If you have a crawl space and you are in Western Oregon you have mold, does not require a leak, it is the moisture in the soil, if there is a plastic lining in the crawl space it is behind the plastic, from the soil, the volatile organic compounds diffuse through dirt and plastic into your house. You will need to filter his air heavily, until you can get into a dry house without a crawl space.
Austin Air http://www.austinair.com/ makes filters for those with chemical sensitivity, they are pricey but they are the only ones that I know of that really remove the VOCs down to satisfactory level. If you can only afford one at first put it in the room he is in the most or make sure you buy the wheeled base and move it around with him. Dealer Locator http://www.austinair.com/purchase.htm Best Price On-Line Allergy Relief $470 http://www.onlineallergyrelief.com/airpure/austin/austin.html The potassium iodide impregnated in the carbon is essential for removal of one of the biggest air polluters in homes, formaldehyde. It is in so many things -- and it has many names that industry uses to fly under the consumers' radar. http://www.austinair.com/hmplus.htm This is the only unit that has the ability to efficiently remove formaldehyde and ammonia as well as other VOCs produced by molds and house hold materials. Do not let someone sell you an ozonating or ionizing air filter, they will not work to the same efficiency. Do NOT belive the salesmen, they will not tell you the truth of the matter. Ozone can purify air but it can also adsorb into sheet rock and gas out when you are in the room, ozone is toxic to plants and animals, it also combines with other chemicals in your air and makes them more toxic. Do not use ozone. Electrostatic filters are not efficient, like the ones that you see on TV commercials but they look good on the commercials. Don't waste your money. The VOCs can suppress his immunity as well as yours, he is more susceptible. He needs constant detoxing while in this house. If he is in school I don't know what to tell you, as schools even brand new ones can have VOC issues from many sources including mold. Ellensberg, WA ~1999 brand elementary school new shut down because of mold in crawl spaces, and they are on the dry side of the mountains. I will say that homeschooling is one option for some, but you must clean up your home air quality. Some schools will comply and allow air filters but may not buy them, you may have to supply the unit. www.mold.org has good info. If I can answer more questions please feel free to ask. My family was sick for 5 years, my daughter was coughing up blood for over a year, we all developed severe asthma. We lived in four different rent houses. All had mold issues, the first had water leaks, one was a crawl space, the other a dirt floored basement where the HVAC was drawing air and the fourth was in a whole and had no forced air ventilation, just baseboard heaters, three were in Seattle. Forced air (fans) ventilation helps dry out the air, moving furniture away from the walls and checking for mold, have a plumbing test done by a professional, spot check walls and insulation with a moisture meter, should not be over 25% moisture levels, find someone with a super sense of smell and ask them if your house smells the least bit musty. Have mold tests run on your home, but spores are NOT the main problem, they will tell you how much mold you have over background (what is in the air outside the house, should be tested too on the same day for comparision). All sources of VOCs in his environment must be removed. All cleaning products, all scented products, all carpets, all soft plastics -- some people end up in a completely tiled trailer in the middle of Snow Flake Arizona they are so sensitive, it can progress. ========================== http://www.fieldcontrols.com/rpt.uv.html "The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine reports that exposure to indoor pollutants is a key contributor to the asthma problems of this nation. * Most allergy and asthma sources are passed from person to person through the air. * The air in a single room can contain hundreds of thousands of infectious bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, and contaminants, which can only be seen with a microscope." ================================ Subscribe to OUR TOXIC TIMES, the best source of current info I know of, ask for pertinent back issues or other helpful info. This is a HUGE learning curve but asthma can kill on short notice. It is obviously worth it. REVERSING ASTHMA by Richard Firshein, DO is an excellent primer on asthma and how to prevent triggers in your environment. Good Luck! Garnet More Info from the Internet: ================================== http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an23/an23-7/an23-702.html "One book that everyone should have access to has just appeared in print: Guidelines on Assessment and Remediation of Fungi in Indoor Environments, available on the Internet at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/html/epi/moldrpt1.html ...Even if there is no leak to be found, water can enter a building through porous building materials, including concrete. It may enter as water vapor and condense and collect in hidden places. There are many esoteric ways for water to enter a house and feed mold." ==================================== http://www.create-your-healthy-home.com/toxic-mold.htm "In addition to mycotoxins, volatile organic compounds (moldy odors) released from actively growing fungi may also pose a health risk. What are the common toxigenic fungi found indoors? Many species in the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Cladosporium are known to produce mycotoxins. These three groups of fungi are also very common indoors. Other toxigenic fungi frequently found indoors are Alternaria, Trichoderma, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Chaetomium, Acremonium. Another fungus that has increasingly been linked to building-related problems is Stachybotrys chartarum. It is common in nature and grows on cellulose-rich plant materials. It has frequently been found to grow on water-damaged cellulose-containing materials, such as dropped ceiling tiles, wall paper and sheet-rock wall board, in residential and commercial buildings. Many indoor air quality related problems have been traced to the growth of this fungus in buildings. Almost without exception, these buildings have usually had chronic water or moisture problems." ===================================== On Tue, 2004-11-23 at 00:50, Sharon Cooper wrote: > We are in Oregon. I guess you would call that moist! Our house doesn't > have a basement. I don;t know of any leaks in the plumbing. We have a > well so we don't get a water bill. > > I am guessing that mold caused his last major attack because we were at > DH's parents RV, and were planning on staying the night when we > discovered the frig had been w/out power for far too long. Many mold > experiments were growing. We were in the process of cleaning it out > when we gave up ( it was already late and we had spent the last three > hours trying to find the stupid RV based on bad directions from FIL ). > The kids needed to eat so we headed to the nearest town to get a room > and some food. The food was no problem but there were no rooms to be > had at all. So we drove to the next town, same story. And so on till we > were halfway home. We finally said forget it, and just went home. this > was around ten pm. By three am he was having trouble. By 9 we were in > the pediatricians office getting the emergency treatment. prior to that > he'd had two attacks but they were not major and there was no obvious > trigger. The Ped said it was induced by a cold. Funny thing is I tried > the CS with DMSO and Hydrogen peroxide per richard on this list and it > didn't seem to be working. I have the walgreens teeny nebulizer. Well > now I have another one too that the pediatrician sent home with me. > Northwest medical makes it. > > I will ask hubby if there are any leaks in the crawlspace. He was down > there when we bought the house. Those are some good points garnet! > -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
