I had a chance to do an interview with international mold expert, Michael Rubino, the authority on mold remediation, on how to locate and remove mold, methods to improve the air quality of your home, and healing your mind and body after mold exposure.
“We have been staying at home now more than ever before,” says Rubino. “If you've felt unusually worse this year at home than years prior, it's a good idea to have a mold inspection done on your home to see if mold could be the culprit. Mold is everywhere—in the air and on many surfaces both indoors and outdoors. There is a misconception that mold only appears after flooding or in high-moisture environments. But it can enter any home in every state. By taking steps to prevent mold from inhabiting your home, or properly detoxifying your house if you have mold, you can improve your health and enhance your life.”
Why is mold such a prevalent problem?
Mold is such a prevalent problem because it spreads easily when the conditions are right for it to grow and colonize. At the same time, while its colonized and producing mold spores and sometimes mycotoxins, these very tiny particles can become abundant in the air. The real danger is these tiny particles are smaller than 10 micrometers making them small enough to pass through the respiratory tract and enter the bloodstream.
For people who are building a home, what do they need to consider to reduce mold?
Like myself who recently went through the building process, I had to inspect the framing before insulation and drywall were installed. When I did so, I found extremely high levels of mold on the framing. I had to specifically ask my builder to treat the lumber. While this particular story is not ending well, it has sparked me to share my story to help others. All homes should be treated for mold between the framing stage before porous materials are brought in. This ensures that mold that is likely to grow throughout the initial building stages can be eradicated before it has a chance to cause health concerns for you and your family.
How can people maintain and clean homes to prevent mold?
Mold is part of our ecosystem. In small doses it’s not harmful in our homes. The real problem with mold is that once it starts growing things get out of control fast. You want to maintain your roof, doors and windows to prevent unwanted leaks from occurring. Because mold is ubiquitous once you have a leak and it’s not cleaned up properly within 24 hours, there’s a strong possibility that mold will grow. Another thing to consider is that mold spores will accumulate in our household dust. Ensuring that you’re cleaning regularly will really limit your exposure to mold and help reduce toxins, allergens, and other indoor contaminants as well.
What are some symptoms that can be linked to mold exposure and how can people determine whether or not there is a link to mold exposure?
This is the million dollar question. Mold produces symptoms that are similar to so many other things such as allergies, coughing and sneezing, chronic headaches, chronic fatigue, the onset of a cold that never quite goes away, skin rashes, and respiratory infections. You can test your body for mold toxicity and the presence of mycotoxins if you’re looking to diagnose if you have high exposures to mold. You can also test your house for mold and mycotoxins to see if it correlates with the results from your body. My recommendation is always to listen to your body and draw a timeline from when your started feeling ill. If it was right after your moved into a new home or apartment, got a new job at a new workplace, or had a recent water damage event, it could give you a hint that it’s your environment.
What do people with autoimmune disorders need to know about mold?
If your immune system is diminished it will make you more susceptible to environmentally acquired illness. This means you’ll want to be more conscious of your indoor air quality. Testing for your indoor air quality to make sure it’s optimum will be a strategy you’ll want to explore. It’s important and be proactive and not reactive so that your health is not declining before you decide to do something about it.
How can homeowners locate and remove mold?
A homeowner can do a mold inspection to locate mold. You’ll want to find someone who will do a deep dive into your home, as if you were going to be purchasing it for the first time. Ensuring you’ve found a good inspection company who isn’t in and out in 30 minutes is crucial to making sure the evaluation is thorough. If anything is discovered, they’ll provide you with the steps you need to take to fix it. From there, hiring a professional to remediate and ensure that it is done properly is the best path forward.
Once mold has been removed, how can people improve their own health to recover?
I would recommend searching for a “mold literate doctor” in your area that can understand the need to detoxify mold and it’s byproducts from your body. Unfortunately this is still an evolving science for the scientific and medical community so it is not something that every doctor knows about, diagnoses, and treats.
MICHAEL RUBINO, The Mold Medic, is the authority on mold remediation. As President of All American Restoration, Rubino specializes in working with people who are immunocompromised or have acute and sustained reactions to mold exposure. Rubino provides solutions that not only get rid of mold sources, but also get rid of the contamination created by those mold sources using his proprietary “Home Detox” method. He assembles teams to locate the mold, educates homeowners on what it takes to detoxify your house, and improves the air quality of homes to levels many would believe to be impossible. Rubino’s systems have a 100 percent guarantee to remove mold, mycotoxins, endotoxins, and bacteria, the hidden culprits behind poor air quality and many health issues, by removing the contaminants from the environment and improving the space so that these issues can no longer occur. He is a council certified Mold Remediator by IICRC and ACAC and a contributing member, sponsor, and speaker for the Indoor Air Quality Association.
Connect with Michael Rubino on Facebook @AllAmericanRestorationTM and Instagram @TheMoldMedic, and visit www.themoldmedic.com and www.allamericanrestoration.com.
The Mold Medic: An Expert’s Guide on Mold Removal is available December 8, 2020 on Amazon and wherever fine books are sold.
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