Does any one have any ideas about “hidden” sources of mold? For about a week now, both of our allergies have been awful. My daughter has had 3 asthma attacks in 6 days! I narrowed down mold as the only culprit, as it’s the only thing this time of year K and I are both highly allergic to. I used vinegar on every sink/tub/shower and otherwise wet surface I could think of. We have a dehumidifer running in our basement almost all the time, so it’s not that. Does any one have any ideas of where mold likes to hide and how to get rid of it? Is there something else this time of year we might be allergic to I’m not thinking of?
There may be a water leak somewhere creating mold in one of your walls. You may need to take a good look at your water bills and see if there may be a pipe leak somewhere or if there may be a source otherwise that could create mold in the walls. Also, if you’re allergic to dust mites, it may be time to get new pillows.
Hope you’re able to figure it out soon; allergies are miserable.
It could also be that moving things around while cleaning/searching for mold has disturbed it enough to heighten the allergic reactions.
Case and point: my elderly dad has many, many binders with sleeves containing my deceased sister’s slides. (She was a freelance photographer, primarily selling to publishing companies for textbooks and such.) Our basement has had a few water issues over the years, but he left the binders alone on shelving in the basement. Recently, he decided to bring them all upstairs, a few at a time, and he has discovered that some of the slides have mold on them. He is trying to decide what to do with them (an emotional issue). In the meantime, we have had some minor reactions to the mold as he has been carrying them through the house up to his room, then into the attic. A few days after he “quarantined” them in the attic, our symptoms have subsided. However, we do not generally have severe allergic reactions to things.
ETA: I also just remembered an episode of “Ask This Old House” where they were doing something to the attic and discovered mold in some of the overhead joists and such. They tried just washing it down with something and it wasn’t enough. They had to bring in someone to do a sort of power wash on the beams….and the homeowner had not even been aware of the severity of the problem.
My oldest son used to have Asthma trigered by mold and outdoor allergies. We went to a Chiropractor who did allergy treatments. If you can find something like that that could help to prevent reactions to the mold.
Thanks for the tips ladies. LillyLou I looked at the water leak thing…we’ve had that problem before. Dust mites are a possiblity, but mold is typically the only thing that makes us both this sick. Sue I didn’t even think about the attic. We never use it, but I guess there could still be water trouble up there. Petitemom, my DD just started allergy shots a few months ago.
Have a look in your air ducts, take the grills out and look inside with a flashlight. The first house we bought over here, made us really sick within a few days of moving in. My hubby new it must be airborne so decided to look in the ducts, they were full of black mold…we had to evac the house and it had to be gutted and rebuilt at our expense because mold is not covered by insurance. That was a nightmare for us, and cost our life savings and all our investments to fix, so look into it….and also check if you have siding, or windows, that may have rotten wood. We had a guy come out to test the air and thank goodness we did because he told us to leave the house immediately as it was toxic….after a 5 year lawsuit we came away broke because the person we bought the house from had died and left nothing….so no recourse at all. That was a hard lesson for us. So check it out and mitigate any leaks before they become nightmares. Good luck..one question do you have any kind of weird aroma in the house, if you do (generally a sweet smell) then you could have a problem..Linda
I’m thinking we have some mold issues as well but my husband refuses to investigate it or to be concerned about it. Our allergies have been horrifying! Try to invest in a few good air purifiers that help kill old like the one called pionair! We have one in our bedroom and it does help a lot!
Wow. Thank you so much for all the ideas everyone! I guess I’ll be taking a good hard look around my house, and I’ll think about the professional. After yet another major asthma attack tonight, I think I’ll have to get someone.
Serious mold in the house is a dangerous thing healthwise – it can cause all kinds of long term debilitating and even life threatening illnesses – so it should never be ignored. Our situation was a nightmare, and we had just come from 15 years of living over in Europe and it was our first experience of buying a home here and of dealing with people who were less than honest with us about the home. It cost us everything we had including the girls college funds and our retirement nest egg…so that at the age of 45 we were starting all over again….and at an age where most have almost paid off their mortgages we are only at year 7 and have a long way to go – it left us with a very sour taste in the mouth. However, we had no choice but to pay to get it fixed and the whole house had to be gutted, all the air handlers replaced along with the duct work, and all the flooring because mold had grown under the carpets and behind cabinets and dry wall…the house was 25 years old…and it was dreadful. So if you can don’t ever allow a mold issue or a suspected one to flourish, you are damaging your health and your pocket book if you do. Linda
By the way air purifiers will not rid the house of severe mold spores, they will continue to grow and spread and are in places you cannot see because it is behind cabinets, under carpets etc. So don’t rely on those…caycecronk I would try and see if your husband will investigate, if he knew more facts maybe he would…when mold has a hold in a house the best air purifier in the world won’t get rid of it, and it just keeps spreading. I would recommend anyone in a house opens up a few of the grills in their home to look inside the ductwork with a flashlight, and if it all looks clean great, it it has black stuff inside the ducts and/or on the grill then you might want to get it checked asap. Linda
I just wanted to chime in that the bathroom could be the culprit too. Our wax ring on the toilet sprung a leak in our last home. Because it is located under the toilet, you don’t know until it is too late. We needed to gut and redo the bathroom because of the damage the mold (and all sorts of other grossness) caused. We were sick that whole year with major asthma attacks, and catching every virus under the sun because of our weakend immune system. I’ll be praying for your family! I know how scary asthma attacks are when your kids go through them!
Im looking into getting a mold insprector to come into our home as well very soon! I know we have mold in the bathroom but never thought of it being the dangerous kind! Now I have to figure out where to get the money to do this!
It may not be the dangerous kind, but it can rapidly get out of control and become that way…we leanred so much about mold with that wretched house we bought and I hate to see others go down that road unaware. Good luck, I hope you either don’t have any, or that it is an easy fix. Make sure you get a reputable air quality guy….there are some shady types out there. Linda