Mold Odors In Your Home And Possible Health Implications
Sometimes mold odors in your home can be from mold hidden in walls or behind baseboards.
Many untrained mold inspectors do not take the time to look for the source of mold odors in your home. They will enter your home do a quick inspection and take one or two air samples from indoors and one sample from outdoors and e mail you a lab report a week later.
Because visible mold was not obvious and the lab report you receive states that spore levels indoors are lower than outdoors, these inspectors will conclude that you do not have a mold problem, and that your health problems are not related to mold in your home.
They do not seem to consider the fact that mold may be hidden in your property, and they fail to realize that hidden molds can produce other dangerous components such as mVOCs or (mold odors in your home even when not releasing spores.
Often such mold inspectors are not experienced enough to know how to detect mold odors that can very easily go unnoticed in closets, in walls and deep inside AC units and ducts. Though no inspector can guarantee that they will find every odor and every hidden mold growth it is sad how often mold inspectors in a rush to make a quick buck miss such odors and miss mold.
It appears that mold odors are likely a serious contributor to health effects at many properties that we perform mold inspection on. The chemicals that cause mold odors are a type of microbial volitile organic compound. What are Microbial Volitile organic compounds or (mVOCs) ? These compounds are produced through fungal metabolism and are released directly into the air, often giving off strong or unpleasant odors. Exposure to mVOCs from molds can irritate the eyes and respiratory system and has been linked to symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nasal irritation and nausea. The effects of mVOCs are not completely understood and research is still in the early stages. Even when spore levels are low in the ambient air, mold may be growing hidden in walls, under vinyl floor coverings, deep inside AC systems, or inside AC duct work. Sometimes the molds are trapped and cannot release spores into the air, in other cases the mold is growing in a vegetative manner like vines spreading across a surface, this means that it sees no need to waste metabolic energy on the biologically expensive act of spore production so it simply grows via branching out to surrounding areas. This is very common with many species of Cladosporium mold that are found producing odors in moldy AC units and ducts. Though the mold and spores may not register when an air sample is taken from nearby, odors that are often only perceptible to a trained nose are often present in the very area where health complaints are concentrated, this correlation is very strong in this inspectors experience.
People living in areas with these mold odors in the home sometimes do not notice the odors till the inspector remove an electrical outlet cover plate for inner wall sampling and the client stands a foot away from the cover plate, other times the client never noticed the odor till the inspector tells the client to stand in a specific spot, (directly under an AC vent). In many cases prior to the mold investigation one member of the family was barely aware of the odor while another member was not aware of it at all. Such odors are often obvious to this inspector because of experience with them.
House mold odor can also be from mold behind wall paper.
In this inspectors experience health complaints related to mold odor include headaches, allergy symptoms, increases in the occurrence of sinus infections, and even asthma development. In fact is is amazing how common it is for this mold inspector to find mold odors coming from walls or coming out of moldy AC ducts and people complaining of building related illness in the exact same area, though spore levels are often low in the air these people are living.
You do not have to believe me see what others in the indoor air quality field have said about mold odors in your home causing illness.
Finland Institute of Occupational Health at al.
Indoor Dampness and Molds and Development of Adult-Onset Asthma: A Population-Based Incident Case-Control Study
The is the title of a massive study conducted in Finland, it shows that visible mold growth and mold odor in the work place both have a similar strong correlation with the onset of new asthma in adults. Other studies have shown a link between mold, mold odor, and asthma development in children, however this study shows that mold and mold odor in the work place appears to be connected to the development of asthma in adults as well.
Here is a link to Environmental Health Perspectives where the study can be found.
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action;jsessionid=673C50346C74133544E10DC6979D8392?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.02110543
Sometimes mold odors in the home are from within AC units.
A trained inspector can often pinpoint the source of mold odor in your house.