mold. Again, bringing in the mold remediation professionals would have prevented him from now having to pay to have all the tenants contents cleaned as well as removing and replacing most of the impacted GWB at considerable expense.
In both cases our clients contracted Advanced Mold Diagnostics to do mold testing and mold inspection which proved to be the prudent thing to do in both cases.

An expensive lesson learned by the parties now responsible for footing the bill? Unfortunately, I doubt it.

Craig Camel
Advanced Mold Diagnostics
Advanced Building Strategies

Venting bathroom exhaust fans into attics is something we see quite often. Let’s look at why this is a mistake. Mold needs four things in order for you to suffer the problems associated with it, they are; mold spores, a food source, the right temperature and moisture. The mold spores come from outside. Their role is to digest dead organic materials, without them every blade of grass and tree that died would not decompose. Nutrients (food source) for mold growth are abundant in your attic, mold prefers cellulose. Wood is mostly cellulose and lignin and I don’t have to tell you that your house is built with wood framing members mostly. Believe it or not, some builders use paper baffles rather than styrofoam to keep the soffits open. We have different types of insulation and one of them is blown in cellulose. So, as you can see everything is in place for a mold remediation project when you add the fourth element - moisture.
Don’t forget that this applies to clothes dryers as well. You must evacuate moisture from your home and when it comes to exhaust fans and attics - get it to the outside. Translation, vent through the roof insuring that a proper boot and flashing integrated under the shingles around the vent stack are in place.
Another good practice, but often unseen even on exhaust fans that are vented through the roof is insulation. Keep in mind you’re sending hot moist air through metal exhaust pipe through a cold attic in winter. You can and will get condensation and consequently mold growth, so wrap that pipe with fiberglass insulation.

If you’re not sure or not comfortable checking for yourself whether you have proper ventilation and whether or not you have a mold problem in your attic. Call Advanced Mold Diagnostics at 610-328-4350 and we will provide you a free telephone consultation to see if we can help.

It always makes me wonder why some consumers pay good money for advice and then ignore it.

The previous post where I documented how ice damming coupled with a faulty stucco cladding caused a problem more serious then it needed to be. After performing an indoor air quality assessment focusing on in this case water damage and mold testing I provided a detailed report with specific recommendations on how to address it properly without affecting the inhabitants. Apparently from conversations with my staff the property owners were not happy with what I told them. I guess that sometimes the truth is harder to accept then the illusions you create in your own mind.
This particular property owner decided to ignore the advice I had given them and decided that the general contractor she brought in (who also recommended me) to oversee the repairs, was a waste of money, and they could GC this project themselves.
It was no surprise when we recently received a distress call from the property owner. They had hired their own contractor, who wasn’t a mold remediation contractor to remove the drywall throughout the house. They created a major problem regarding the fungal mold spores they released from the interstitial wall cavities.
The property owners were calling from a hotel where they’re now residing after being overcome from the exposure to mold. Apparently, the contractors they hired removed all the wallboard and discovered the wallboard and sheathing along with the framing members were covered with mold. Without experience they didn’t have the sense to stop and insist they get professionals involved.
The indoor air quality from the mold was so bad that all the family members experienced health related issues according to information provided by the property owner.
Now, they want us to come in and clean up the mess they created. This will now cost them more in terms of financial considerations and upheaval in their daily lives.
If only they just listened to the professionals they wouldn’t be going through this emotionally trying situation that they find themselves in right now. We’ll now clean up the mold and have them replace the drywall only to have the stucco removed and possibly have to clean and or remove the drywall once the stucco cladding issue is resolved.

It gives me no joy, only sorrow to think, I told you so.

Well, we didn’t get the flooding that the New England area suffered, but we got our share. Now that the groundwater has stopped trickling or pouring in its time to think about what’s next. The next is, if you didn’t get the water damage impacted areas completely dry within 48 - 72 hours you’ve got mold growing. The keyword is completely dry. Many property owners have the sense to wet vac up the standing water, rip up the water soaked carpet & padding and turn the fans on. What is often over looked in finished basements is how water may have wicked up behind the gypsum wallboard and into the insulation. These interstitial cavities can stay wet for weeks and that’s just what mold needs to start growing - often unseen. Other areas that require attention are under base cabinets, enclosed steps or anywhere that the circulating air can’t get to. Of course you should have been running dehumidifiers along with the fans. You might think that’s a given, but when it comes to mold remediation, there are no givens.

It’s important to remember that basements dry in, not out. High vapor pressure (moisture) is driven to lower vapor pressures. This resulting force of nature will have the moisture migrating up through the floor and through the walls all the time. There’s no way a hole dug in the ground and a foundation put into place can dry to the constant 54 – 55 degree ground even during a drought. So, monitoring relative humidity and controlling it via dehumidification in the spring & summer is a must for almost all foundations.

You add in excessive amounts of water from unusually large snowstorms and a wet spring and you’ve got the perfect recipe for mold growth to occur.

If you didn’t comprehend these principles before, which the average layperson wouldn’t, then you’re probably noticing things like musty odors (a sure sign that mold is growing) or seeing signs of visible mold growth. You might be suffering allergic type symptoms another sign of mold growth and the need for mold testing and mold remediation.

You might be able to clean up the mold growth yourself after mold testing and evaluation by a competent environmental consultant with a background in mold remediation.

Call Advanced Mold Diagnostics for a free telephone consultation to determine what you might need.

Craig Camel

Advanced Mold Diagnostics

Attic Ventilation:

Okay, so we understand we have to ventilate our attic spaces, what exactly does that mean to the average layperson? My apologies to any of my environmental consultant or building science expert friends who might saunter in here. This basic primer is geared more to helping the property owners who don’t understand the basic principles. Keep tuned though, as we’ll move onto some very interesting concepts regarding attics and ventilation concepts and huge energy savings.

Well, first off, some of the components that you might see or need to understand would be:

• Soffit vents
• Ridge vents
• Gable vents
• Turbine vents - passive
• Powered fans

Soffit vents are where your roof extends beyond your exterior walls. Not all buildings have this feature. Go outside and look up, you’ll see vinyl or aluminum siding panels anywhere from 6” to 12” or so. There should be perforations every for every rafter bay or every foot or two. If you have soffits, but no perforations they can be modified easily. Keeping insulation in the attic from blocking airflow through soffits is addressed by using Styrofoam baffles.

Ridge vents are at the peak of your roof. The sheathing should have a gap 3” to 4” wide. This gap is covered with a breathable membrane or vented piece of aluminum or some other building material.

The concept is air will enter the soffit vents and take the heat, moisture and any gases and take them out the ridge vent. This is considered passive ventilation. This is a principle we call the stack effect - think of how heat rises. Proper ventilation will reduce the heat in your attic space in the summer reducing your energy costs and extending the life of your sheathing and shingles. In winter, the lack of proper ventilation has the same ability to create mold growth and the need for mold remediation.

Gable vents are what you generally find on the sidewalls of your building. There’s usually one on each side. The wind has to blow in the right direction for them to work well. It’s generally agreed that they are inadequate in performing as well as the combination of soffit & ridge vents.

Turbine vents are amazing effective as they work off the slightest of breezes and use no energy other than what Mother Nature provides.

Powered fans are just what the name implies, they can be electric or solar which is obviously more energy efficient.

Bathroom and dryer vents should never be vented into the attic, as this will create an ideal environment for mold growth. Exhausts should go through the roof to be vented to the outside. Mold has everything it needs to grow in most buildings and when you add water vapor you complete the formula perfect for mold growth and then you’re looking at degradation of building materials, possible indoor air quality issues and the expense of mold remediation.

Craig Camel

Advanced Mold Diagnostics

IAQA Philadelphia Chapter Workshop

April 23^rd, 2010

Villanova Conference Center

The Philadelphia Chapter of the Indoor Air Quality Association

is pleased to invite you to our first workshop of the year.

Come join your colleagues at the magnificent Villanova Conference Center in Radnor, PA.

Discussion on The New EPA Guidelines for Lead

Speaker from the EPA will discuss the new guidelines for lead effective April 22, 2010 and how it will impact us all.

Mold Remediation and the Revisions to the IICRC S520

Michael McGuiness, CIH, CET, CIAQP, ABIH-IEQ

Mike McGuinness is a CIH with a sub-specialty certification from the ABIH in Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). Mike is Certified Indoor Air Quality Professional with over 30+ years experience in the public sector and is a principal in the environmental consulting firm, RK Occupational and Environmental Analysis, Inc. of Phillipsburg, NJ. He is a nationally recognized expert & presenter on issues related to Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), Health and Safety, asbestos and lead management, mold and environmental microbiology, forensic building assessments and construction defects, sustainable housing and “green” buildings, building science and physics, moisture control and remediation of water-damaged indoor environments. He is a section author of AIHA’s Recognition, Evaluation and Control of Indoor Mold (Chapter and a section author of AIHA’s Field Guide for the Determination of Biological Contaminants in Environmental Samples Mike is a frequent presenter at national IEQ events and was Course Director for MEHRC, part of the University of City Science Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ways to Market your IAQ Business in a Slow Economy

Paul Cochrane, Environmental Marker

Paul Cochrane is the president and founder of Cochrane & Associates, LLC, a marketing and public relations firm dedicated to helping the environmental and indoor air quality industries. Prior to this, Mr. Cochrane was a vice president at Chromosomal Laboratories and Aerotech Laboratories.  He was able to help grow Aerotech from 9 employees to over 330 in just 4 years to position the company for sale to a strategic European corporation. During his time at Aerotech Laboratories, Mr. Cochrane was also president of Biohazard Educational Productions.  Biohazard Educational Productions was a documentary production company that specialized in producing films dealing with important IAQ issues. Mr. Cochrane has traveled to Canada, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Honk Kong, and Singapore to meet with environmental professionals to explore the global consequences and responses to IAQ problems.  Mr. Cochrane is currently on the National Advisory Board for the ACAC and Marketing Committee for the IAQA.

Date: Friday, April 23^rd, 2010

Time: 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Location: Villanova Conference Center, 601 County Line Road, Radnor, PA 19087

IAQA Member Cost: $85.00

Non-Member Cost: $95.00

ALL RESERVATIONS MUST BE PRE-PAID

On-Site Cost: Member: $100.00, Non-Member: $110.00

Cost of event includes lunch prepared by Villanova’s CC Chefs.

Council certified members will receive an Attendance Certificate for 4 Certification Renewal Credits.

The Following Credits are Now Approved – ABIH - .5CM Points, IICRC - .5CEC, RIA - .5CEC, ASHI – 5 CE, g>

NAHI – 2.5 CEU.

As I’ve stated in previous posts, faulty stucco installation is a very common problem, especially in this part of the country. According to Dr. Joseph Lstiburek of buildingscience.com, Canada is the stucco failure country of the world and our area (the Northeast) is the leading stucco failure area of the United States.

We do a lot of stucco investigations/assessments and in the course of doing so we find a common theme - they’re mostly installed without an understanding of what a stucco cladding needs in order to perform as it should.

Stucco is a good exterior cladding system if properly installed. It’s a big step up from vinyl siding and less costly than brick or stone. Many of our clients get a bad taste in their mouth for stucco once we educate them to the particular deficiencies and damage on their stucco homes. When it comes to recommendations for repair, I’m often asked if they should consider not using stucco for the exterior cladding, as it seems so problematic. My response is, you do have options, but properly installed, stucco cladding is a good option.

This week alone I’ve received three calls from stucco homeowners where the builder acknowledged it was their fault and consequently they would fix it. The solution in all three cases was: remove the stucco just around the windows, pull the windows and flash the openings. In addition, they would address the lack of kick -out flashings. Although you could say it’s commendable that they’re taking responsibility, aren’t they the same ones who installed it incorrectly in the first place. This approach is a waste of time and money. If there’s no proper drainage plane in place they can’t incorporate this patch job into a properly functioning system. For one, of these homeowners it was the second time the builder had tried this approach and water was still coming in through windows and musty odors in the home revealed water was still getting into the wall cavities and mold was growing in behind the gypsum wall board.

If you have a stucco home and you suspect you might have a problem or if the builder wants to fix it, have a stucco inspection performed first so that you might be able to present the builder with a report that details how to fix it properly. Contact us at  www.advancedmolddiagnostics.com for a free telephone consultation.

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I was recently called out to a residence to ascertain whether there was a mold problem or not in an attic. A local builder who was aware of mold remediation work we had done at the (HBA) Home Builders Office in Chester Cty had referred the client to me.

He wasn’t sure if the stains on some of the building materials in the attic were mold or not, he didn’t think so, but wanted to be cautious.  One of the aspects that made the situation so interesting was that he was called out to renovate all the interior walls and floors as the insurance company was picking up the tab based on the ice damming.

Upon arriving the homeowner proceeded to describe how water had just poured out the top of most of the windows and cascaded down the walls onto the hardwood floors of the first floor. I found the attic bone dry including all the way down into the eaves. I couldn’t find a single elevated moisture reading or thermal image indicating anything was wet. The dark wood stains were nothing more than different wood species that had been used for the four hip rafters of the mansard roof 35 years ago. Mold doesn’t grow on one piece of framing and not on the ones adjoining it, certainly not repeating that pattern in all four corners.

The second floor had sustained some damage; thermal imaging detected some moisture in the interstitial cavities, but not what I would have suspected.Going into the basement with the homeowner she explained how water just poured off the steel I-beam in the basement.

The last piece of this unique water intrusion was on the first floor bearing wall running right through the middle of the house. Water had run down the wall heavily 18′ from the left elevation wall towards the kitchen ruining the hardwood floors. You could see the water stains on the gypsum wallboard.

So, how did the water come in especially down interior walls by-passing the attic and the ceilings of the second floor? The answer…the ice damming allowed water to pour out of the soffits and through capillary action it ran across the bottom of the soffit and behind the faulty stucco cladding as there was no sealant joint at the stucco to soffit intersection. From there, it just ran down behind the stucco and into the cavities at the window heads because the windows weren’t flashed properly and there was no properly installed drainage plane in place. The interior wall issue was also related to the lack of a drainage plane because the water just ran in along the bearing wall.

Faulty stucco installation is way more common then most people realize. If you suspect that you might have issues with your stucco, contact us at www.advancedmolddiagnostics.com to find out what options you have for investigating it.

This time of the year we’re often called out for problems with mold growth in attics. The main reasons for this to occur are as follows:

• · Improper attic ventilation
• · Venting bathroom exhausts into attic space
• · Venting clothes dryer exhaust into attic space
• · In-adequate insulation or missing insulation
• · Ice damming
• · Poor installation and or aging roofing materials

I’m going to start with the first one, improper attic ventilation. Proper ventilation is recognized by building science experts as a requirement for preventing microbial growth, preventing shortening the life expectancy of roofing materials and removal of potentially harmful gases via the stack effect.

All of the building codes – BOCA National Building Code, International Building Code, Standard Building Code and Uniform Building Code require attic space to be ventilated. Generally, codes require a minimum net free ventilating area for attic vents to be a 1–150 ratio of the attic space. This rate can be adjusted to 1-300 if attic vents are balanced. Some of these ventilation requirements are more than 60 years old and considered in adequate by some.

ASHRAE ‘s (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) position on ventilation is an attempt to prevent condensation from occurring on the underside of roof sheathing. ASHRAE’s 1997 Fundamentals Handbook cites several disadvantages to providing attic ventilation. Basically, in warm humid climates venting can increase vapor pressure (relative humidity) and condensation issues, so, it has to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. For colder climates, the benefits generally outweigh the disadvantages.

We’re in what’s called a mixed-use climate. It’s generally agreed by building science experts and myself in the building science arena that proper attic ventilation is the way to go.