Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mold or Something in the Air in the House

Can any of you gentlemen advise me on what kind of outfit one would contact
to come in and test for mold or some other pulmonary irritant?

Since enduring all of this damn smoke from "Forest Fires"..

There is something in the house, that is making me cough like some old coal miner.
almost like having emphysema... it goes away if I spend time in the garage...

I don't have a clue who to contact, the type of business that specializes in that...

any hints will be helpful...

can't even sleep thru the night at the moment...

Link below is your area, I believe.

https://getprokleen.com/mold-removal-remediation/mold-inspection-testing/

Home owner's insurance may help as well.

Do you have a central air system or wall/window units?

Air out the house.

Rockinbar has it. Mold inspection/remediation outfits.

ANother way to go would be to have yourself tested for allergies, it might not be mold causing your problem.

Because asking a mold abatement company if you have mold in your house is like asking your barber if he thinks you need a haircut.

Truth. Lot of schiesters in that business.

Order one of these. They send you the machine and you send it back and they analyze the sample.

https://homeaircheck.com/products/

If you haven't done any remodeling lately, get the version without formaldehyde. I had the same problem 2 years ago. Turns out my HVAC system balance was off and was creating negative pressure and pulling air and dust from the garage. I could tell because the test showed elevated levels of gasoline and paint in the VOC analysis. I had the system balanced and coughing quit. I'm not saying that is your problem, but the test is almost the same quality a professional will do for a fraction of the price. Most times you can figure out the source of the problem based on what is elevated. If it comes back with elevated mold, then have a professional look at it.

COPD ?

Had mold in my office in 2013. Worst sickness I ever had. They found three different types, Aspergillus (sp?), Penicillin, and one more. It was nasty bad. I was at the doc taking blood tests since two of the three could cause death. They found the levels @ 10X normal in my bloodstream and ordered the office shut down, cleaned, and I was treated for three months before given the "all OK". Two weeks later I was elk hunting.

Headaches, nausea, weak as a newborn kitten, felt brain dead all the time...could not concentrate. And the coughs....God knows the coughing was 24/7 no matter the cough meds I was taking.

Get out of there, get it identified, get it fixed...my best advice to you!

Good luck.

Seafire,

It may be the smoke has simply been the "straw that broke the camel's back" regarding your lungs and made you aware of a growing respiratory problem.

I would definitely look into checking your house for mold -- it is DAMN serious, and often not diagnosed nearly soon enough!

To ensure that you don't get a mold-removal company trying to sell you something you may not need, ask your insurance company for a few recommendations for a few good companies.

Your insurance company will have lots of experience for this common householder policy problem and they want your house fixed up properly the first time to save them money (if your house needs it, that is).

John

Seems like in western Oregon you'd need a whole lot of mold in the house before there was more than is in the air outside. Especially in Fall/Winter/Spring.

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought you were referring to the House of Representatives. I thought it might explain a few things. Oh, well. Carry on, and good luck.

Not sure what kind of heating/cooling system you have? If it is ducts, I would have them professionally cleaned ASAP. It could be mold or just plain dust that is causing your problems. I worked in an office for 10 years that had something in the system that bothered me. I developed a dry cough in early November of each year that lasted until April. Sometimes the coughing fits brought me to my knees. It never occurred to me what the problem was until I changed jobs and the coughing fits stopped. I am a slow learner I guess.

I'm the reverse, had something in garage that was practically killing me every time I went out. Ended up doing a full sweep/dust/mopping out and it got better. Got bad enough doc put me on an inhaler and Breo (good stuff!) for when I got into it.

Last couple of weeks, though, had a couple of minor flareups while inside the house. Hoping it's just the smoke we've been getting or something, because I don't want to go through that again. Not being able to get a good night's sleep was the worst part, even worse than the coughing.

Double down on that!!

I don't know who's worse down here. Them or the termite clowns.

Where there's smoke there's fire and where there's mold there's water. Getting rid of the water gets rid of the mold. Every single successful mold remediation ever conducted first solved a water intrusion problem.

If your house is dry look elsewhere.

nope, no reason to have COPD....

Partly true. Mold , if present, stays present, whether or not the moisture problem is resolved. It needs to go also, by remediation. Drying it out may resolve the symptoms when it goes into dormancy, and no longer producing spores, but it is still there. It doesn't "go away".

Once gone, and sans moisture, it won't readily come back.

We aren't disagreeing. Every single successful mold remediation ever conducted first solved a water intrusion problem. In some cases additional remediation might have some benefit.

However, dormant mold and spores are everywhere just waiting for moisture. Nothing short of a full tear out or encapsulation has even a remote shot at preventing recurrence if the moisture returns.