Many Causes of Sick Building

This really is an iron support beam holding up a two story office building.

I was called to inspect a crawlspace in a home where the seller was trying to appease buyers. The house was built on a foundation that rests on supports driven into bedrock. The foundation doesn’t actually touch the ground. It’s suspended above leaving a gap between earth and concrete. This prevents damage from expansive soil. The gap between foundation and dirt was covered with cardboard around the inside and outside. The drainage for this property was terrible all the way around, but covered with rocks and bark so you couldn’t see that water drained into holes next to the foundation. Drainage problems hidden by landscaping is one of the most common and destructive defects I find in homes. The downspouts emptied next the foundation. Together these defects channeled a tremendous amount of water into the crawlspace that caused the cardboard around the entire foundation to mold.

The opinion of the buyer’s inspector was that the problem was a lack of a pump in the sump, no report of the sump overflowing after a heavy rain, and the lack of vent fans and no moisture barrier. He recommended air testing for mold comparing the air in the crawlspace to the outside air. He left two open Petrie dishes with agar agar to prove there was mold. This is a marketing trick, taught to new inspectors who don’t know any better, to scare people into paying for useless services. An average cubic foot of air anywhere on this planet contains 100,000 mold spores that will grow when they land in an open dish full of nutrients. The type of air testing he suggested provides no information any more useful than growing mold in a Petrie dish. It only provides fees for the inspector and the lab that trained him to bring in business for them in the true corporate spirit of it’s all about profit. Providing actual value is not necessary.

The inspection left the potential buyers shaken. They demanded the remediation prescribed by their inspector and the air testing to prove that the house was safe for their child who had a mold allergy. It made no difference to them that the floor was very well sealed and there was actually no path for the mold to reach their child until the vent fans were installed. The places where the air exited provide access.

I inspected the drainage and crawlspace. The crawlspace had 2 newly installed vent fans, a new moisture barrier and a new pump in the sump. The air in the crawlspace was humid and smelled heavily of mold. The remediation recommended by the buyer’s inspector did nothing to fix the defects that caused the problems. I recommended correcting the drainage problems.

The buyer raked all the rock and bark away from the foundation and corrected the drainage all around the house and extended the downspouts away from the foundation. This defect that provided the moisture for the mold growth was not mentioned by the buyer’s inspector. The cardboard that provided the food for mold growth was also not mentioned in the report. The seller removed the cardboard. Four days later I returned and found the crawlspace dry and fresh smelling. The defects that actually caused the mold and the environment for it to grow were corrected.

The buyers were unconvinced that the house was safe and demanded air testing be done despite the references I provided from scientists and organizations like the EPA that explained that this type of testing is based on bogus science. They only air test I have ever heard of that returns useful results was produced National Jewish Hospital. They compared the most common indoor toxins and allergens, vacuumed from carpets, to the levels found in the average American home. Unfortunately they discontinued the tests. Here is a link to an article about a company that was sued out of business after this type of testing caused a business owner great financial harm.

I was contacted by a woman who is pregnant and recently moved back into a house owned by her and her husband. They rented the house out while her husband worked in another town. He found a new job that allowed them to return home and they moved back into their house. She reported that everything in the house had a dusty residue and it smelled dusty to her. The smell irritated her sinuses and caused headaches. She smelled it everywhere but her husband and children couldn’t smell it. The husband, children, dog and cat seemed unaffected. She thought that the tenants had been doing or making meth although she had no reason to believe so outside of the residue and the symptoms she experienced that matched people’s experiences reported on my website.

Here is part of my response to her:

I’ve heard the old methods of making meth smelled like cat urine and newer methods smell like vanilla or nothing. I don’t know. I’ve had no personal experience with it. The dusty smell in clothes and dishes makes me think mold or bacteria. The dust in this house has to come from something that circulates air throughout the house. The obvious source is the furnace.

• Have the furnace checked. If the furnace or AC was operated without a filter it could spread dust throughout the house. It also increases the chance that the heat exchanger is cracked.
• If the heat exchanger is cracked it would allow CO and other toxic gases from the furnace to escape into the house.
• Check the dishwasher drain to make sure it loops higher than where it drains to prevent siphoning dirty water back into the dishwasher providing an environment for fungal and bacterial growth.
• Check the garbage disposal drain to be sure that it drains downhill. If it is sloped upward, or not sloped, replace the pipe and install it properly.
• Run bleach through the washing machine to clean it.
• If the smell is in the dryer, clean or replace the vent hose and run it on high heat until the smell disappears. If it doesn’t go away replace the dryer.
• If they are on a septic system check to see if it is backing up.
• If they are on a well have the water tested.
• Pour water into all the floor drains to stop sewer gases from entering the house.
• Find and fix all leaks or drainage that wets building materials.
• If there is a crawlspace make sure it is dry and clean. If it’s wet there is probably a drainage problem or plumbing leak.

Sources of sick building are many and sometimes unexpected. Super low frequency sounds that are beyond human range can result from things as diverse as an improperly mounted HVAC unit on the roof to wind blowing through and around towers. These penetrate buildings and can cause sickness. Sometimes the sources of sick building are extremely difficult to discover, but the vast majority of the time it involves uncontrolled water going where it causes damage. If you suspect your home, or place of business, is making you sick, make sure there are no leaks in plumbing or inside structure. A leaking window is easy to overlook and can support mold growth inside the wall.

When you are sure there are no wet environments that support the pests of many kinds along with mold, check your CO detectors to make sure they are properly functioning. Have fuel burning appliances like furnaces, wood stove and fireplaces clean and inspected. This is the next most likely source of toxins in your indoor air.

When these defects are repaired, if you still feel your house is making you sick it’s time to consider meth and other sources of pollutants. If you know meth was smoked or made in the property you can skip the above and just find a qualified industrial hygienist with drug lab training to test and guide you through the process of having the property properly remediated.

If there has been remodeling done recently you may be experiencing off gassing from materials like carpets, drapes and furniture. You can order a test kit for formaldehyde, a common off gassing chemical.

If there have been structural changes done look for hidden moisture. A pipe in a wall nicked by a nail can drip for a long time before the damage is substantial enough to be discovered. A leaking gas pipe in a wall can cause profound health problems and never be discovered unless enough gas builds up to explode.

If you can’t discover the source of your sick home by looking around and evaluating your indoor environment, it’s time to work with your doctor and a testing scientist to discover what environmental factors make you sick. Your allergist will discover your sensitivities and should be able to refer a testing scientist with the proper credentials to find the source of those specific things. The simplest and most effective way that works in most cases to rid your home of things that make you sick is to keep it clean and dry with sufficient fresh air. Fix the obvious things first. If you need professional help choose the proper professional for each role. Your health and your investment in your property depends on having accurate information. You wouldn’t go to a mechanic for surgery and you shouldn’t call a non-scientist to do scientific testing.