Hidden Mold Often Grows Long Before It Is Detected

CLIENT'S POST:

Hey all! Smell a musty smell/ mildew like smell happening in the house entering it. We had a new hvac system and water heater installed this summer. Our neighbors one might be leaking onto our side. We had a mold expert out in June only found little mold places and mitigated-them. I have autoimmune diseases and am quite sensitive to smells and this musty/mildew like smell is knocking me over creating headaches, anxiety, panic attacks, foggy brain thinking, fear, etc it could be hidden mold toxins affecting me. We have a hepa air filter in the room and I have an air doc in my room where I sleep. Any suggestions or thoughts? I’m working with a fmd but honestly didn’t think mold was much of an issue currently until we cleared my gut parasites/Candida, heavy metals etc. thanks for your time.

AMI RESPONSE:

Missy, I am not a doctor so I cannot address your medical questions, but I've been involved in the mold business for almost 20 years, and I can tell you with a significant degree of certainty that if you've had a prior water intrusion issue and you still have "musty, mildew" smells in your home, you still have mold present somewhere indoors, especially in light of having so many health issues that are often associated with mold. You mentioned having a neighbor, so I'm assuming you live in an apartment or condo. If that is the case, I've seen many, many situations where a mold problem in one unit causes odors and elevated spore counts in adjacent units. So it is possible to successfully remediate your unit one day and have the unit next door recontaminate yours the next day. It is also possible that the last mold professional you worked with missed some areas and those areas have been getting worse with time. I've seen that happen hundreds of times. It's also possible that the prior water intrusion event wasn't thoroughly dried out and new mold growth occurred since then. In a situation very similar to yours, the bathroom in an adjacent apartment had the same layout and backed up to the bathroom you see in this picture. The bathroom in the photo was inspected by a "mold professional" who said there was no mold in this apartment and told the tenant that the odors she was smelling had to be coming from next door. However, the air test I did showed multiple spore types were elevated "off the charts". When the remediation contractor removed the cabinet, this is what was found. I encourage you to call a certified mold inspector, order a proper air sample analysis and find out what you're breathing. Find a seasoned toxicologist/immunologist and find out what is going on with your blood. I've seen many healings that began with accurate, reliable data.