I agree it is a HUGE DEAL! I lived it and it was horrible!!
This is where all this mold testing and clean environment is so frustrating! I am told that an ERMI is the standard and then someone else says to test a different way and that it is the only reliable test. If money were no object I would use every test out there because I know how sick the environment can make me because I have experienced it first hand.
A good friend of mine has a beautiful house and it was about 4 years old when they went to have carpet replaced just for the purpose of decorating. Under the carpet was all this mold. There were no signs or smells. They moved out of the house and went through several mold specialists. They found a die hard industrial hygienist who knew of Eric the mold warrior and Dr. Shoemaker and was diligent that every bit of mold was cleared from her house. My friend and her husband and 2 kids had to move out for over a year as they would rip apart walls and floors and mold readings would remain high. They threw away most of their stuff and cleaned things (I know this is controversial) that were non porous with appropriate mold cleaners.
Finally the mold levels inside went to safe or whatever standards make a place clean. The family finally returned to the house. There were so many over the top measures taken because my friend did not want her kids exposed. They had the money to do it and insurance was covering it as well. There home owners insurance is ridiculous now!
About 6 months after they moved back in the industrial hygienist came back and tested at my friends request. Levels came back high in the kitchen although they had never been high in the kitchen before. The whole family was exhausted from moving out and finally back home that they chose to stay there and test again a month later. Mold was back down with the exact same test a month later. They did nothing to clear it between the two testing times and used the exact same testing.
The industrial hygienist said she sees this often. Although she tests the outside and compares to the inside, she believes that mold from outside gets into the house more during certain times. She even said you do the best you can but nothing is totally reliable.
My point is that although I believe that a clean air environment is optimal and we should all strive for it but its just not that easy and cut and dry. I also am engaged to a ridiculously healthy man. He is understanding to a point. Trying to convince him to spend hundreds or thousands on testing is nearly impossible. I certainly don't have it without his help.
Without a doubt I believe in the Mycotoxin theory. That is why I am doing Brewers protocol. When I lived in the condo and became so horribly sick nothing helped me either. Even supplements made me sick. These same things I take now and they do help me. I know I am at least in a cleaner environment than I was!
Its all so difficult to pull together! I truly would do extreme avoidance if it were at all possible. It is not!
It is definitely frustrating to try and get solid answers on how to evaluate a dwelling. When I went through the process I spent countless hours, wasted a lot of money and eventually go a result I felt was the best I could do given the state of the science. I do feel I learned a few things along the way.
I think the ERMI test is the most worthwhile test. You can now do it with EMSL for $165. If the DNA of a particular mold is present there really is no debate about the existence of that particular mold. One can debate about the quantity of a particular mold and how significant that is, but you at least know some of that type is there. The report tells you how your home compares to other homes across the country. Again, there is room for debate but I think it is very useful information. It is informative how precisely my family's mycotoxin tests aligned with the harmful molds identified in the ERMI.
The most common test done by companies in the mold business is the Spore Trap Analysis. This is an air test done with a vacuum. The technician turns it on, air is sucked in, and mold spores are collected, at least one indoor and one outdoor. This information is sent to the lab where it is viewed under a microscope. What you get is a comparison of indoor mold spores to whole outdoor mold spores. It does not identify a lot of other important things like mold fragments, mycotoxins or mold that is not airborne. Stachybotrys chartarum, for example, is rarely airborne and is very unlikely to show up on an air test but is a very dangerous mold to be present in a dwelling. Stachybotrys was identified in my ERMI test but not the spore trap test.
I think the spore trap test provides useful information in that it shows shows indoor mold production. If the numbers are higher inside than outside it suggests that mold is growing inside the house. In our case we tested outside and three levels of our home inside. The test showed higher counts as you progress downward toward the basement, suggesting mold production in the basement. Of course you can do nothing about the outdoor mold, other than to filter it when it does get inside, but if you have indoor production, you can do something about it.
Regardless of whether you can test or not, there are a number of steps one can take to determine if there is mold growing inside the house. First you can get an inspection. I had a number of inspections done to my house and they came up with nothing. A lot of companies will do a visual inspection for free. Maybe they will try to sell you something, but you don't have to buy it. The more people that look, the more likely they will find something.
You can go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a moisture meter. It is a handheld device with two prongs. This is generally used in construction to see if something (like mortar) has dried out. It is not as sophisticated as one that would be used by an industrial hygienist, but it does work. I was all over my house with it. I didn't feel good at all at the time so I would do a room a day. I covered it inch by inch and found nothing.
I never did find actively growing mold, but I did find out that the humidity in my basement was too high. So the next thing that can be done inexpensively to buy a humidity gauge. I finally figured out that the reason my ERMI showed a high level of bad mold was that humidity in my basement was high enough to keep it growing. I had a mold problem years earlier that was fully remediated, but I had enough humidity in my basement to keep it growing . A dehumidifier was all I needed to deal with this issue. Now I always keep it below 50%. At this level mold cannot grow.
I spent quite a bit of money to have my house treated with TM-100. I realize not everyone can afford that, but I think we should all keep this in mind: In order to be permanently present, mold must be continuously grown. It may take a very long time for the mycotoxins to dissipate and for the mold and mold fragments to break down biologically, but if you eliminate moisture and humidity you are definitely taking positive long term steps.
There are a number of mold killing products out there including a number of products that are disbursed with foggers. One needs to be very cautious before using mold killing products because the product itself may be harmful. If you go to Amazon you will see reviews on several of them. I can only vouch for TM-100 based on my personal experience. Unfortunately for those on a limited budget, this product is used only by professionals. One intriguing possibility in my opinion is a product called EC3 which is sold by a number of vendors, including Amazon. This product was evaluated independently by RealTime Labs and found to be effective in eliminating mycotoxins. This does not necessarily mean it is an effective product at killing mold. The evaluation can be found at the following site:
This last time I did the treatment I didn't feel all that bad the next day. I did not wake up with the horrible headache and was not nearly as fatigued. I was even able to go to the gym again. I take this as a sign that I am ready to go to every other day.