Matt Kelly answers a viewer question contrasting mold on food with mold caused by building leaks. He explains that moldy food and short-term surface mold (e.g., on bathroom grout or fruit) are generally lower risk and can be cleaned or discarded, while hidden, long-standing moisture in walls/floors (e.g., from leaks) can support hydrophilic, potentially toxigenic molds (e.g., Stachybotrys) that produce mycotoxins and pose greater health risks. He advises cleaning visible surface mold with hydrogen peroxide or commercial cleaners and to investigate hidden moisture sources; the video also offers paid consultations.
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Marie's asking an interesting question about how to deal with different types of mold. For example, when food becomes moldy, do we need to pay attention to the mold the same way as if it's been a leak in the wall? No. A leak in the wall is usually not caught within a couple days like a piece of moldy food is. When there's a leak in the wall and it's been there a long time, you're attracting or you're more likely to have hydrophilic molds like Stachybotrys that don't just grow quick and easy. They require that wet lumber to be wet for some time. And so you can get these worse molds, but they're in a wall, so you don't see them. So then they fester and grow. And then you have the potential for them to be spitting out so many mycotoxins, which are extremely toxic, coming from those worst molds. Whereas if you have, you know, apples, bananas, peaches, something in your pantry or on your counter, start to mold, usually those aren't toxigenic molds. And even if they were, it doesn't mean they're emitting mycotoxins as soon as you see sign of molds. So when you see that go bad, that's no problem. You know, you throw it in the garbage and away it goes. But the real problem comes from, like you said, leaks in walls and things that aren't found quickly because as they grow, as they fester, as they get bigger, as they sense other molds, other bacteria, things they don't like, you've got a lot more spores, you got the potential for mycotoxins, and that's the highest risk to your health. You also have, when talking about different types of mold and the threat, you have things that growing on your caulking and on your grout in your bathroom. And I'm just looking here because I thought I did a video on this. Oh, I did do it, but it's not done yet. So I did one on cleaning grout and caulking and things in the bathroom. When people see those, they're often asked, like, do they need to wear ppe? Do they need to. What all do they have to do to protect themselves? But when it's just surface mold like that, as long as it hasn't been, you know, as long as you've been cleaning your bathroom reasonably, and it hasn't been growing on your caulking and grout for two years or something, and it is becoming a big problem, you know, you can wear ppe, open the window, clean it with hydrogen peroxide and a toothbrush, get rid of that. But the problem is there's probably something bigger in that room behind a wall, behind the shower, behind the vanity, under the toilet, something that's feeding those spores into the room that keeps it growing there. But again, that surface mold, it could be a problematic mold, but it's probably not. You know, it hasn't had time to colonize into a big enough problem and be spitting mycotoxins out and affecting your health. You can clean that without much of a problem. So food, not a problem. Topical, like that, not a problem. Get out your EC3 or your total clean or hydrogen peroxide. Clean these. Keep these things cleaned up. The big problems, the dangerous problems, are the high levels of toxic molds that are spitting out mycotoxins that are hiding in the walls, under the floor, in the ceiling, in the H vac, behind the cabinets, all these crazy places that we don't see them, and they affect us from. I hope that helps.
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