July 28, 2025 • 17 mins
Imagine you've just paid a deposit on your dream home—a brand new construction that should be perfect in every way. Now imagine the horror of discovering "mold curtains" hanging like Spanish moss in your basement before you've even moved in. This nightmarish scenario is exactly what happened to recent clients who reached out to Environmental Consultants of Ohio.
In this eye-opening conversation, Jim and Laura pull back the curtain on the shocking reality that new doesn't always mean clean or healthy when it comes to home construction. They walk us through the disturbing case of a newly built home with significant mold problems stemming from standing water, an unplugged sump pump, and prematurely activated HVAC systems that distributed mold spores throughout the entire structure.
The discussion dives deep into the science of mycotoxins—the chemical warfare agents molds produce when competing with each other or when threatened during improper remediation attempts. Laura shares cutting-edge research on genetic susceptibility to mold illness and explains why individuals with conditions like muscular dystrophy or autism may face heightened risks from mold exposure. The hosts don't hold back when discussing the frustrating builder-buyer power dynamics that can leave new homeowners with little control over how remediation is handled before closing.
For anyone building, buying, or selling a home, this conversation offers invaluable preventative tips, including pre-treating lumber with antifungal solutions and DIY approaches for those whose builders won't take these precautions. Whether you're in the market for a new home or working in construction, this episode delivers essential knowledge about mold prevention that could save you from costly remediation and serious health issues down the road. Subscribe to hear the follow-up episode with testing results from this disturbing case study, and learn why professional inspection is crucial—even for brand new construction.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Habitation investigation is the way to go
for a home inspection in Ohio.
Trusted licensed homeinspectors for your needs from
radon to mold to warranties, fora great home inspection, you
really can't go wrong.
(00:21):
Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Stand Out Ohio
podcast.
Jim and Laura here.
Laura's looking confused.
She thought we're done.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I did.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We're doing one more so when you hear a brand new
house, what do you think thatcondition of the house is going
to be?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
perfect.
Everything immaculate,everything spotless.
No messed up paint.
No messed up joists.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Everything, no mold nope, no, it should be perfect.
Should be perfect because yougot county city guys checking
this thing out.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Depending where you're at, sometimes there are
no county guys working yeah,there are a couple of counties
in ohio that do not have peoplethat come in and look at houses,
vincent county being one ofthem so we got a call, or maybe
I should say you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You got a call from, I think she called environmental
consultants of ohio yeah, shedid.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
She called environmental consultants.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
She found me online which the company laura started.
That does primarily uh indoorair quality testing.
So you look for environmentaltesting mold uh vocs microtoxins
formaldehyde microtoxins anyany indoor air quality test you
got somebody who's getting sickin the house and they want to
(01:42):
know why.
Call laura environmentalconsultants of ohio and we can
run some tests and narrow downwhat's going on yep, narrow down
and then actually help.
You know how to take care ofthe situation, but you need to
know what it is first.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So anyway, so I got a call, so go ahead, and they are
building a house and I will notsay who the builder is, and she
sent me pictures of moldcurtains that were in her
basement.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Okay, wait, wait, mold and curtains are kind of
like a weird description.
So what did that look like?
I saw it.
But what for the listeners?
For the listeners, you know.
What did that look like?
I saw it, but what for for thelisteners?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
for the listeners um.
You know what spanish mosslooks like, how it dangles from
the trees yeah, down florida andgeorgia that's how the mold
curtains look, not quite as bigas the spanish moss but very
similar in the style where itwas dangling down.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Where was that located?
In the house it?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
was in the basement underneath this.
Well, in underneath the stairswas a big spot, and then there
are some other areas down in thebasement that were having
issues.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
All right, so we know mold.
Well, there are no mold freespaces right.
Not naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And, unlike what they say in Clark County, there's a
story behind that one but anyway, there are no naturally
occurred uh, naturally occurringmold free spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So you no bill's gonna have a thing that's
completely no mold sportfloating around, right?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
because you're gonna walk in and out, you You're
going to have mold attached toyou, to your shoes, to whatever.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Just wafting into the wind, the windows, but when the
builder or somebodysubcontractor, doesn't matter
who has standing water in thereand they don't dry it out and
they unplug the sump pump.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And then they turn on the HVAC and let it blow
through the whole freaking house.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Which is gonna, as their spores floating about, is
gonna distribute them throughoutthe entire house?
Yes, it's on the builder.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Has some issues.
So we went out there.
We're out there with another ofthe mold company mold
remediation companies justbecause they the couple buying
the house paid you to go outthere and consult with them,
because they needed informationon how to help deal with this.
Because you can do justconsulting for people.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And you can also write the protocol.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
For mold remediation companies to follow, or you can
just verify and make sure theyare doing things properly.
The builder did not want to usethe mold remediation company
that the buyers used Wanted.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Their excuse for that .
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Because they had their own company, they had
their own company.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That apparently sucks , because I didn't like their
remediation protocol at all.
But not only that, but theysaid that this couple doesn't
own the house yet, in spite ofthe fact that they put $33,000
deposit down on it.
They don't own the house yetand so they had no say in.
Who did the remediation?
So this company comes in in.
Who did the remediation?
So this company comes in.
This company does thisremediation.
(05:11):
So now we may potentially begoing back out Sunday to do
testing.
Apparently they're going to beworking in it Saturday up until
seven o'clock at night, so wewould be able to go in Sunday
sometime during the afternoonand test.
I also would like to test formycotoxins because I'm curious
(05:32):
to see if they killed the moldprior to actually trying to
remediate, because if not, thenthey've just created a whole
other issue yes, in this house.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
After they treated it , did the, the client, the buyer
sent me more pictures of moldso, so there's, so are there,
still there, there.
There's new growth, or is thisthe old stuff still there?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I think-.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Or it could be a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I think it's a little bit of both.
Let me see.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
So it makes me Because.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I'm actually.
She's actually texting me aswe're doing this.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh, she is Interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So see the walls on the basement.
I don't think that was likethat when we were down there.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
No, I do not remember seeing that.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, I think it's new.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I can't tell if that's a new spot or not.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think that wall is a new spot.
I don't remember seeing thebrick look that bad.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So all right.
This definitely shows that notall remediation companies do
things correctly, as they should.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So here's the thing about it Mold testing, mold
remediation and the knowledge ofmycotoxins.
And dealing with people thatare sensitized is like changing
on a weekly basis.
Like I'm I I've got stuff sentto me from normie weekly that I
(06:57):
could be in in differentmeetings on, so like the last
couple weeks I've been on one.
There's a gentleman who is um.
He's been doing research onmold and genetics for like years
.
At this point, Apparently,there's a specific gene that if
you have this gene activated,you're going to be more
(07:18):
sensitive to mold.
So like he's been doing studieslike that and so now he's
working with Normie to help themlearn about um, like how to
help take care of people thatare sensitized.
So instead of just going in anddoing like a typical mold
remediation, like they have been, you know you come in, you do
your testing.
After that, everything's fine,there's no mold, but people are
(07:41):
still getting sick and they'regetting sicker and sicker
Because what happened is thatinstead of killing the mold
before they touched it or beforethey tried to get of it, they
just tried to get rid of it andmold is going to protect itself
if it thinks that it's beingdamaged.
It's going to releasemycotoxins.
So what ends up happening isyou've got all these mycotoxins
floating around in the air nowand they're going to make you
(08:04):
sick, like they're actually usedby the department of defense as
a chemical warfare againstother countries supposedly they
use them supposedly or theydon't use them, or we
Speaker 4 (08:15):
don't, we don't know, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's my guess, based upon stuff that I've heard
aflatoxin is so all right.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So, uh, mycotoxins basically it's chemical warfare
that molds produce to kill off,defend against other fungus or
whatever's around.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But it's against other molds mainly.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I believe Not, that they really think this out.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So yeah, if you've got more than one mold type in
an environment, you've gotmycotoxins.
It's almost guaranteed, becausethey're going to be competing
against each other for thatspace.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
they each want to be the one that survives as opposed
to right up against each otherright so like yeah, so like if
you do a swab and the swab comesback with two different types
of mold.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Nine times out of ten you're you're gonna have
mycotoxins would maybe lowlevels.
All depends how much how longit's been what's been on?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Did somebody try wiping that mold off before and
didn't kill it?
And now it's like, hey, I'mreally being physically harmed
here.
I need to produce moremycotoxins.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I've got to do more of this.
I've got to step up myprotection.
I've got to step up my game.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
So, and unfortunately , there's a lot of mold
mutilation companies that do notwant to deal with mycotoxins,
or even pretend that they knowwhat it is.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Or even deal with sensitized people.
I called one company and theguy told me that he doesn't want
to deal with people that aresensitized because they're crazy
, and he's like I can't get towhere they're happy.
He's like I just don't evendeal with them.
He walks.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
There are some people like that.
We talked to somebody like aweek or so ago, who does not
want to listen to proper testingprotocols, what they are, and
there's nothing we could do tochange her mind for that lady.
I think she wants to have aproblem with the house and move
out instead of fixing her issue.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's a different lady than the one.
We started off talking withthat lady actually knew there
was mold in a specific area andhas not had it remediated in a
month.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Which you know if you're sick and you're saying
that it's mold.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Again, I do not want to deal with her.
I'm like listen, if you reallywant to be healthy and take care
of your house, you would havetaken care of this in the first
place and you would listen to uswith the protocol instead of
doing that bullshit.
Test that you're listening tothat we've told you is bullshit.
We've told you, a doctor hastold you that, and you just
don't want to listen.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
We can't help you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Nope right, we can't help you.
Nope well, and I guarantee youher husband didn't tell her
anything about my conversationwith the microbiologist because
I'm I'm sure at that point shewould have just gone off on him
based on her reaction to us.
Like I, I tried explaining verynicely about that test and she
just shut down I don't believein it, I don't believe in this,
(11:07):
I don't.
But okay, that's, that's yourprerogative and I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, we're not gonna waste, we're not gonna waste
our time with it if you don'tlisten, we can't.
It's like a doctor, a patientgoes in doctor.
Hey, I got, I got, I broke myarm and they don't want to put
once.
You put a splint on it and Iwant to repair my like.
You're not gonna listen, justjust go, you're wasting time.
Somebody else, somebody elsevalue, who was actual listening,
(11:33):
can be in there instead.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So, yeah, this, this couple that we're doing the
testing the new build, the newbuild brand like not even lived
in yet, like it's not evenfinished being built yet and
they're having these problems.
So we'll probably go in sunday,we'll do the testing and then
we'll do a follow-up episode totalk about what we found,
because I'm also doing mycotoxintesting for her.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Oh, good Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So I figure I'll see what I can come up with.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
And this person.
They have a child, that is.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So they have a form of muscular dystrophy.
I think it was musculardystrophy, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
There's some kind of health issue with the kid, yeah,
which means mold is going toaffect them more.
We know there are studies thatshow mold do affect kids with
autism as well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So we'll see, we'll go there Sunday, we'll do the
test, so we'll have a follow-uppodcast on that, but yeah,
Muscular dystrophy Okay.
So even new houses should getinspected, and I don't know why.
If you are a home builder andyou're listening to this dude, I
would totally upsell my clientswith hey, if you want, I will
(12:53):
do a pretreatment to kill moldsto kill molds and on all of your
like trusses, all of the woodthat sits outside, all of the
wood inside and and just upsell.
That here's how I would do.
I say, once we get this in andyou could offer it for free.
Of course you're probably gonnabill for it somewhere in the
(13:15):
whole process, but you can offeras an upsell.
You know, hey, we will fog.
Then, once the framing's on, asweathered in, we will fog it
with, uh, an antifungal to killall the the molds that that are
around.
That is not a hard thing to do,it's really not.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You and I could go around fogging new houses oh, I
would be happy to do that, wouldyou really?
I?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
don't know if I'd want to do that, but anyway.
But we could.
It's not hard to do.
We actually have the equipmentto do that.
But if I was a builder dude Iwould totally do that, because
all the other competition areputting their heads in the sand
and not listen to things.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, and part of all of those classes that I'm
starting to do with Normie one.
So like they're looking at likeuniversities, they're looking
at new builds, they're lookingat a bunch of other institutions
and things where they'restarting to try to change how it
(14:15):
happens.
So, like new builds, like Iknow down south they're trying
to work really hard withbuilders to have them pre treat
things so that the wood doesn'tget moldy.
They're trying to have likedifferent building processes.
Like there's a book that theone guy wrote building a mold
free house, and so like some ofthe things they're talking about
(14:37):
now, you know, like differentways to do the attic, different
ways to do this, different waysto do that to cut down on the
possibility of mold in the housefor people.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Oh, you're talking about the fully insulated attic
spaces or ventless attic spaces.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Ventless attic spaces and some of that other stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
I'm not 100% sold on those because there's some, even
if they're done correctly.
There can be issues down theroad with that, but if you're
buying a new build or having anew house built, I would.
Here's what I did in our house.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Now, I did not have to sneak in because we owned
everything here as it was beingbuilt.
We owned it already.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And we were here every week built we.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
we owned it already and we were here every week
because I came in and Ipre-treated everything that was,
uh, I don't know, the lower twofeet yeah onto the slab with uh
was it borate?
Oh, what did I do?
Boric boric acid bor here Boricacid Borate.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
No, Timbor Tim yes.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Timbor was borate to help prevent wood-destroying
insects.
Yes, so that's all been treated.
I also put diatomaceous earthinside between the studs and
behind where the kitchen cabinet.
The kitchen cabinets were in.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I put the top on.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I sprinkled the diatomaceous earth behind there.
That will kill insects right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
What it does is it cuts their exoskeleton and they
end up dehydrating and die.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yes, so I pre-treated the house for a couple of
different things.
But, man, if I was building ahouse and builder wouldn't do
that, I would totally sneak inand do it myself, at least the
borate.
Yeah, a 10 bore you you can dothat by yourself.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You can read the instructions on the on the tub
of it it's really easy you mixit with water and you spray it
and you call it good, like it'snot difficult to follow the
instructions.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Follow the instructions of course, but uh,
no, I would totally do that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But anyway, that's about it always get it inspected
and if you can have itinspected by habitation
investigation and if you needenvironmental testing done, let
us know, because we can do thattoo, and we'll come back with
the second part on this when weget the testing results back yes
, all right, bye-bye.
Bye.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
You've been listening to the Standing Out in Ohio
podcast.
Be sure to subscribe on Spotifyor Google podcasts to get new,
fresh episodes.
For more, please follow us onInstagram, Twitter and Facebook,
or visit the website of thebest Ohio Home Inspection
Company athomeinspectionsinohiocom or
jimtroffcom.
(17:22):
That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H andclick on podcast.
Until next time, learn and godo stuff.
Habitation investigation is the way to go
for a home inspection in Ohio.
Trusted licensed homeinspectors for your needs from
radon to mold to warranties, fora great home inspection, you
really can't go wrong.
(00:21):
Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Stand Out Ohio
podcast.
Jim and Laura here.
Laura's looking confused.
She thought we're done.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I did.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We're doing one more so when you hear a brand new
house, what do you think thatcondition of the house is going
to be?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
perfect.
Everything immaculate,everything spotless.
No messed up paint.
No messed up joists.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Everything, no mold nope, no, it should be perfect.
Should be perfect because yougot county city guys checking
this thing out.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Depending where you're at, sometimes there are
no county guys working yeah,there are a couple of counties
in ohio that do not have peoplethat come in and look at houses,
vincent county being one ofthem so we got a call, or maybe
I should say you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You got a call from, I think she called environmental
consultants of ohio yeah, shedid.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
She called environmental consultants.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
She found me online which the company laura started.
That does primarily uh indoorair quality testing.
So you look for environmentaltesting mold uh vocs microtoxins
formaldehyde microtoxins anyany indoor air quality test you
got somebody who's getting sickin the house and they want to
(01:42):
know why.
Call laura environmentalconsultants of ohio and we can
run some tests and narrow downwhat's going on yep, narrow down
and then actually help.
You know how to take care ofthe situation, but you need to
know what it is first.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So anyway, so I got a call, so go ahead, and they are
building a house and I will notsay who the builder is, and she
sent me pictures of moldcurtains that were in her
basement.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Okay, wait, wait, mold and curtains are kind of
like a weird description.
So what did that look like?
I saw it.
But what for the listeners?
For the listeners, you know.
What did that look like?
I saw it, but what for for thelisteners?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
for the listeners um.
You know what spanish mosslooks like, how it dangles from
the trees yeah, down florida andgeorgia that's how the mold
curtains look, not quite as bigas the spanish moss but very
similar in the style where itwas dangling down.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Where was that located?
In the house it?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
was in the basement underneath this.
Well, in underneath the stairswas a big spot, and then there
are some other areas down in thebasement that were having
issues.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
All right, so we know mold.
Well, there are no mold freespaces right.
Not naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And, unlike what they say in Clark County, there's a
story behind that one but anyway, there are no naturally
occurred uh, naturally occurringmold free spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So you no bill's gonna have a thing that's
completely no mold sportfloating around, right?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
because you're gonna walk in and out, you You're
going to have mold attached toyou, to your shoes, to whatever.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Just wafting into the wind, the windows, but when the
builder or somebodysubcontractor, doesn't matter
who has standing water in thereand they don't dry it out and
they unplug the sump pump.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And then they turn on the HVAC and let it blow
through the whole freaking house.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Which is gonna, as their spores floating about, is
gonna distribute them throughoutthe entire house?
Yes, it's on the builder.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Has some issues.
So we went out there.
We're out there with another ofthe mold company mold
remediation companies justbecause they the couple buying
the house paid you to go outthere and consult with them,
because they needed informationon how to help deal with this.
Because you can do justconsulting for people.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And you can also write the protocol.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
For mold remediation companies to follow, or you can
just verify and make sure theyare doing things properly.
The builder did not want to usethe mold remediation company
that the buyers used Wanted.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Their excuse for that .
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Because they had their own company, they had
their own company.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That apparently sucks , because I didn't like their
remediation protocol at all.
But not only that, but theysaid that this couple doesn't
own the house yet, in spite ofthe fact that they put $33,000
deposit down on it.
They don't own the house yetand so they had no say in.
Who did the remediation?
So this company comes in in.
Who did the remediation?
So this company comes in.
This company does thisremediation.
(05:11):
So now we may potentially begoing back out Sunday to do
testing.
Apparently they're going to beworking in it Saturday up until
seven o'clock at night, so wewould be able to go in Sunday
sometime during the afternoonand test.
I also would like to test formycotoxins because I'm curious
(05:32):
to see if they killed the moldprior to actually trying to
remediate, because if not, thenthey've just created a whole
other issue yes, in this house.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
After they treated it , did the, the client, the buyer
sent me more pictures of moldso, so there's, so are there,
still there, there.
There's new growth, or is thisthe old stuff still there?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I think-.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Or it could be a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I think it's a little bit of both.
Let me see.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
So it makes me Because.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I'm actually.
She's actually texting me aswe're doing this.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh, she is Interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So see the walls on the basement.
I don't think that was likethat when we were down there.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
No, I do not remember seeing that.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, I think it's new.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I can't tell if that's a new spot or not.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think that wall is a new spot.
I don't remember seeing thebrick look that bad.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So all right.
This definitely shows that notall remediation companies do
things correctly, as they should.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So here's the thing about it Mold testing, mold
remediation and the knowledge ofmycotoxins.
And dealing with people thatare sensitized is like changing
on a weekly basis.
Like I'm I I've got stuff sentto me from normie weekly that I
(06:57):
could be in in differentmeetings on, so like the last
couple weeks I've been on one.
There's a gentleman who is um.
He's been doing research onmold and genetics for like years
.
At this point, Apparently,there's a specific gene that if
you have this gene activated,you're going to be more
(07:18):
sensitive to mold.
So like he's been doing studieslike that and so now he's
working with Normie to help themlearn about um, like how to
help take care of people thatare sensitized.
So instead of just going in anddoing like a typical mold
remediation, like they have been, you know you come in, you do
your testing.
After that, everything's fine,there's no mold, but people are
(07:41):
still getting sick and they'regetting sicker and sicker
Because what happened is thatinstead of killing the mold
before they touched it or beforethey tried to get of it, they
just tried to get rid of it andmold is going to protect itself
if it thinks that it's beingdamaged.
It's going to releasemycotoxins.
So what ends up happening isyou've got all these mycotoxins
floating around in the air nowand they're going to make you
(08:04):
sick, like they're actually usedby the department of defense as
a chemical warfare againstother countries supposedly they
use them supposedly or theydon't use them, or we
Speaker 4 (08:15):
don't, we don't know, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's my guess, based upon stuff that I've heard
aflatoxin is so all right.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So, uh, mycotoxins basically it's chemical warfare
that molds produce to kill off,defend against other fungus or
whatever's around.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But it's against other molds mainly.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I believe Not, that they really think this out.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So yeah, if you've got more than one mold type in
an environment, you've gotmycotoxins.
It's almost guaranteed, becausethey're going to be competing
against each other for thatspace.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
they each want to be the one that survives as opposed
to right up against each otherright so like yeah, so like if
you do a swab and the swab comesback with two different types
of mold.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Nine times out of ten you're you're gonna have
mycotoxins would maybe lowlevels.
All depends how much how longit's been what's been on?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Did somebody try wiping that mold off before and
didn't kill it?
And now it's like, hey, I'mreally being physically harmed
here.
I need to produce moremycotoxins.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I've got to do more of this.
I've got to step up myprotection.
I've got to step up my game.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
So, and unfortunately , there's a lot of mold
mutilation companies that do notwant to deal with mycotoxins,
or even pretend that they knowwhat it is.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Or even deal with sensitized people.
I called one company and theguy told me that he doesn't want
to deal with people that aresensitized because they're crazy
, and he's like I can't get towhere they're happy.
He's like I just don't evendeal with them.
He walks.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
There are some people like that.
We talked to somebody like aweek or so ago, who does not
want to listen to proper testingprotocols, what they are, and
there's nothing we could do tochange her mind for that lady.
I think she wants to have aproblem with the house and move
out instead of fixing her issue.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's a different lady than the one.
We started off talking withthat lady actually knew there
was mold in a specific area andhas not had it remediated in a
month.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Which you know if you're sick and you're saying
that it's mold.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Again, I do not want to deal with her.
I'm like listen, if you reallywant to be healthy and take care
of your house, you would havetaken care of this in the first
place and you would listen to uswith the protocol instead of
doing that bullshit.
Test that you're listening tothat we've told you is bullshit.
We've told you, a doctor hastold you that, and you just
don't want to listen.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
We can't help you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Nope right, we can't help you.
Nope well, and I guarantee youher husband didn't tell her
anything about my conversationwith the microbiologist because
I'm I'm sure at that point shewould have just gone off on him
based on her reaction to us.
Like I, I tried explaining verynicely about that test and she
just shut down I don't believein it, I don't believe in this,
(11:07):
I don't.
But okay, that's, that's yourprerogative and I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, we're not gonna waste, we're not gonna waste
our time with it if you don'tlisten, we can't.
It's like a doctor, a patientgoes in doctor.
Hey, I got, I got, I broke myarm and they don't want to put
once.
You put a splint on it and Iwant to repair my like.
You're not gonna listen, justjust go, you're wasting time.
Somebody else, somebody elsevalue, who was actual listening,
(11:33):
can be in there instead.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So, yeah, this, this couple that we're doing the
testing the new build, the newbuild brand like not even lived
in yet, like it's not evenfinished being built yet and
they're having these problems.
So we'll probably go in sunday,we'll do the testing and then
we'll do a follow-up episode totalk about what we found,
because I'm also doing mycotoxintesting for her.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Oh, good Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So I figure I'll see what I can come up with.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
And this person.
They have a child, that is.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So they have a form of muscular dystrophy.
I think it was musculardystrophy, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
There's some kind of health issue with the kid, yeah,
which means mold is going toaffect them more.
We know there are studies thatshow mold do affect kids with
autism as well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So we'll see, we'll go there Sunday, we'll do the
test, so we'll have a follow-uppodcast on that, but yeah,
Muscular dystrophy Okay.
So even new houses should getinspected, and I don't know why.
If you are a home builder andyou're listening to this dude, I
would totally upsell my clientswith hey, if you want, I will
(12:53):
do a pretreatment to kill moldsto kill molds and on all of your
like trusses, all of the woodthat sits outside, all of the
wood inside and and just upsell.
That here's how I would do.
I say, once we get this in andyou could offer it for free.
Of course you're probably gonnabill for it somewhere in the
(13:15):
whole process, but you can offeras an upsell.
You know, hey, we will fog.
Then, once the framing's on, asweathered in, we will fog it
with, uh, an antifungal to killall the the molds that that are
around.
That is not a hard thing to do,it's really not.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You and I could go around fogging new houses oh, I
would be happy to do that, wouldyou really?
I?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
don't know if I'd want to do that, but anyway.
But we could.
It's not hard to do.
We actually have the equipmentto do that.
But if I was a builder dude Iwould totally do that, because
all the other competition areputting their heads in the sand
and not listen to things.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, and part of all of those classes that I'm
starting to do with Normie one.
So like they're looking at likeuniversities, they're looking
at new builds, they're lookingat a bunch of other institutions
and things where they'restarting to try to change how it
(14:15):
happens.
So, like new builds, like Iknow down south they're trying
to work really hard withbuilders to have them pre treat
things so that the wood doesn'tget moldy.
They're trying to have likedifferent building processes.
Like there's a book that theone guy wrote building a mold
free house, and so like some ofthe things they're talking about
(14:37):
now, you know, like differentways to do the attic, different
ways to do this, different waysto do that to cut down on the
possibility of mold in the housefor people.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Oh, you're talking about the fully insulated attic
spaces or ventless attic spaces.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Ventless attic spaces and some of that other stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
I'm not 100% sold on those because there's some, even
if they're done correctly.
There can be issues down theroad with that, but if you're
buying a new build or having anew house built, I would.
Here's what I did in our house.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Now, I did not have to sneak in because we owned
everything here as it was beingbuilt.
We owned it already.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And we were here every week built we.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
we owned it already and we were here every week
because I came in and Ipre-treated everything that was,
uh, I don't know, the lower twofeet yeah onto the slab with uh
was it borate?
Oh, what did I do?
Boric boric acid bor here Boricacid Borate.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
No, Timbor Tim yes.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Timbor was borate to help prevent wood-destroying
insects.
Yes, so that's all been treated.
I also put diatomaceous earthinside between the studs and
behind where the kitchen cabinet.
The kitchen cabinets were in.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I put the top on.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I sprinkled the diatomaceous earth behind there.
That will kill insects right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
What it does is it cuts their exoskeleton and they
end up dehydrating and die.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yes, so I pre-treated the house for a couple of
different things.
But, man, if I was building ahouse and builder wouldn't do
that, I would totally sneak inand do it myself, at least the
borate.
Yeah, a 10 bore you you can dothat by yourself.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You can read the instructions on the on the tub
of it it's really easy you mixit with water and you spray it
and you call it good, like it'snot difficult to follow the
instructions.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Follow the instructions of course, but uh,
no, I would totally do that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But anyway, that's about it always get it inspected
and if you can have itinspected by habitation
investigation and if you needenvironmental testing done, let
us know, because we can do thattoo, and we'll come back with
the second part on this when weget the testing results back yes
, all right, bye-bye.
Bye.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
You've been listening to the Standing Out in Ohio
podcast.
Be sure to subscribe on Spotifyor Google podcasts to get new,
fresh episodes.
For more, please follow us onInstagram, Twitter and Facebook,
or visit the website of thebest Ohio Home Inspection
Company athomeinspectionsinohiocom or
jimtroffcom.
(17:22):
That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H andclick on podcast.
Until next time, learn and godo stuff.
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