Odor Control News & Commentary

We humans have a lot more in common with molds than we realize.

1. Molds enjoy the same indoor temperatures that humans enjoy

2. Like humans they thrive in home environments that provide protection from intense direct ultra violet sunlight.

3. They share our taste in building materials, we like drywall and wood because they are affordable and convenient building materials, mold likes them because they are a great food source when wet.

4. Both humans and molds love modern plumbing, we love it when it works and mold loves it when it fails and starts to leak.

One thing that sets humans and mold apart is the fact that humans have seven layers of skin, each with its own structure and function, this skin keeps us from drying out. Mold on the other never got around to developing anything like skin to keep it from drying out when water and humidity are low. Mold did develop something called spores; these tiny prologues (seed like structures) can endure dry conditions for at least 20 years inside a wall for example.

The Problem

Provide uncontrolled moisture or humidity above 60 to 65% indoors and the dormant spores will start to sprout and you have a very hardy pet. Because mold can and often does grow in concealed areas you may not know you have mold, and this is the problem.

Molds reproduce through tiny spores and these spores are invisible to naked eyes. They float through air indoors and find their way into every nook and cranny of your home, even inside walls, behind cabinets, under crawl spaces, and into attics. One of molds favourite hiding places is inside AC units and ducts. When you install wall paper they sit on the wall as you cover the microscopic spore, and stay dormant under the wall paper till moisture enters the picture.

Hidden mold is more of a concern than visible mold because hidden mold and the moisture problem that caused it often go unnoticed and uncorrected for long periods of time.

The health Effects

Persons with asthma or allergy experience runny nose, watery or itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, breathing difficulties, rash on skin, and more. Sounds bad but not terrible you say? Give these symptoms a try day and night, night and day for a few years and tell me it is not terrible. Constant allergy is terrible all by itself, but allergy in turn will rob you of sleep, and may result in damaged mucus membranes that will in turn result in more colds and sinus infections, and in general make you miserable.

The solution

As hidden mold becomes worse and produces odor, or shows itself as visible mold spots, or results in increasing health problems, act immediately and call a mold testing company to send out a mold inspector. Also contact your doctor if illness is experienced.

Inspecting for hidden mold issues and finding the sometimes complex conditions that caused the mold takes a certified mold inspector about 2 classroom days to learn how to do it wrong, and it takes a trained and experienced mold investigator many years to learn how to do properly. Even for an experienced inspector it can be difficult or impossible to find all hidden mold. Detection of concealed problems is not only trickier than it sounds but it creates a risk of stirring up concealed mold spores. For example opening up drywall can expose a homeowner with asthma or allergy to heath problems related to a sudden exposure to high spore levels. Even when a non specialist does manage to find mold often much of it is still un discovered. If all the mold is discovered the task is still only ? of the way done; now you have to figure out why the mold started, without this knowledge you cannot address the root of the problem. Next a plan of action called a remediation protocol must be drawn up. Many mold inspectors do not provide this service for fear of making a mistake, this protocol is a complicated and detailed scope of work showing what must be done to properly and safely correct the problem without spreading contamination and without exposing workers to health risks associated with mold removal. Finally a separate mold remediation firm not finically connected to the inspectors firm must remove the mold.

During the inspection, the inspector may check the attic including areas under some insulation, the crawl space may be entered and inspected, the bottom of the carpets or pads may be inspected, AC ducts or AC units may be opened, it is often revealing to cut AC plenums open. Some of the worst hidden mold problems are those hidden in plain sight, often tiny dust like colonies of white or golden tan pen asp mold will grow on many surfaces throughout a property, their favourite places to grow are on clothes in humid closets, and on any dust surface, these colonies result from humidity problems and can be almost impossible to see.

No mold inspection professional can guarantee to find all hidden problems. Even with infrared cameras, moisture meters, borescopes, and inner wall air sampling tubes, all designed to help find hidden mold and moisture conditions, expecting a human to find all organisms living in hidden places is not reasonable. But if health complaints or odor lead you to believe that you may have concealed mold problems, your best remedy by far is to contact your doctor and also to hire an experienced, trained, certified mold professional to inspect for it and provide detailed written information on how to correct any problems found.

Bathroom fans have become an inevitable necessity in the closed box like homes of the present day. With the homes becoming more energy intensive, there is less scope for natural ventilation. As a result, the fumes emanating as a result of cooking (from the kitchen) or the warm, moist air accumulated in the bathroom (especially after a shower), begin to stagnate within the home and deteriorate the indoor air quality of the home. It is here that the need for an exhaust is realized. High humidity can damage the paint coats on the wall and cause the paint to peel off easily, encourages the growth of moisture dependent mold spores, damages the bathroom door, which absorbs water and becomes swollen.

Bathroom fans are a kind of exhaust fans, which expel the hot, humid air immediately after a shower, in addition to venting out the odor emanating from the bathroom. There are plenty of benefits of using a fan in the bathroom. The first and foremost use is to exhaust the bad air accumulated in the bathroom and replace it with fresh air, which has very low humidity levels. The second advantage is that venting of moist air from the bathroom greatly reduces the humidity levels and thereby discourages the growth of moulds and fungi, which are very common in moist and humid places of the home and which can trigger respiratory infections and allergies in your family.

In hilly areas summers are really pleasant. But for people in places where temperature reaches the extreme levels, summers are very annoying. In such areas summer means excessive sweating and stinking body so who can enjoy the summer in such areas.
. So by reducing the sweating we can control the body odor to some extent and thus reducing the stinking effect. However there are certain diseases which can lead to excessive sweating like thyroid problems. Some medicines like antidepressants also lead to excessive sweating. Here we are discussing about certain points which can help us to fight body odor to some extent.

  • Remove the hairs from the areas of excessive sweating as these hairs provide greater surface area to the bacteria to grow.
  • Deodorants or perfumes mask the body odor to some extent. Moreover they also refresh you. So they can be used. But don’t use them in excess otherwise instead of putting a pleasure effect on others you will repel them.
  • Use fresh clothes daily if you wear unwashed clothes covered in sweat in bacteria after the bath, the body odor will reappear. While washing the clothes use of anti fungal is also recommended. Wash the clothes at a high temperature as possible and dry them quickly as bacteria grow on damp clothing.
  • For feet wash them, dry them properly and if necessary use antifungal powder. Use fresh cotton socks. Avoid closed and sweaty shoes.
  • Some antibacterial or antiseptics can also be used which reduce the number of these bacteria but use them after consulting your doctor.
  • Avoid synthetic and tight fitting clothes.
  • According to some studies by avoiding spicy foods the problem of body odor can also be controlled.
  • Use plenty of water and fruit juices to hydrate the body and reduce sweating.
  • Generally men sweat more than women. Moreover our diet also influences the process of sweating. Sweating is more in persons consuming very hot drinks and spicy foods. In persons suffering from thyroid disease or carcinomas there is excessive sweating. Some drugs also lead to hyperhidrosis like antidepressants.
    In case of hyperhidrosis usual methods mentioned above alone may not help. In such cases they need to consult the doctor. In such cases surgical treatment involving the surgical removal of triangular area in the armpits or by destroying the nerves that control sweating is done. Recently non surgical treatments are also used as an alternative to surgeries in which botulinum toxin is injected in the armpit area.



    Categories

    Blogroll

    Powered by Technorati