? Colorado mold results

[James Eubank]

I'm working with a client who has severe allergies to mold. She is moving to Colorado from another state, and she has questions about the frequency of mold problems in Colorado. I don't have enough experience with mold to answer all her questions, so hopefully some of you Colorado readers do.

When you have done mold sampling, how often has mold been found?
Are some areas (foothills, plains, mountains) more likely than others to have mold, or does it depend more on the house's interior environment?
What about the frequency of "nontoxic" versus "toxic" molds?

[Russel Ray]

Educate her about how to do daily maintenance around her house and she should have no problems whatsoever with mold. For example, don't store chemicals in the sink cabinets, have the roof inspected at least annually, have the water shutoff valves everywhere (toilets, main, sinks, etc.) tested at least annually, etc. And if she is severely sensitive or allergic like I am, then she should move to San Diego or have everything tested/inspected more often.

Daily maintenance is very easy and is much better than waiting until problems occur or a disaster happens. It just takes a willingness to educate the public About Homes.

[jwisecup]

James, I live in NW Colorado and while I have done less than 100 inspections, the ones that I have found mold in are due to extreme moisture conditions.(roof leaks, high humidity from hot tubs and improper grading/draining ect)
any of which should be found by a home inspection.
Not sure about your area but here the low humidity (average about 15-20%) helps, harder for mold to grow.
Hope this helps,
Jamie

[Harvey Gordon]

Here is some stuff to make ya look good....

First this is to display for her this map...it is not you speaking but Weather.com



Next here, ask her if she is allergic to any of these....the below is the 2005 Typical Outdoor mold spore data for Colorado from EMLabs:

• Alternaria - Appears 54% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Basidiospores - Appears 85% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Bipolaris - Appears 6% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Botrytis - Appears 3% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Chaetomium - Appears 5% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Cladosporium - Appears 95% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Curvularia - Appears 5% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Epicoccum - Appears 21% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Nigrospora - Appears 4% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Oidium - Appears 18% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Penicillium/Aspergillus - Appears 94% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Rusts - Appears 10% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Smuts, Periconia, Myxomycetes - Appears 66% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Stachybotrys - Appears 2% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.
• Torula - Appears 4% of the time in Mold Tests submitted.

Hope these help!

[James Eubank]

Thanks, Harvey. That's just the sort of info I was looking for. I'll pass it on to my client.

Tell me more about EMLabs - I haven't heard of that one. Is there a website where you found that data?