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We inspect and test for leaks, black mold, mysterious musty odors, bacteria, chemicals, fumes and gases, including: formaldehyde and other aldehydes, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. We also test for VOC's or volatile compounds in the air, dust mite allergens, and other bio-allergens, and of course allergenic or toxic mold spores in the air. Our certified mold inspector also travels to:  Hollywood, Davie, Sunrise, Tamarac, Ft Lauderdale, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Lantana, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach.  Our certified mold inspector can diagnose toxic mold issues and other IAQ problems in Miami-Dade County, Broward, and Palm Beach County.

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Can Rats, Chemical Odors, Or Even Stress, Cause Mold Like Health Reactions In Homeowners And Office Workers? 



Mold is and always has been a major contributor in building related illness. I have seen many clients who were ill as the result of living with mold. However, one must not overlook the possibility of other contributing factors such as cigarette smoke, non mold related bio-allergens such as cat, and dog dander, rat, and mice allergens, and chemical contaminates such as pesticides or volatile organic compounds. Sometimes the culprit is stress or psychosomatic illness. When the latter is expected the investigator must find some tactful way to encourage the client to see a doctor who can help determine if that client is under to much stress.  


RATS
In many cases homes have no unusual mold conditions but have roof rat infestation ( Ratus Ratus) in the attic. This is more common in the South especially in Florida. Rat infested attics often goes unnoticed for years while the occupant suffers. Poorly maintained AC units with damaged AC ducts or loose fitting panels causes rodent odors and allergens in the attic to be sucked into the building where the client may or may not notice a mild dusty or woody or attic odor. This is not uncommon and it is unfortunate how often it goes un diagnosed by short sighted AC service persons looking for proper temperatures at the AC unit or and short sighted mold inspectors looking for mold only. I have seen more than one case where occupants have been sick for years, after extensive testing and inspection for mold in the building I enter the attic to literally find thousands of rat droppings, rat trails, rat urine stains, and even cute little rat foot prints in the dust on top of AC ducts in the attic. Recently I conducted a mold inspection in an office at a golf course in Palm Beach, as soon as I entered the ceiling void I detected rodent odors and observed droppings. Before I could tell the client of my findings she started to cough harshly and had to leave the office and spend the rest of the inspection time in the managers office next door.


BIO-ALLERGENS
In addition to rats other living or live source home invaders can cause allergy problems or similar health problems. Mice, dust mites, roaches, and bacteria, can cause problems indoors. Of course if symptoms are seasonal then seasonal pollen releases from trees, grasses, weeds, and flowers may be the culpruite. To the right is a photo of a group of dust mites.


CHANGES IN EATING HABITS
Even a change of eating habits may be to blame. Wheat or glutens found in bread, peanuts, various treenuts, shellfish, and other seafoods, soy products, tomatoes, milk and dairy products, are all foods that can trigger serious and sometimes even deadly allergic reactions. If eating habits have changed then they can be to blame for allergic reactions. Food allergy reactions are sometimes easy to distingush from airborn allergen induced allergic reactions. Often food allergy will have a onset that occures immediately after eating a specific food, sometimes but not limited to swelling of the throat or toung, tingling of the mouthh, or skin rashes.
While on the other hand reactions related to breathign in indoor pollutants such as bio allergens such as dust mite feces or mold spores often include coughing, sneezing, itchy throat, watery eyes, runny nose, and difficulty breathing. Chemical air contaminates may cases some of the above conditions in addition chemicals sometimes casse nausia, dizzneyness, dry eyes, and headaces. Of couse this symptom information is not complete and should never be used as medical advice or for diagnosis. This is just basic partial info from a dumb mold inspector. For proper guidance contact an inspection firm for a complete building investigation, and consult with medical doctors and medical specalists such as allergy doctors.   


VOC'S
Other times chemicals are present such as sewage gas. If your roofer replaced the roof but did not vent the plumbing vent pipes through the roof then sewage gas (hydrogen Sulfide ) will build up in your attic and eventually back up into your home or office. I discovered this exact problem at a bank in the Florida keys. This bank had a attic and that attic was full of hydrogen sulfide gas. The builder who should have been able to figure this one out did not figure it out and instructed the bank employees to light scented candles, by the way this gas is explosive, fortunately the bank did not explode. At a beautiful house own by an interior designer in or near Miami Florida the client was concerned about unusual odors, mild mold odors were coming out of the AC ducts and also she had 3 or 4 AC units in a house that only required one AC unit, thus the AC units were cooling the air before they had a chance to dry the air thus this created a humidity problem that in turn resulted in humidity in her AC ducts and mild mold odors coming from her ducts. Even with mild mold odors in the ducts her real problem was not mold at all. Testing the air for gases with something called a to-15 canister revealed a veritable cornucopia of at least a dozen or more gasoline ingredients including benzine a carcinogen. After much effort with a hammer we were able to open the tightly sealed crawl space door where strong fumes poured out.
Apparently someone had dumped large amounts of gas into the crawl space nailed the crawl space door shut and sold the property to the interior designer who had purchased the house a few months before my inspection.  


MENTAL ILLNESS
At a Miami mold inspection spots that the client feared were mold turned out to be stains from a bad paint job. When obtaining an inner wall sample a strong pesticide odor came out of the wall. It appears that the landlord may have used to much pesticide in the wall prior the the tenet moving in a few months earlier. The client was mildly obsessed with a fear of mold despite the fact that to most observers the spots did not look like mold AT ALL. Strangely enough this client admitted that she was a bit mentally ill. It seemed strange that she admitted this to me. Personally I believe that many people experiences at least a tiny bit of mental illness at some point. Stress, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders, and paranoia effects one out of X number of people in America at some point in their lives. I say X because I am not a therapist but a mold inspector so I do not know the actual number. After your read this article go to some therapist's websites, do a little research and I am sure you will find out X is a high number.   

STRESS
The vast majority of our client are likely ill from mold in my opinion, but that is not what this article is about. Sometimes it becomes apparent that their is a strong likelihood that clients are not suffering from mold allergies or any other indoor pollutants, but from possible psychosomatic illness or stress. Often these persons are under stress and also these persons read large amounts of mold information written by fear mongers who are not scientists and who do not preform mold inspections. Other unfortunate clients get ridiculous information from persons claiming to be doctors.Yes their are doctors out their who like sharks detect stress, and emotional instability in patients and instead of trying to help them they encourage the patients down this path so that the doctor can get more visits and more money from persons who fear that mold is making them sick when it is just fear, stress, overwork, unhappiness at home, mold obsession, or cigarettes making them sick. I have seen more than my fare share of previous stressed out people with tons of mold website information on the dining room table and no mold in their homes. One thing these people have in common is that their symptoms are more like unusual symptoms in the articles they read as apposed to more common mold symptoms coughing, sneezing, itchy throat, watery eyes.    
Stress has long been recognized as a contributer of building related illness. But in 2006,  recent studies from London and Singapore point to the possibility that stress is a much more important contributer to building related illness than most investigator's realized. 
   
The following is from a Green Building Press Article.
According to researchers in London and Singapore, sick building syndrome may be a stress related disorder, rather than a fault of building design. UK researchers asked 4,000 civil servants from 44 buildings in London about their environment and job pressures and about symptoms such as coughs and tiredness. They found dry air and hot offices increased symptoms slightly but the most important factor was stress.

The research is printed in Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal. A similar study by the Singapore Ministry of the Environment produced similar findings.

The London researchers argue that many of the symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, and unusual tiredness could be linked to work-related stress, rather than something wrong with the environment in the building.

The study found high job demands and low levels of support were linked with high symptom rates, especially for those with little decision-making power.

They used outside observers to assess civil servants' physical work environment by measuring factors such as temperature and light. The volunteers were also asked if they had any physical symptoms and about the demands of their job, including levels of support at work. Some 14% of men and 19% of women reported five or more symptoms associated with the syndrome.

The team found higher levels of symptoms in buildings with temperatures outside the recommended range, poor humidity, airborne bacteria and dust. But lower levels of symptoms were reported in buildings with poor air circulation, or unacceptable levels of carbon dioxide, noise or volatile organic compounds. Workers who could control their immediate environment by turning down heating or opening windows also reported fewer symptoms.

The study authors said: "Sick building syndrome may be wrongly named - raised symptoms reporting appears to be due less to poor physical conditions than to a working environment characterized by poor psychosocial conditions. "Our findings suggest that, in this sample of office based workers, physical attributes of buildings have a small influence on symptoms."

Co-author Dr Mai Stafford of the Epidemiology and Public Health department of University College London, said: "We are not making claims that buildings don't matter. There certainly could be buildings which do have physical properties that are very bad, but for the general workforce job stress and job demands seem to have a bigger impact".

The Singapore study examined the role of work-related psychosocial stress in sick building syndrome and tested the theory that in buildings with no recognized environmental problems, health complaints typical of the syndrome were primarily stress-related.

Data was gathered from confidential questionnaires to assess symptoms and perception of the physical and psychosocial environment among 2160 subjects in 67 offices. Working conditions were also inspected and indoor air quality monitored.

Researchers found more symptoms of sick building syndrome among office workers who reported high levels of physical and mental stress and decreasing climate of cooperation. This association was sustained even after adjustment for personal and environmental exposure factors.

They concluded that stress was a significant and independent determinant of the health complaints, and that symptoms compatible with the sick building syndrome in many cases were stress-related, commenting, "Our findings underscore the importance of personal and organizational stress management to prevent ill health at the office".

Though it is unreasonable to expect every inspector to be knowledgable mindful and aware of all the above possible problems during each and every inspection, your inspector should keep in mind that mold is not the only thing that commonly causes indoor air complaints.
 
A true mold inspection professional or IAQ consultant should be open minded to the fact that the building they are inspecting may not have a mold problem, but health complaints may be related to one of the above conditions.

About A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc.

We provide humidity and indoor air quality investigation services well as mold testing for commercial building managers as well as home owners and renters in Aventura, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Doral, Hialeah, Medley, Hallandale, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar.

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