Mould - dust or colony?!

Mould - Dust or Colony?!

I recently took a Mould expert around to a friend's house to try to resolve a long standing health issue with one of the occupants. They suffered from frequent sore throats, dizzyness and other symptoms. After exhaustive medical investigations I was interested if there was any mould / spores that could be the cause?

I kept skeptical as I'm trying to build a house, so everything looks to me like a building issue and I was aware of SHS / Sick House Syndrome. But, having an independent specialist come in would be useful.

This journey began a few months ago when I purchased a viable mould kit from the same company. This I placed around the house and found the highest concentrations around the bed of the affected person. This prompted me to invest in an expert to pay a visit.

So, did we find mould, yes. Lots of it!!

He noted inside humidity was over 65% in the bedroom whereas outside was 55% during a quick check. The air vent was blocked and there was an ensuite with no window, just a fan although the shower was not used.

He identified at least 3 types of mould in the following locations:

Bedside locker - both the side of the locker and the rear of the drawers
Under cistern and below sink in ensuite
on ceiling above toilet
on bottom of picture frame
on backpack
rear of curtains
on the ensuite door

There was a new bed and that was clean but within a year it also would have been affected

What was surprising was how he found it. I would have discounted what he showed me as house dust but there are subtle difference to be aware of:

House Dust doesn't settle on vertical surfaces
House dust doesn't form colonies, it lays down an even layer
using a microscope app on your phone to zoom in can show more detail
a flashlight was used to show up the mould but make sure you use it along the edge of the surface, not directly at it to see the make up of the mould

The cause was high humidity and low air changes.

The resolution:

• Unblock air vent, use rockwool if necessary to allow some air in and kept a bit of warmth
• Dehumidifier
• Air rooms daily if possible by opening windows
• get humidity stabilised

The bedside locker was a case in point, dust doesn't cling to vertical surfaces very well and the mould was a light coloured brown, the same as the wood, not easy to spot but if you spend 10-12 hours in the room you'll know all about it!

The ensuite door had what looked like spots of talcum powder but was in fact mould - the magnifying app helped there.

The picture frame looked like dirt or dust but the mottling was in fact a signature of mould and how the colonies form.

The backpack is like ones I've seen stored in attics for years, mottled and area of discolouration, best to bin it!

The treatment process is to wash curtains etc with detergent, get an Anti-Mould spray to clean down and dry the surfaces. Nothing major and monitor the humidity and air quality to make sure the problem goes away. The locker when cleaned can be varnished with something to protect against moisture.

Note that north facing rooms, poor insulation or other factors may create different concentrations / risks so get an expert out if needed to verify and take action.

Hopefully this might help someone else figuring out why a friend keeps getting ill, get a GP to look first but if it reoccurs, maybe it's the environment, and the person's reaction to that.

Worth looking into.....

There are many Anti-Mould products out there, but recognising mould is the key, then you can do something about it!