Your Freedom Air

Commercial Buildings, Metal studs, and Worthless Exterior Sheetrock

Allen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:10:25 +0000

Evaluated a major building in this area for fungus and found the fiberglass insulation was harboring fungus in 30% to 50% of the insulation, due to cold coming into the building system through the exterior sheetrock that was applied for the sheathing on the outside of metal studs. The fiberglass in the metal headers also harbored a great quantity of fungus.

We took the sheetrock and insulation out for 16’ high on the first floor. We are currently following the fungus in this building from a joint in the slab down an 80’ wall, having to go through the sheetrock sound/fire board to even expose the problem wall, a whole separate wall. Fungus was 10’ high on the unfinished sheetrock between the walls here. Who would have thought!

Conclusion: All architects that use exterior sheathing in the form of sheetrock are letting Mother Nature come right on in with cold and hot both. Where are the laws for this?

Allen — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:51:36 +0000

Wishing you a

Happy New Year!

from all of us at Freedom Air

Chaetomium

Allen — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:03:58 +0000

Chaetomium is a sister to Stachybotrys . It’s a high moisture indicator. In previous inspections, this species of fungus was detrimental to the health of a few of my clients. Three cases in particular:

A one-year old boy had already had two surgeries on his lymph nodes and sinuses, and his father was wondering if he had a fungus problem in his home. The air count in the air was 8 raw spore count of Chaetomium in the son’s room. Chaetomium was also found heavy in that home around the hot tub.

A 5 year-old girl was going to have her tubes taken out of her ears, that she had had all her life, and they were wondering if they had a fungus problem in his house. She had a spore count of 11 in her room. A high moisture reading was found in the house where a roof valley was causing the problem.

The third client was a middle aged woman who was having major allergy symptoms going on: bloody noses, sinus congestion, and sinus infection. She had about an 11 Chaetomium spore count in her bedroom. Her master bath was leaking due to the fixture never having been caulked.

I hope these examples give you an idea of the serious medical conditions that can be caused by Chaetomium.

Is Fungus Really Bad?

Allen — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:18:09 +0000

Yes, Fungus is bad for folks, especially in a confined environment like your home or business. Even supposedly dormant fungus is bad for folks too.

We’ll start with Stachybotrys, also known as “Black Mold”.

This fungus is toxic. I will tell you a story about an inspection performed one winter. A friend had a roof leak that entered his son’s second floor bedroom. They fixed the leak, but a year later his son was continuously fighting allergies/sinus problems with antibiotics. The father asked if I could test the bedroom for fungus. He pulled back the carpet several feet, but there were no signs of fungus. I suggested that we look under the pads. “Bingo!” There were five square quarter-sized spots that looked like black fungus, which the lab tests verified. The fungus had been dormant for a year due to lack of moisture, but it was still putting out enough toxins through the pad and carpet to make the child sick. There has to be 2 to 3 weeks of continuous moisture for this organism to grow.

After sanitizing the whole area with a biocide called EnzyMagic™ and hitting it hard with ozone, a cultured swab was wiped everywhere in the bedroom with no growth to record. Great Sanitization Job!