Matt Kelly (the “Mold Man”) explains which mold-contaminated items can be kept and which are likely unsafe to retain. He emphasizes a sliding scale of individual sensitivity that determines how picky someone must be, highlights porous items (stuffed animals, clothing, couches, mattresses, bedding) as the highest-risk and often impossible to fully decontaminate, and suggests layered decision-making: remove easy items first, consider storage until you feel better, or use cleaning tools (HEPA vacuuming, steam with EC3, fogging, ozone, specialized high-tech units). He directs viewers to his Mold Proof Your Home masterclass (moldproofyourhome.com) for detailed procedures and cross-contamination guidance.
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All right. Amanda's asking a question that everybody, almost everybody, wants to know at some point in their mold journey, and that is, I would love to know what we can keep and what must be thrown away. So expensive to get rid of everything. Plus, so tragic. 100%. And this is, and I say this a lot, this is why mold sucks. It's not just wrecking your body. It's not just destroying your house, but it can also be taking your photo albums, your things that were passed down from family, and, you know, your bed. Like, just your basic things you need in life. It can take so many things away from us. And I actually did. So answering this in a couple minutes, it's going to be a problem. If you haven't yet, check out my mold proof your home masterclass. That's at moldproof your home dot com. One of the bonus units at the end, bonus lessons, is on cross contamination. And that's when you're going from a dirty house to a clean house, you know, moldy to mold free. It's about porous, non porous, what you can do, what that process can look like, steps you can take to decide what can be taken or what to do if you're not sure what to do with some items, like putting in storage. So I go into a lot more detail there. But here, what the major point is, there's a sliding scale of sensitivity for everyone. So even between all people that are mold toxic, some are extremely sensitive, where they can't tolerate supplements, they can't tolerate detox, they can't tolerate even a tiny whiff of mold. Where other people are in the middle, they can have some toleration. Then other people at the far end, where they're not too bad, okay, you get them out of mold, you clean up their stuff a little bit, they can take it, and they're okay. So this is the issue. There's no one size fits all. You have to determine where you are on that sliding scale sensitivity. And that will kind of dictate how picky you have to be about what you can take with you. So the obvious problems are porous things. So soft things, textiles, fabrics, you know, so stuffed animals. Okay, that's a perfect example. And this sucks for kids, but, I mean, at least they get to get something new afterwards. But a stuffed animal, it's porous. It's. It's that fabric just clings and holds to things, right? And then those toxins can work their way in. And same thing with couches and mattresses and bedding and clothes. And things like this are a problem. But the thicker something is, like a mattress, a couch, you know, the cushions on things, those are really hard to ever get clean. And there are people that just can't tolerate them no matter how much they clean them. Because when they clean them, whether they're HEPA vacuuming or steam cleaning with some EC3, you're only going so deep, right? And then when you sit down on that again and the air comes up out of it, it can bring spores or fragments or mycotoxins with it again later. And you don't want to cross contaminate. You don't. The last thing you want to do is make a new place unlivable. So tough choices need to be made. I say just go in layers. Just go. Knowing that these things can be a potential problem in a new clean space. If you're sensitive, then you just do, just do one layer. It's like, okay, let me find the easiest things to get rid of. Okay, so here's clothes I haven't worn a long time. Here's stuffed animals the kids don't use anymore. Here's some old throw cushions that we don't need. Okay. And after you do that, then you come back at a later time once you've, you know, mentally prepared, it's like, okay, okay, let me look at this again. What do I need? So, and there are things to do. You know, you can put things in storage and wait until you feel better, right? There's things, ways to clean them. You can fog them, you can ozone them. Not in your house, ozone them out there. You can put them in a container with like, if you have a high tech unit, talk to Karen. Other admin if you want have questions about the high tech unit, K A R I N not en talk to Karen about that. And these are all different. There are different tools to help clean these things, but it's a giant topic and I've already gone over a bit here, but I hope that helps. Amanda give you some ideas, but make sure you go to moldproofyourhome.com because I do go into more detail about this. And it'll also give you a million other ideas of ways you can mold proof your home. Because as you know, as you protect your home, you protect your body. All right, I hope that helps.
Do you have questions about mold in your home or body? Book a consultation with Matt, AKA the Mold man to guide your home and body to the next level of healing.
