To those of you with mold illness

[Christianmom]

My daughter was recently diagnosed as having mold in her sinuses. We are looking at replacing all the floors in our main level within the next year, and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for the most mold-resistant flooring. The basement floor is concrete and we are planning to leave that floor alone. Thanks!

[red]

My daughter was recently diagnosed as having mold in her sinuses. We are looking at replacing all the floors in our main level within the next year, and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for the most mold-resistant flooring. The basement floor is concrete and we are planning to leave that floor alone. Thanks!

8 years ago I was misdiagnosed with Lyme disease and treated for it from June 2004 until Dec. 2006 ( I now have bartonella but that is a whole other story). Until I found my way to a mold literate doc did I find out my severe illness was mold in my house. Mold is both very easy to treat but also very tedious and time consuming. You have to first get the source of mold killed. You then have to clean your house and everything in it. We threw away a lot. Everything that cannot be put through a washing machine with soap and water gets thrown out or in the case of some furniture stripped to the base and new foam and recovered. Everything has to be done with methodical care to prevent cross contamination of the house and its contents. You then must be sure that mold does not reappear in your house/life. In our case we spent some retirement $ and gutted our house to the core and rebuilt it. Everything put back was VOC free. All insulation and sheet rock was mold proof and before restoring the house the whole interior framing was sprayed with a silver based non-toxic paint to prevent mold from growing on the wood. Finally the house, basement and crawl space must be kept and no more than 50% humidity. The crawl space should also be sealed completely from preventing water vapor from coming into the house.

Red

[MichaelTampa]

Christianmom - we have been replacing carpeting with ceramic tiles. We haven't done any testing yet, but that is what we have done.

 

red - How are you keeping the humidity at or below 50%? I tried to buy a whole house dehumidifier to work during the winter months of the year here in Florida, when the temperature is good but the humidity is still over 90%. I was told by the A/C company, after they supposedly spent time researching it, that they simply didn't exist other than for corporate uses, as they are huge and could not be installed in a single-family home. They said best we can do is get one of those portable type things that need constant attention to empty water, and move through the house, etc.

[JuliaFaith]

You might look at some of the engineered hardwoods to see what they have to offer.

 

With tiles, you just have to make sure the grout is always in good condition. We found mold growing behind tiles that had very small openings in the grout. These were right behind the sink and shower so had constant water on them. We put tile on our floor in the bathroom, along with a plastic strip against the tub, and try to keep the floor dry at all times (yea right with my son?). We think that it will work well as flooring. Would not go back to having it in the shower or directly attached to the sink area.

Edited July 22, 2012 by JuliaFaith

[red]

Christianmom - we have been replacing carpeting with ceramic tiles. We haven't done any testing yet, but that is what we have done.

 

red - How are you keeping the humidity at or below 50%? I tried to buy a whole house dehumidifier to work during the winter months of the year here in Florida, when the temperature is good but the humidity is still over 90%. I was told by the A/C company, after they supposedly spent time researching it, that they simply didn't exist other than for corporate uses, as they are huge and could not be installed in a single-family home. They said best we can do is get one of those portable type things that need constant attention to empty water, and move through the house, etc.

I use a portable unit in the crawl space. It is hooked up directly to a hose that drains outside. I have it set a 50% so it comes on and off automatically. My A/C in the summer keeps the rest of house at or below 50%. In fact if an A/C unit is not keeping the house at or below 50% it is probably to big a unit and not running long enough to dehumidify the house. Of course Fl has different issue in the winter but if you are running at 90% in house you are in trouble as far with mold. I sure would be looking harder at doing something whole house. I would talk to different A/C companies.

[red]

Here is a good overview of Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker's protocol on mold/biotoxins and diagnosis. It appears on Mercola's site today.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/22/mold-and-other-chronic-diseases.aspx?e_cid=20120722_SNL_Art_1

Red

[JuliaFaith]

Here is a good overview of Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker's protocol on mold/biotoxins and diagnosis. It appears on Mercola's site today.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/22/mold-and-other-chronic-diseases.aspx?e_cid=20120722_SNL_Art_1

Red

This would be great under "New Topic". Thanks for sharing.

[tpotter]

You might look at some of the engineered hardwoods to see what they have to offer.

 

With tiles, you just have to make sure the grout is always in good condition. We found mold growing behind tiles that had very small openings in the grout. These were right behind the sink and shower so had constant water on them. We put tile on our floor in the bathroom, along with a plastic strip against the tub, and try to keep the floor dry at all times (yea right with my son?). We think that it will work well as flooring. Would not go back to having it in the shower or directly attached to the sink area.

 

 

Thank you...this explains a lot as to why I keep insisting that the bathroom smells moldy. I'm replacing the floor and cabinet in one bathroom, because it had a leak. BTW...we had engineered wood in the bathroom, and although it looked very nice, it got the water underneath it's top layers, and you can only imagine how bad it got. Now, I have a reason to replace the flooring in the other bathrooms. Instead of pulling up the tile (possibly releasing mold into the house,) does it work if I just cover it with a concrete style leveler (I don't remember what it's called, but it comes in a can/bucket, you spread it onto the floor, and then let it dry, then cover that with tile?

[red]

You might look at some of the engineered hardwoods to see what they have to offer.

 

With tiles, you just have to make sure the grout is always in good condition. We found mold growing behind tiles that had very small openings in the grout. These were right behind the sink and shower so had constant water on them. We put tile on our floor in the bathroom, along with a plastic strip against the tub, and try to keep the floor dry at all times (yea right with my son?). We think that it will work well as flooring. Would not go back to having it in the shower or directly attached to the sink area.

 

 

Thank you...this explains a lot as to why I keep insisting that the bathroom smells moldy. I'm replacing the floor and cabinet in one bathroom, because it had a leak. BTW...we had engineered wood in the bathroom, and although it looked very nice, it got the water underneath it's top layers, and you can only imagine how bad it got. Now, I have a reason to replace the flooring in the other bathrooms. Instead of pulling up the tile (possibly releasing mold into the house,) does it work if I just cover it with a concrete style leveler (I don't remember what it's called, but it comes in a can/bucket, you spread it onto the floor, and then let it dry, then cover that with tile?

It is not just the spore that is toxic. The mold smell is a VOC and mold VOCs are toxic. So if you cover mold and it continues to off gas VOCs then you are still inhaling toxins. There is also the issue of what is happening on the other side of the floor you are covering. It is open to crawl space or continuous with subfloor the allows off gassing to move into another area of the house. Moldy material can be removed safely if done with due diligence.

[JuliaFaith]

Red- good explanation.

 

Remediation should be done correctly so you do not cross-contaminate other areas.

 

Also, we did not want to leave the mold in our home so that any others owners might get ill.

 

Tpotter-Just finding mold and getting rid of it could be a step towards better health for everyone living in the house so good that you are addressing it now.

Edited July 26, 2012 by JuliaFaith