Dr Jackson Kung'u- Mold Specialist

Helping People Resolve Mold Problems

Contact Us

Dr. Jackson Kung’u (PhD)- Mold Specialist.
Phone: 905-290-9101
Mobile: 437-556-0254

Home | mould

mould

Former grow ops home

Question:  A contractor bought a former grow house. He has it up and now wants to sell it privately.  I have an interest in this home. Is there anyway to ensure that it is safe to live in and will not pose any future health risks? The house was cleaned off mould by a professional company, but because the contractor has done renovations to the home can you still get samples for testing the air, insulation, drywall etc?  I guess my concern is that he may be covering up something, and that even though the mould was cleaned up can it re-grow?

Answer: If the house is structurally sound and the mould was properly cleaned up, then it’s unlikely that mould could pose future health risks. You can hire an independent professional to assess the house for mould.

Mould can only re-grow if there are moisture problems that are not corrected on time.

Calgary Health Region Mould Guideline

Question: My house just got tested for mould. The outside test was 67 spores per cubic meter of air. The inside was 24,000 spores per cubic meter of air for Aspergillus/Penicillium type.

I heard the city of Calgary has a standard that says you double the counts for control/outside and add a hundred for acceptable limits of the inside. Do you have a link for this?

What health problems can this be associated with in the long term?

Thanks.

 

Answer: Yes, the Calgary Health Region has developed a mould guideline entitled “Fungal Air Testing, Investigation and Reporting Requirements for Residential Marihuana Grow Operations” which provides guidelines on how to interpret air sample results. They have also developed “MARIHUANA GROW OPERATION REMEDIATION GUIDELINES.”

The long term effects of mould exposure varies with individuals. Some people may develop sensitivity to mould.

What are mould colonies?

Question: I had some mold samples tested through a lab here in the US. The results returned showing Aspergillus 19 colonies for the first sample. The second sample results were Aspergillus 3 colonies, Geotrichum 1 colony, and Penicillium 1 colony. What are colonies and what does the number of them stand for? There is a serious problem in our home and none of us is doing great health wise. Any info you could give me would be very much appreciated.

Colonies of Penicillium and Stachybotrys
Answer: In biology, a colony (from Latin colonia) refers to several individual organisms of the same species living closely together. In case of mould, colonies refer to individual growths (see picture). The number of colonies is a count of those individual growths (colonies) and they may belong to different types of mould or same type. For example in your case the first sample had only Aspergillus (19 colonies) and the second sample had 3 different types of mould. That’s Aspergilus (3 colonies),  Geotrichum (1 colony) and Penicillium (1 colony). The picture on the right shows colonies of 2 different types of moulds. The blue-green colonies belong to Penicillium and the rest (with greenish centers) are Stachybotrys colonies.

The number of colonies reported for the 2 samples do not appear to be high but this does not mean you don’t have a mould problem. You may want to seek help from a qualified local environmental consultant who may be able to assess the extent of mould growth in your home and advise you on what to do.

Sick to my stomach

Question: I replaced my kitchen faucets about 6 years ago. I just recently noticed it has been leaking through my cupboards into my basement. I have been getting very sick over the last few years, on and off, very numb, weak feelings, bad coughs, no energy, and sick to my stomach. Could this be causing the way I feel? Thank you.

Answer: There is a possibility that the conditions (dampness and possibly mould) in your house are making you sick. However, it’s very hard to say for sure. If possible you may try moving from your current home, say for a month and see if your health improves while you are away. If, when you go back to your home you feel bad again, then you would know that the cause of your sickness is in your house. But obviously you need to correct the water problem. If your budget can allow, you could hire a professional hygienist to assess the conditions in your home and advise you accordingly.

Company to test hazardous mould

Question: Hello, I am looking for a reputable company to test my home to ensure it is free of hazardous mould.  Do you provide this service or do you know of a good company that does (we live in Mississauga). Further to my previous question, is this something I can do myself and send samples to you?  It looks like I can from your website.  It is a new home (6 years old) but in the first year we had big problems with excessive humidity and that is why I am wondering about mould.  Our daughter has eczema.  There are no areas of visible mold in the home now (there were spots on the windowsills in the first year which we cleaned with bleach).  Where should I test to provide a representative sample to ensure that we are Ok.
Thanks.

Answer: You can look for mold testing companies within the GTA from our website at http://www.moldbacteria.com/servicelist/index.html or at https://drjacksonkungu.com/business-directory/. Or even better, you can give us a call at 905-290-9101 and we may be able to direct you to the right professionals. To answer your last question, yes you can test for airborne mould in your home yourself. For more details click http://www.moldbacteria.com/mold-test-kit.html or give us a call if you have further questions.