Full Transcript Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome 0:00 Your genes hold the answers to your family's overall health. 0:04 I'm Dr. 0:05 Paula Kruppstadt, and on the Get to the Root with Hope for Healing podcast, I sit down with experts in genetics, functional medicine, 0:12 and family care to explore what's really going on beneath the surface so you can stop guessing and start healing. 0:20 From personalized insights to practical tools, we bring you whole family wellness that starts at the root. 0:27 Welcome to the Get to the Root podcast. 0:30 I'm your host, Dr. 0:30 Paula Krebstadt, and we have the privilege of having John Bode join us from the Mold Pros today. 0:37 So welcome, John. 0:38 Thank you. 0:40 Very glad to be here. 0:41 Yeah, so, you know, we're currently doing a series on autism and so many of our families that present to us their children and even adult patients with 0:55 autism or who are dealing with neurological challenges are found to have the genetic predisposition to not be able to remove certain toxins from their body, 1:08 but then they live in a water damaged home. 1:10 So even if they're not genetically predisposed, they're at risk. 1:14 So John, tell me about the mold pros, what your company is and what you guys do. 1:20 You bet, yeah, I'm happy to do that. 1:22 So the mold pros, as the name would suggest, we started out really mold myopic, posted on that, and we've actually grown over the years. 1:30 So we do a lot more than just mold. 1:32 We try to be the corollary between testing that you, as a practitioner, would provide for your patient. 1:38 We want to do the exact same thing for our clients inside the home. 1:41 For example, if you do testing for clinically for mitral toxins inside someone's person, through blood or urine or what have you, 1:50 then what's important to understand is where that build-in exposure is coming from. 1:54 So we go into the hole and actually do that type of testing. 1:57 That way, if you say, hey, we're presenting for over toxin A, we find that. 2:01 Well, where's it coming from? 2:03 We find it in the hole where we have penicillin been asked for gillis species.
What Mold Pros Does in the Home 2:06 So that's kind of what we do. 2:08 But we started out years ago, about 17 years ago, by basement in Kansas City or Orville Park, it would be more accurate. 2:15 And when we expanded, we had eight locations nationwide, just Posting primarily on healthy folks that have environmental illness or chronic inflammatory 2:24 response and those sorts of things. 2:26 Okay. 2:27 Thanks, John. 2:28 So what you just mentioned, chronic inflammatory response syndrome, that is something that we address here at Hope for Healing. 2:37 And so many of our children with autism have that, and it's putting all the pieces together. 2:44 So John, when we think about what's in a water damaged building, either a school, a home, a car, whatever, What all is in that microbial soup? 2:59 And can you talk about what's present in a water-damaged building? 3:03 Yeah, you bet. 3:04 We won't even take one step back. 3:06 Prior, I spoke at Dr. 3:09 Shoemaker's mold congress a few weeks ago, and I think I've done that a couple of times for him. 3:13 But we talk about water-damaged buildings, we're always talking about water-damaged buildings, and I think that creates a little bit of a misnomer. 3:21 I would like to change that vernacular to talk about maybe moisture affected buildings. 3:27 And there's a difference because people will say, I don't have a mold problem because I've never had a water leak or water damage or storm damage. 3:35 And you don't have to. 3:36 In fact, most of our work comes from zero fillings or dry loving moments that could thrive with just elevated humidity. 3:44 penicillium, aspergillus, and others, right? 3:48 So when we have these elevated humidity levels, let's say, or even water damage from leaks, then we get, obviously, mold growth can occur usually within 48 3:58 to 72 hours. 3:58 And there's about 300 species of molds that are capable of producing mold toxins or mycotoxins. 4:04 And just because they're capable, so we can have, say, for example, Stachybotrys starkrum, what most people call black mold. 4:12 And those molds that mold can't produce a group of mycotoxins called tricotoxin. 4:19 And so, but it takes the right environmental conditions, the right temperature, moisture, other microbial like bacteria and other molds, 4:28 other living organisms will determine whether that mold creates those mycotoxins and it's kind of defense mechanism, right? 4:35 And so you certainly have that there. 4:38 And what we're able to do is go in and test, okay, do we have mold elevations? 4:41 Yes or no.
Water-Damaged Buildings and Hidden Contaminants 4:42 And if so, do we have proxigenic or pathogenic molds? 4:45 That's a whole other level. 4:47 And then if so, are they producing mycotoxins? 4:49 And if so, which mycotoxins and at what levels? 4:52 But to your point earlier and the question earlier, there's something to do with bacteria. 4:56 And we know taelomycetes that is a group of bacteria that can often times grow water damage building. 5:02 So you have bacterial issues. 5:03 Bacteria produce endotoxins. 5:05 Sometimes it's not necessarily water damage or moisture-affected buildings, but we can have like formaldehydes or benzene and these chemical contaminants, 5:14 you know, based on how we build homes today or the products we have in our homes. 5:19 And so we can actually test for those as well, because those can have an impact, right, on someone's health. 5:24 So we can also look for those items as well. 5:28 Okay, that helps. 5:30 Now, as far as the humidity goes, when you're talking about humidity, what is the humidity level that is considered safer for people to have in their homes? 5:43 Yeah, we'll revert back to the EPA recommendations that says, ideally, you should keep your relative humidity between 30% and 50% inside of a home. 5:53 That's really important. 5:55 You mentioned one mold, stachybotrys chartarum. 6:00 But as far as what we call pathogenic or disease-causing or contributing mold, and you also said ochratoxin A. 6:10 So that's a mycotoxin that comes from a pathogenic mold. 6:18 What are the most common pathogenic molds that people need to be aware of? 6:26 Yeah. 6:28 Most, well, penicillin and aspergillin is just the most common that we find in the endostructure. 6:34 Because these molds don't really require a lot of moisture and thrive. 6:38 I live in Florida, but we have offices throughout. 6:42 And like I'm in our Kansas City office today, Kansas City gets fairly humid, springtime, summertime. 6:48 And then we also have an office in Arizona. 6:49 You think, okay, that's dry. 6:50 That's the desert. 6:51 So don't really have those issues there. 6:53 That's not the case. 6:54 Because when we have these man-made environments, you wind up getting a lot of that rely upon central heat and air, then you wind up getting elevation 7:02 of moisture that way as well. 7:03 But yeah, we find most commonly astrogillus and penicillium, the same types of bulbs that you may see growing on bread at the same genus of those bulbs. 7:13 Yeah. 7:14 And so. 7:15 And that bread's not stopping wet. 7:17 It's just a little moist, right? 7:18 Hopefully. 7:20 So anyway, it doesn't take much for the clothes to thrive. 7:23 So that's what we see most often. 7:25 Okay. 7:26 Now, so a lot of times we ask people to check their homes using a tool, a screening tool that's actually a Swiffer cloth. 7:38 And, you know, when we're talking to folks, we're just like, this is just a tool. 7:43 We have to look at the whole picture of what's going on. 7:47 So when we talk about endotoxins, Can you break that down a little bit more? 7:52 And if somebody's dust collection came back high for endotoxins, what do they need to do then? 8:00 So a little bit different. 8:03 That's a great question. 8:04 Endotoxins come from bacteria, and that can be a little bit different issue than opposed to having a mold issue. 8:11 We find oftentimes homes that have small children or pets inside oftentimes will have a lot more bacteria when we sample and therefore more endotoxins
Humidity, Common Molds, and Endotoxins 8:22 as well. 8:23 We treat those in a sanitization protocol to actually so a little bit different from or a mold situation we'll use an enzyme and botanical based approach 8:34 specifically designed for the mold. 8:35 When we get those bacteria issues then we're going to use a botanical that's EPA registered to address the bacterial situation and treat and therefore 8:46 address the endotoxin and the bacteriopoxin situation as well. 8:50 So a little bit different approach, much the same methodology when we treat, but just different products that we use. 8:55 That answers that question. 8:57 Yes. 8:57 Yes, it does. 8:58 So, you know, I found it interesting what you were saying. 9:01 I just learned something new whenever we talk about this. 9:04 So aspergillus species is more what you were saying, more of like thrives in drier climate. 9:13 But as far as like when you look into water, well, in a home that the levels come back too high, say aspergillus penicilloides or aspergillus, 9:24 I believe, versicolor, when those come back high, where are some of the places that people could look in their home where those might be an offender? 9:34 Again, another great question. 9:37 Those molds are really much more difficult to determine. 9:41 If we think of, I use the analogy of like a dandelion seed pod. 9:45 So these molds, they get mycelial structure or kind of like a mold colony. 9:50 They'll create these little spore formations or just like a dandelion seed pod. 9:55 As a kid, we all went around and blew those seeds everywhere and you know, made our lawns in our neighbor's lawns filled with dandelions. 10:02 Those molds do exactly the same thing. 10:04 They're very light. 10:05 The air is utilized very easily when they spore late. 10:09 And so you can get sucked up into an HVAC system and spread throughout the house. 10:13 And remember, they don't require a lot of moisture to thrive. 10:17 And so they can be, the answer to the question is really just about anywhere. 10:22 We always start with the HVAC as well. 10:25 That's a good place to start. 10:26 And then a good inspection throughout the home. 10:29 They're generally lighter colored when they grow. 10:32 And so light gray, whitish, light greenish, pinkish, yellowish. 10:38 And so when we have mostly lighter walls inside of our home, it can be a little difficult to see those smaller colonies, 10:46 but just a really thorough inspection with a good inspector can help identify some of those good laboratory data. 10:52 Okay. 10:52 Here's another thing I wanted to ask you is that, you know, sometimes you smell musty smells and, you know, what is the difference between, 11:03 most of the time we think that's mold, but when we smell musty smells, what does that tell us about what we're sniffing? 11:13 What is that? 11:14 Yeah. 11:15 So certain molds, And even as to our parents, we know you have an input, there's always an output. 11:22 And every living organism, molds are no different. 11:25 And so whenever we smell that musty, damp basement smell that we associate sometimes, generally that could be microbial volatile organic compounds. 11:34 So essentially it's the byproduct of molds feeding on a substrate, that's their outlet. 11:39 And so when you're going through and you're learning how to be an inspector, you always teach you in inspection 101 to start olfactory first, 11:51 do you smell things? 11:52 And so when we're talking with our clients, we oftentimes will ask them in areas of the home where you kind of smell the maloaders, 11:59 but that's a good indicator. 12:00 And there's tests that we can perform to determine if we have microbial, volatile organic compounds and other volatile organic compounds inside of them. 12:09 Yeah, I appreciate you kind of breaking that down. 12:13 I've been told that geosmin is something that more bacteria make in a water damage structure. 12:21 And for you, what is the verbiage that you use again, instead of WDB water damage building, you said? 12:29 Moisture effect in buildings. 12:31 Moisture. 12:34 I've been on a crusade. 12:36 to try to get folks to change that perception a little bit because it doesn't have to be water damage, so to speak. 12:43 Yeah, just moisture-affected. 12:45 Moisture-affected. 12:47 All right. 12:47 Now, John, you're not an indoor environmental professional, or are you? 12:54 Have you gone through all that training too? 12:57 I have, absolutely. 12:58 I'm licensed and certified as a mold assessor, as well as licensed and certified as a load remediation.
Finding Mold in the HVAC and Home Inspection 13:07 Well, I really love to hear that. 13:10 Would you explain to our audience what the difference is between an indoor environmental professional and then someone who heads up remediation? 13:21 Because as, again, once again, If we have families test and their numbers come back too high, then they need to know how to move forward and they need 13:33 to be able to talk intelligently. 13:35 And we'll come back to, you said looking at the HVAC is really important. 13:41 So after the indoor environmental professional versus a remediator, I think that's the next place we'll go, what we are looking for in the HVAC. 13:50 Yeah. 13:54 always encourage individuals to make really data-driven decisions. 13:58 And that's where getting a good assessor that understands environmental illness, some don't even understand what microtoxins or research or and those other 14:09 things are, and so they're kind of standard. 14:12 We call them pump jockings. 14:13 You come in, they grab an air sample, they're in and out in 30 minutes, and that's not what you want. 14:18 But a good assessor is someone who comes in and does several things. 14:25 A good inspection is going to tell you the what, the where, the why, and then lastly, the how. 14:32 And so what's there is that the bacterial issues, the fungal issues, mycopoxins, so on and so forth, That's where really good sampling and then you get 14:41 your clinical or laboratory data, which validates the issues that are going on or not going on in the home. 14:48 I think that oftentimes I see people making big life decisions on that data and assuming they don't have a problem when they do, 14:58 the assessor didn't uncover it. 14:59 And that's probably all too common, unfortunately. 15:02 But so the what is going to be the contaminants, the where, that's where that good visual inspection comes in. 15:08 And it's looking underneath states, looking in attics, looking in for markets that have basements and crawl spaces. 15:16 Those are really high risk areas. 15:18 Looking in laundry rings, et cetera, all those wet areas. 15:21 Looking at the exterior of the home as well, because that can lead to a lot of interior moisture issues. 15:27 So the what, the where, and then the why. 15:30 So that's where a good sensor is going to have some really good sophisticated equipment. 15:35 We use infrared thermography to help scan the home to find, it doesn't tell us that there's moisture or mold there, but it will tell us that there's thermal anomalies, 15:44 which therefore could be the good for moisture and could be kind of really the problem. 15:49 So we use some of that. 15:50 We use IR cameras, moisture meters. 15:53 You have to measure relative humidity as we talked about how important that is. 15:56 And so you have a good hygrometer. 15:59 is important. 16:00 And then we also have tools like borescopes that help us look inside of walls and areas that you can't readily see. 16:06 And so that's some of the tools that a good assessor is going to use. 16:10 And the last thing is the how. 16:11 Okay, so now we've got all the laboratory data back. 16:14 We understand why we think it may be there. 16:16 We understand where it's wonder needs to be treated. 16:20 Sometimes it's the whole house, sometimes it's not. 16:22 And then it's, okay, so how do we return the home to a normal fungal ecology? 16:26 So it's a better living environment for those people living there. 16:31 So that's what a good assessment does. 16:33 Long answer to a very short question, but I thought it was important to kind of dig down deep in that. 16:38 Very much so. 16:40 I hear you saying that basically a good assessor is using their senses, their smell, visual inspection, and then some of these tools that you use like thermography, 16:52 IR, infrared. 16:55 How much equipment is this? 16:56 Is this stuff you can easily carry around? 17:00 So if we're priming a family to have an indoor environmental professional come into their house, what's the person bringing with them and about how long 17:11 are they going to be there? 17:12 I mean, that's going to vary on the damage, right, or what they find. 17:17 But what should they expect when they walk, when a good assessor walks into their home and they've already done a little bit of screening, 17:25 like, do you know what SIRS is? 17:28 And they're like, yes, we do. 17:30 So how long and equipment, like how big is this stuff? 17:38 Yeah. 17:39 So the equipment, it's all handheld equipment, but it's pretty expensive equipment. 17:44 So when you roll in as necessary, you have thousands of dollars worth of equipment. 17:50 You want to make sure you're using good quality commercial industry standard equipment, not something as fortunate as you run down to the big box lumber 18:00 store and pick up, right? 18:02 Because you're making, you want to, again, make really good data grid decisions. 18:06 So the equipment can be substantial. 18:10 And then we always try to give or take about an hour per thousand square feet. 18:16 So if we have a 4,000 square foot home, that inspection is going to take roughly about four hours to properly assess the home. 18:25 Okay. 18:25 Say more, take a little bit less, but yeah. 18:28 That really helps. 18:30 Now you mentioned something before we jump into the air conditioning system. 18:34 You said that a lot of people just are in and out and they take an air sample. 18:39 So can you explain to me what that means? 18:42 Like it's called sport trap testing, right? 18:45 That's right. 18:46 Sport trap or bio aerosol testing. 18:48 And it kind of gets a little bit of a bad rap only in that we have these ponds that come in and that's all they do. 18:55 That's only that That data is a snapshot of time at the time of the inspection. 19:01 And so there's value in it. 19:04 So it's going to be without getting too bold nerdy on it. 19:08 So we're going to test out a genus level. 19:12 And so like they'll pick up all species of aspergillus, all species of penicillium, et cetera. 19:16 It goes on a little one up slide inside the air cassette. 19:20 And then that goes off to the lab to get analyzed. 19:23 It's also a really good tool if we have, we suspect it's been water damaged inside of a wall where there's an adapter so we can use that same aerosol cassette
Spore Trap Testing and Surface Sampling 19:33 or bio aerosol spore trap and you can drill a small hole in the wall and you can sample how much sample the air inside the wall cavity without unnecessarily 19:42 removing all the drywall. 19:43 And so it's a really good tool if used appropriately. 19:47 in a concert with other diagnostic analysis like PCO polymer chain reaction which gets down in the species level as you know. 19:57 Okay. 19:58 It's the standard mold test, really what it is. 20:01 Okay. 20:02 Okay. 20:03 So just to kind of summarize what you're saying, there's utility if you have water damage within a wall cavity and you want to know what's in there. 20:13 And then also, is that a good thing to use spore trap testing when you see visual mold to determine what that is? 20:22 Yeah, so that's where it's the same analytical methods going to be a lab analysis on a microscopic exam. 20:29 That's where they think that sample will be put underneath the microscope and look at it. 20:33 So you wouldn't take, if you see invisible mole, you should actually do a surface sample, whether that's preferably a tape sample or a swab if it's moist. 20:44 If it's moist, we can get it even with the tape. 20:46 And the reason why you would do that, again, not getting too moldy and I don't want to put all your listeners to sleep, but molds go through sporulation 20:56 cycles just like flowers go through blooming cycles. 20:58 And if you turn around and do an air sample, It may not capture that. 21:03 And plus, all molds aren't airborne molds. 21:05 And so, why it's viable data, it's not going to give... 21:09 Every sampling methodology or analytical test that you do for mold has its strengths and weaknesses. 21:15 If you have visible mold, surface that. 21:19 I'd like to thank Fagran Genomics for sponsoring our podcast. 21:24 Without knowing what your precision genetics are, you don't have a roadmap. 21:30 So please log on to our website, schedule a welcome call, and see what the Wellness Blueprint can do for you. 21:38 That's the premier and proprietary genetic panel that Fagran has allowed us to create. 21:44 Okay, that makes a lot of sense. 21:46 That makes a lot of sense. 21:48 Now, let's talk about the air conditioning system. 21:51 What should people know about their HVAC? 21:55 Yeah, a couple of things. 21:56 One, it's the lungs of your home. 21:59 And if we think of it in those terms, it is the biggest thing that can help you out with good indoor air quality. 22:07 It can also, if it's contaminated, be the worst thing for you. 22:11 It's going to spread those contaminants all throughout the structure and impact the air that you breathe. 22:15 And so, making sure they're serviced regularly is extremely important. 22:19 The EPA recommends getting high-efficiency filters, like a MERV in the RV 13 or 16 is what's recommended. 22:28 Consult your HVAC technician to find out what's best for your unit. 22:33 But most of us, myself included, have indoor air quality machines to help provide additional filtration. 22:40 The biggest lift you get is your HVAC system if you have a sensible heat and air system because it filters things out. 22:47 It also helps cool moisture out of the air. 22:49 So it really is an integral part of the indoor air quality in your home. 22:54 Okay, that helps, that helps. 22:56 So there's this thing in the air conditioner called the plenum. 23:00 Can you explain what that is to our listening audience? 23:03 Because as we're trying to pull this into autism, and we know more and more that the microbial toxic soup that our kids have been exposed to and we're
HVAC Systems, Plenums, and Air Quality 23:16 trying to get rid of these things in their lives. 23:20 And you mentioned microbial volatile organic compounds that are so small. 23:24 So what do they need to know about the plenum of their HVAC and what is it? 23:31 I kind of sometimes say it's like the hood of their car, you know, you lift it up, but just kind of break it down for folks. 23:39 Yeah, so when you have all the duct work, and then you have your air handler, which is the machine that has your coils in, 23:46 et cetera, and usually that's where your filter's in if you don't have any returns, but essentially it's the box that goes in and out of your air handler. 23:55 And so the ducts come in, from the home into the pletum. 24:01 The pletum is here, and then usually you have your filter here and then your air handler here, and then there's another pletum on the other side, 24:08 sending it back out. 24:09 Your HVAC system is a closed loop system, so it should all be contained. 24:15 And getting air change from other sources, like in the attic or crawl space or basement, et cetera, should all be contained. 24:23 Just think of that as kind of the bookends, so to speak, going into the air handler. 24:27 Maybe it's a good way of looking at it. 24:29 Okay, great. 24:30 All right. 24:31 Well, let me see here. 24:33 John, tell us about, you mentioned a botanical. 24:38 Talk to us about what the mold prose has developed as far as like when a person's trying to clean up either microtoxins or endotoxins in their home. 24:49 Yeah. 24:49 So I mentioned we kind of treat those a little bit differently. 24:52 We'll start with, it never made sense to us to treat a toxic situation with more toxins. 24:58 It seems pretty basic, but that's what the industry oftentimes does. 25:03 They use the biocide, which kills living organisms. 25:06 The challenge with that, Dr. 25:09 Paul, is that the EPA says even dead mold has health concerns. 25:13 And so even if you're using something that is less caustic than bleach, which a lot of Remediators bleach, and it's just awful. 25:24 Or they use hydrogen peroxide. 25:26 Or even something, sometimes, DYIers, we use bees oil or botanical. 25:31 So it may be less caustic, but kind of dead is dead. 25:34 And so you still have a dead mold there. 25:37 We use an enzyme approach, because enzymes act as a catalyst to rapidly biodegrade the cellular structure of the contaminant. 25:46 So that's our approach is going to use botanicals and enzymes for that reason and advanced filtration. 25:52 That's another piece of that puzzle, but using I guess more of a nature versus nature approach as opposed to come in and just kill it with some poisons 26:01 or toxins. 26:02 So basically mold or bacteria create mycotoxins or endotoxins. 26:10 And then there's an, and we know that those little dead crumbs and particles are active and they cause problems, but you have an enzymatic approach to 26:22 break these things down. 26:25 All right. 26:26 Then what kind of a cleanup takes place once you've used this enzymatic product? 26:32 Yeah, so we actually have a US patent on removing mycotoxins.
Enzymatic Mold and Toxin Remediation 26:38 We were awarded that patent years ago for removing mycotoxins from a structure and contents using enzymes and botanicals. 26:45 So it all starts, first things first is you have to make sure that we talked about moisture affected buildings. 26:52 You got to make sure that the moisture is gone before you do anything. 26:55 That's really critical. 26:57 So make sure your relative humidity is below 50%. Make sure whatever water leaks have been addressed, et cetera. 27:02 And then really, if you go to the EPA, they have a lot of really good information on mold abbreviation, but as you have to remove building materials that 27:10 can be effectively treated. 27:12 So if you can't effectively get it treated, if the drywall, it oftentimes has to come out and be removed and discarded accordingly and in the right conditions. 27:22 Then you go back and we layer that approach. 27:24 We're going to use atomization or fogging as part of the process. 27:28 It should never, in our opinion, be an entire process. 27:32 So we call the companies that come in and just spray a bunch of stuff and leave. 27:36 We call those the spray and pray people. 27:38 And we don't want to, we don't want to do that. 27:41 So we have the atomization process acts as the enzymatic air watch. 27:45 Then we have filtration and then that's really important. 27:48 Some of these particles are less than 0.3 microns and HEPA goes down to 0.3 microns, right? 27:54 It's 99.97% effective down to 0.3. Well, mycotoxins are much smaller than 0.3 microns. 28:02 A mold spores about that size. 28:04 So it's great for removing mold spores, but these spider contaminants will pass right through a HEPA filter. 28:10 And so we use an advanced type of filtration that's used in like lead abatement or hospital pain rooms, that kind of thing. 28:17 I guess now it's 99.99, 95% effect down to 0.1 microns. 28:22 So it's really, you gotta filter out those contaminants and then we use circus treat with an enzyme and botanical and that means actually treating by hand 28:33 the ceilings, the walls. 28:34 You can't forget the furnishings because they get exposed as well. 28:38 So you're either gonna try to treat them, you get to where they need to be or discard them and start from scratch. 28:45 And so hand treating all that is really important as well. 28:48 So your everyday person like me, we have access to a HEPA vacuum, but we don't have access to this advanced filtration that you're talking about. 29:00 So what can your everyday person do when you're trying to keep your home uber uber clean? 29:08 What do you do? 29:09 Is there anything available to clean the air in your home or to vacuum with if a HEPA filter, if those mycotoxins pass through it? 29:21 Yeah, great question. 29:23 So from a homeowner's perspective, I think there's a couple of things I would suggest. 29:28 One is make sure that the moisture, as we mentioned, make sure your moisture is fine. 29:33 If that's fine, then there's no problem. 29:35 There's no downstream, right? 29:36 Oh, there's no mycotoxins, et cetera. 29:39 But if we've already done that way to Pat, I have seen clients do, and we offer consultation services for folks that want to do a DIY mold remediation. 29:53 That's something that I've seen them do successfully. 29:55 It depends on the size of the contamination. 29:58 Obviously, they probably want to take into consideration their health, if they're hypersensitive. 30:03 Maybe it's not great for them to open up a wall and do the demo. 30:06 You know, that's more a decision somewhat that should be made with someone like yourself, their healthcare provider. 30:13 I've never seen in the last 17 years, someone do a DIY micro toxin remediation and be successful at it. 30:22 just because it's not an easy remediation because of the articulate that you're getting to is so much smaller. 30:30 It's almost at the gaseous level, so it gets everywhere. 30:33 You don't do partial microtoxic treatments inside of a home. 30:37 That is the big conundrum. 30:40 People think, well, I can do it. 30:41 I'm a contractor. 30:43 Or they don't know, and they open up something, and it goes everywhere. 30:47 So, John, a big problem is people will go through a remediation, but then they don't do what's called small particle remediation. 30:58 And can you just explain to our listening audience, because this is a big fat deal, such a big problem in people, what is small particle remediation? 31:10 You alluded to getting rid of furniture, those kinds of things, but can you break it down for someone who has no idea what the heck you're talking about? 31:19 Yeah, so your remediator hopefully can take care of all that for you and do both, you should not have to, in our opinion, 31:28 hire two different contractors to solve that problem. 31:31 Whenever you're doing remediation, if they're, like I said, water damage building materials that cannot be effectively treated, 31:38 you set up containment, all that has to come out, get removed, the wall carriers be treated, etc. 31:43 But then, all the stuff that's around they're not not where they'll get occurred as oftentimes these things aerosolized as we mentioned they get everywhere 31:52 and so you have to effectively treat the ceilings the dry the walls etc and that's with a combination of filtration and then it's combination of surface 32:04 treatments as well a damp wipe and then if you have tables you have mattress poultry items All that either has to be effectively treated or replaced. 32:16 So that's what that fine particulate is, is that wet surface treatments. 32:21 It's part of the atomization process, as we mentioned, and it's that filtration process. 32:26 Okay, so making sure the humidity is 50%, preferably lower than 50%, 30 to 50%, identifying where the challenges are, making sure that your plenum is clean.
DIY Cleanup, Small Particle Remediation, and New Homes 32:41 As you said, kind of the bookends of where air comes in, air goes out so that you're not spraying everyone and everything in the house with problems with these, 32:52 with mold. 32:52 There shouldn't be any microbial growth that's visible within the plenum, right? 32:59 And the coils as well inside the air handler, we see a lot of that. 33:02 It usually, that's past the filter. 33:04 So when you get growth inside the air handler, then it's just going straight back out into the ductwork, right? 33:11 So, yeah. 33:13 All right. 33:14 And then this whole small particle thing involves getting rid of things that are really, really porous and then literally wiping down all the surfaces 33:26 that could have these little crumbs of these teeny tiny little microbial products, either from bacteria or from Okay, excellent. 33:38 Well, John, thank you so much. 33:40 And then, you know, when we, again, so much data is being presented to people now, and especially with autism, and we just find, 33:53 I find that about 90 to 95% of the kids in our practice that present with autism that undiagnosed piece of a living within a water damaged home, 34:08 or maybe it was that abnormality was activated potentially in utero because the family lived in an apartment that was water damaged. 34:17 They moved into something new. 34:20 Oh, here's one more thing. 34:21 What about But when people say, well, I live in a brand new home, I don't see anything, I don't smell anything, what's your reply and how would you explain 34:33 to your average person, well, I live in a brand new home, so why it can't be water damage? 34:40 Can you explain? 34:41 Yeah. 34:41 Yeah. 34:42 We get that a lot. 34:43 I'm glad that you, uh, you asked that question. 34:45 All right. 34:46 We think about the most of our work actually isn't everything's about old dam buildings. 34:53 And that's not the majority of our work because it goes back to the energy crisis. 35:01 And instead of these, we change building codes, right? 35:03 And how we construct homes. 35:05 Our modern day homes are wrapped in Tyvek or plastic. 35:08 It'll breathe as well. 35:09 We're so reliant. 35:11 If we think about the HVAC system, that becomes a little manmade environment inside that home, right? 35:17 And then we're cooking, we're cleaning, we're running showers, all that increases moisture issues. 35:22 Well, our homes are so tight now that it has nowhere to go. 35:25 And then if it's brand new construction, drive by a construction site. 35:31 you have all your lumbers laying out at the side of the home as they were doing these production builds. 35:36 And so it's out exposed to the elements and then they bring it in and molds love cellulose material, right? 35:45 And so, yeah, most of the work, here's what I would tell them to answer the question in short, get data, always get data. 35:52 And so get good testing, understand whether your home's an older home or a newer home, We've done multi-billion dollar homes that have never been lived 36:00 in that were built with malls that had a severe mold problem. 36:04 So the age of the home really isn't indicative of what's going on necessarily. 36:09 You take the data. 36:11 I love hearing that. 36:12 Data and evidence is, people tell me all the time, and I'm like, you don't know what you don't know. 36:19 Everything looks great. 36:20 I can't smell anything. 36:21 I can't see anything. 36:22 But you have someone in your home that's not neurotypical and is not normal neurologically. 36:29 So let's see what we've got. 36:32 Thank you for unpacking that. 36:35 Well, John, where are the MoldPro offices and can you just break that down for our listening audience too? 36:45 Yeah. 36:45 Uh, so we have offices throughout the U S the only state that we do not work in presently is New York. 36:51 We have offices in Florida, Texas, and I mentioned I made them Kansas city today, Denver, Phoenix, Indianapolis. 37:00 I was in our Oregon office last week, but so we have locations throughout and we have teams that will mobilize. 37:06 We have an inspector network that's nationwide with exception to New York. 37:09 So yeah, if you go to our website, the underneath contact us. 37:14 then we can certainly get it taken care of and directed to the local office that's best suited to get out. 37:20 Fantastic. 37:21 John, thank you so much for your time. 37:23 And for our listening audience, remember that if your child has been diagnosed with autism, that you need to test your home. 37:36 And Don, we thank you because you're looking at this from the indoor environmental professional to the remediator side of the house and the uniqueness 37:45 of what the Mold Pros offers, this enzymatic, patented way of treating what is within a water damage structure or moisture affected environment. 38:00 Is that, yeah? 38:01 Okay. 38:02 It's going to take me time to get that. 38:04 So, all right. 38:05 Well, John, thank you so much. 38:07 I appreciate your time. 38:09 Is there any last thing that you would like to tell our listening audience, especially if their child or a family member has been affected by autism, 38:20 say seizures, or just, you know, they're not showing up neuro-typically? 38:26 Yeah, so I would like to leave, great, thank you for the opportunity to address that. 38:30 There's hope and don't be fearful, I think are the two things. 38:34 It's not always super, super expensive. 38:37 So you're, first of all, find out what you have with good science, good data.
Hope, Data, and Final Takeaways 38:43 that make a decision, a good radiation that's right size to the contamination. 38:47 But you get to the root of it. 38:49 And then it's, it's not, it's not always that scary. 38:54 I know it's the whole process people go through. 38:56 I see so many people who don't move forward because they don't want to know they're afraid and The ostrich approach doesn't always work well when we stick 39:04 our heads in the stands. 39:05 So just get good data, work with a good IEP slash remediator and a health care provider that can help identify in that everybody works together to come 39:16 up with a plan to get everybody on the road to wellness. 39:20 That would be my last employee, I guess. 39:23 Yeah, I really like those words of wisdom and experience. 39:27 You know, we don't function well when we come from a place of fear. 39:31 And there's always hope. 39:32 The name of our practice is Hope for Healing. 39:34 And the name of this podcast is Get to the Root. 39:37 So our website is GettotheRoot.com. 39:40 And one of our next podcasts is going to be a family who the parents readily admit they stuck their head in the sand for four years, 39:51 but now their daughter is by testing, she is no longer autistic because they got out of a moldy environment. 40:00 So I think we both are just resonating with that, that we want to lead with hope. 40:06 So, thanks for your time helping us to kind of geek out on what's lurking within a person's home could be driving their neurologic symptoms. 40:17 And it can show up anyway. 40:19 So, thanks for your expertise, John, and for teaching our listening audience. 40:25 And I learned a lot today, too. 40:26 So, thank you very much. 40:29 Thanks for having me. 40:29 Thanks for joining us at Get To The Root with Hope For Healing. 40:33 If this episode helped you, follow and share it with someone who needs it and leave a review. 40:39 It helps others find us too. 40:41 For a free consultation, visit our website at GetToTheRoot.com with a number two and schedule a welcome call. 40:49 We'll see you soon.
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