10: Why Is Testing So Important?

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to today's show. If you're one of the 130 million people that are dealing with Sirs Lyme disease, autoimmune disease, or other conditions that are impacted by mold on a daily basis and you need to learn how to eliminate that exposure, then you're in the right place. My name is Brian Carr, and you're listening to Mold Finders Radio.

Hey, guys. So today I want to talk to you about appointment that I had this week. It was interesting because it really helped demonstrate how a sampling plan is really specific to what the situation is. So I want to walk you through what the situation was. Talk about what the sampling plan looked like so you could understand, like, why you would or wouldn't test something. Because a lot of times I get asked, well, why would we even test anything? There's no reason to test it. If it looks like there's a problem in this scenario that I'm going to tell you about, or I'm specifically going to be focusing on the heating, air conditioning systems. They were covered in mold. And I initially told them, you know, there's no need to test this stuff. I was like, guys, you got to replace these things. Like, it was that clear. But at the end of the day, it's. It actually made sense for them to test them. And so that's what we're talking about. So quick background on these guys. It's a family. It was a husband and wife, two kids.

The folks in the home, they weren't really feeling any health effects, right. They were noticing some behavioral issues in one of their kids. So they went and kind of had a whole panel done to try to figure that out. There were mycotoxins in the kid's body. So he did have mycotoxin in his body. And then the mother also had mycotoxins in her body. But in terms of like feeling sick, like nobody was feeling sick. Right. So, you know, I knew when I went in and after talking to them a little bit that they weren't really planning on doing a big grand scale remediation. It's because nobody felt like that they were like, you know, really, really sick. Right. So they didn't have the need, I don't think, to think that they had to go that far. But when I asked them what their goal was for the day and what they were trying to achieve, they. They did say they want to make sure that their home isn't like a toxic home and that's like an unhealthy home for their kid because they are seeing some of these behavioral types of issues and that they do know that there's mold toxins that are inside their bodies. It's interesting because in order to do that, the goals that they had didn't completely align with what they were wanting to do. If you're wanting to get a, you know, to understand if the home is a toxic home, that's, that's causing these problems. And there is a level of testing that you need to do and there is going to be remediation that you're going to have to do in order to fix that. But that's why we have these conversations when we talk with them. Right. So I literally spent like an hour and a half talking with them after I went through their house. It took me about five hours to go through their home. We spent another hour and a half just talking through their options. Right. And like, what the plan was. So quick summary. Inside the house, I did find a number of areas in the house. I think There was like 28 different areas. It was a bigger home. There's 28 different areas where there was previous water damage or there was visible signs of something that looked like mold or whatever. So there was 28 potential source areas of like hidden factories in the house. Right. So we had that going on. And like I said, I could kind of get the vibe at the beginning that they weren't planning on remediating all that stuff. Stuff. So I had that. So I knew that. And then their heating and air conditioning systems, they had two of them. They were sitting on the roof of their house. They were on top of their house and they were a disaster. Right. I opened these things up and just mold everywhere in them. And so, you know, I knew that that was going to be a big problem too. So then we sit down and we start talking after I go through the house and, and you know, kind of show them the pictures of all these different things and we start talking about what the sampling plan looks like. And they said, well, what does it look like to test all of this stuff? And I showed them the price and they were not expecting. It was probably significantly more than what they were expecting again because they weren't feeling sick, so they probably didn't think there was that many potential issues in the house.

So we kind of realized very quickly that they weren't going to do all that work. So then the question got asked me from the wife. She said, well, one area that I pointed out was a shower, for instance. And she's like, well, how much of that shower is impacting the house, like what we're breathing. Because if it's not impacting that much, I don't really feel like I want to test it. This is where we start getting into the game of I can't guess. Right. The reality is we need to test stuff to understand not only if there's a problem there, but, but also it really helps us quantify, like, kind of significance level of certain things. And then we can create like tiered lists and priority lists. So even if they're not going to remediate everything, it's important for us to know all of the areas and understand, like, is area 1, 2 and 3 really bad? And maybe area 4, 5 and 6 is not so bad. Right. But the only way that we can make that distinction is if we test all six of those of those areas. And after you get that information, then we can look at it and say, okay, areas 1, 2, 3, they look much more significant than the others. So maybe you guys would gear your remediation money towards areas 1, 2 and 3. And it looks like it would have, you know, it would at least be taking away a bigger chunk of the source that's impacting what's going on. That's the importance of testing is to be able to help us understand severity, to understand priority in terms of.

What might need to be remediated. The reality is.

I give the plan for how to remediate anything that we test. But at the end of the day, not everyone can remediate their whole house because it's expensive. And so we need to be able to provide some guidance for them on these areas seem to be worse than these areas. So if you weren't going to do everything, then I would say maybe focus here, here and here first. Right? And so that was kind of the first goal of it at that point in time. The, you know, the, the air conditioning systems, I had shown them the pictures, I told them, like, listen, guys, these things need to be replaced. Like I'm, you know, even if I don't test it, they're. They're completely gone. H vac systems have to go, Ductwork has to go. So I told them, if you guys don't believe me, then we need to test them, okay, So I can prove to you what's going on in these things. But if you believe me of all the time that I've spent in the house and everything we've been talking about and you trust me on this one, then for that reason, if we're talking specifically for the air conditioning systems alone and not really thinking about how they're impacting everything else, then I would say that you wouldn't need to test them, however, because they were planning on trying to pick and choose which areas that they were going to do remediation in because they were going to do that. Then it became important for us to test the air conditioning systems because they kept asking me, well, would this area be impacting us more? Would this area be impacting us more.

If we didn't include the air conditioning systems in that? Because they were really bad. When we test those systems and we see whatever the numbers actually look like, and if there's toxins present in there and kind of everything that's going on in there, we compare that to what we do in terms of testing in the house. Maybe the air conditioning Systems are the 80% of the 8020 rule, right? So maybe, you know, they're going to decide to spend the money on replacing those because that's not cheap and they weren't going to spend anywhere else. But if we didn't test those, they wouldn't know. They would still have to replace them regardless because they were that far gone. But then they wouldn't know in the house, like, do we need to do other things in the house or do we feel comfortable maybe starting off with just the H vac systems? It gives them the blueprint and kind of the levels of comparison for everything. And that's why it was so important to do that testing. So that was the first reason we were talking about it. But then the second reason came up and as soon as I heard this, I was like, oh, we absolutely have to test your heating air conditioning systems. There is zero world where we don't do this for thinking about this logically. And so here's what it was. So he told me that his air conditioning units are actually insured separately away from aside from the rest of the house. So he has like homeowners insurance, but then he had specific like air conditioner insurance for his units in case they ever, you know, failed or something. I was like, oh my goodness, we have to test these systems because once we prove and validate that these systems have mold growing all over them and that there's toxins in them, which I'm assuming there will be from how they looked and you could see that they had leaking, they leaked. There were standing water inside of the systems. It was just really bad. Once we prove though, what was actually in the systems that was getting moved through the house, we could then compare that to the testing that I do in the living spaces of the house. And we could tie a lot of what's going on into the house to the air conditioning systems. And now when they submit to their insurance, they can submit a lot of the other cleaning and things that have to go in the house and get it covered under the claim of their heating and air conditioning system. Does that make sense? You guys getting that? So this. This is why you got to talk through this stuff, right? So there is not necessarily a ironclad. This is the way you do testing. It completely depends on your goals. It depends on how you're going to use the information when you get it. One thing I always ask people when I sit down with them before I show them anything that I found. So after I've done the inspection, but before I show them anything, I sit down and I ask them, all right, guys, what's your goal for having me here today? What are you hoping to find? What were you hoping to achieve from calling us? And what are you planning on doing with the information that I give you? Okay, these are really, really important questions, because some people are in different places than other people. Some. Some people are so sick, and they're so convinced it's the house that they don't really want to do a lot of testing. Like, if I show them a bunch of stuff that looks bad in their mind, that's enough. That's all they need. They're like, you know what? We don't want to do any testing. We're out of here. Like, thank you for finding all this stuff. So they feel better about it. Other times, they might be in that same boat, but they might be the kind of person that is, like, a little more logical, and they. They need a little more validation and proof that there is a mold problem before they uproot their whole life and go move somewhere. Because, let's be honest, guys, like, that's a big thing to do. Pack all your stuff, get out of your house. And then what do you do with your stuff if you have to clean it? Right? I mean, there's so many things you have to do. So some people don't want to do that unless they know for sure they have to. And I think it's totally fair. Like, I totally get that. So in those cases, you know, let's say it was the same house. Let's say there was 28 potential areas of source problems. We don't test all of them. Test a couple of them just to show them that there's a Few different spots, maybe in the places that might be more expensive to actually remediate and fix. So think kitchens and bathrooms and stuff, right? So those are more expensive. Maybe do a couple of tests in those rooms. If those come back and they show that there's a problem, then it gives them a little more sanity when they're thinking about having to leave. Because they're like, oh, well, we have to leave. Because if not, we at least have to gut this kitchen in this bathroom. And that's going to cost us, you know, 20 grand for each one. And then that's not even all the other things that he found, right? And so they start. It helps them, right? And so for some people, that's all you do. You test a couple things. You go down the road. Other people, they're rooted in their house. They're like, this is our place. It needs to be healthy, it needs to be fixed. And if that's the case, then you got to test everything. You can't. You can't only test certain things because. And this came up in the question or in the meeting when I was talking with them, she's like, well, can you just tell us which areas are worse off? And honestly, the true answer is, I can't at all. Right? There are times where I test, like in a wall, and there is like minimal, minimal water damage, like minimal anything. Like anyone could look at that and be like, oh, there's no problem there. And I test it because, you know, I'm looking for these really minute cues and it comes back and there's huge problems behind that wall. Or there are other times where there's a whole bunch of water staining somewhere and it looks like this is more of a super obvious problem. And I test behind there, and yes, there's a problem there, but it's not nearly as high as maybe some of the other areas. You can't just look and know what's hiding, you know, and that's really the truth behind this stuff, is we're looking at the tip of an iceberg. We have no idea how big that iceberg is on the backside, you know, and that's the reality of it. So if you're wanting to stay in your house, remediate it and live there. Because you're rooted in this house, you don't want to leave. You have to test it all. It doesn't mean you have to remediate it all. It just means you have to know what's going on so you can make educated decisions on what you are going to remediate. It's so, so important.

It's like if you walked into a room and the room was completely black, pitch dark, and someone told you there's a door on the other side of this room that you have to walk out of, and you just have to figure out where it is. And, oh, by the way, I store a lot of stuff in this room and there's a lot of things in here. So you're just gonna have to kind of figure out, maneuver that and figure that out, and pitch black. Like you're gonna. You're gonna take two steps and trip and hit something, hit your shin on something and fall down and start cursing, and it's gonna be ridiculous. But if you turn the light on in the room, you can now see everything. And you could say, oh, man, this is how I get through here, right? I take a left, you know, I go around this, like bed, and then I step, step over this thing over here, and I can get to that door. Or you look in the room and you're like, holy crap, there's so much stuff in here. There's no freaking way I'm walking through this room. Right? And you could turn around and walk out, but the only way that you can make that call is if you turn the light switch on. And in our scenario, the way you turn the light switch on is by doing the testing and figuring it out. Okay? So I hope that that scenario and explanation helped you kind of understand a couple things. One, about how to test to leverage insurance, because that's important. And then two, just understanding the importance of testing so you can put your plan together for what you're going to do for remediation or whatever your situation is, right? And if, and if you've seen enough, then you don't have to test. But, you know, you just kind of need to know what your goals are. And then we put the plan together to get around that. But either way, testing is very important. And even if you're not going to test, you at least have to think it through. Through and make the decision not to test for a very specific reason. Otherwise, testing is really, really important. And. And honestly, most of the time, it should be done.

All right, before I go for today, I just wanted to remind you if you didn't listen to yesterday's podcast, that a lot of the questions that I got in last week from Instagram for the Q and A session was geared around what can I use to clean my stuff that's been in a moldy house? So what I did is is I created a quick little website. It's called moldcleaningproduct.com and if you just put in your name and your email address, I'm going to send you the product that I like most for that. It's non toxic, it's antifungal, antibacterial, it's plant based and it's basically using essential oils to achieve all this stuff, which is super, super awesome. So all you have to do is go to moldcleaningproduct.com, enter your email address and just click submit and I'm going to send you an email with product that I like for that. I'm going to give you a bunch of information on it so you can like really research it. You could even give that to your doctor if they need to look at like the safety data sheets and all that stuff. And then I'm also in the email going to send you what you should like never ever, ever, ever use for cleaning mold as well. So you're going to have that in there too. So remember, just go to new. Excuse me to moldcleaning product.com and just put in your email address and I'll send that to you totally free. Just something I want to give you guys as a resource. All right? So have a great weekend.

So that's it for today's show, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment and subscribe and give a rating wherever you get your podcast. It'll help spread the word to those who really need it the most.

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