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September 2009

Mold Extends Kids’ Summer Vacation

September 30, 2009

Mold was initially discovered the week before when a fifth-grade teacher cleaning her room found mold growing behind her bookcase. More mold was also found between the stucco and drywall. While it at first seemed limited to C Building and its 8 classrooms, mold was also found in other buildings – 12 classrooms total. The school is only eight years old.

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Why Schools?

September 28, 2009

The design of most schools makes them susceptible to water damage. Unlike houses, with slanted tile roofs, schools are built with flat roofs. This allows water to pool after rainstorms and eventually creates leaks. For this reason, new schools are often built with pitched roofs.

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Family Discovers the True Meaning of Caveat Emptor

September 25, 2009

The Bennett family purchased the 12-year-old two-story home on Mother’s Day and within three weeks began experiencing problems. A heavy rain caused “buckets of water” to leak into the basement through the foundation. They soon discovered drenched building materials and rampant mold growth hidden behind insulation and vinyl siding.

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New Mold Remediation Method: Fire

September 22, 2009

Burning down the house was chosen as the most viable method of remediation since cleaning the house would be well beyond the cost of the home and demolition would be costly and release unsafe levels of mold spores into the air where they could settle on nearby houses.

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Mold Forces Elderly Out on the Streets

September 21, 2009

Mold has overtaken the building and its residents are beginning to experience symptoms. Now dozens of seniors are scrambling for a new place to live when they could barely afford the modest prices of not-for-profit apartment building. “I live on $600 a month,” said Greg Sharp, 54, “what am I supposed to do?” Some who were paying as little as $100 for rent at Bromelia Place must now find a way to pay for $400 a month apartments.

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Mold May Destroy Evidence Against Criminals

September 17, 2009

Health factors aside, the real threat here is that mold could destroy evidence, forcing cases to be thrown out, allowing criminals to go free.

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Is Air Sampling Used to Hide Mold?

September 15, 2009

It’s not that the air sampling tests are broken or that the samples are misread. The problem is that there are too many variables in the air to conclusively prove or disprove the existence of mold unless they are accounted for.

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Tools of the Trade

September 14, 2009

Wet Vacuums – Wet vacs are like ordinary vacuum cleaners but they are designed to suck up liquids, which would damage dry vacuum cleaners. Wet vacuums are a great tool for removing water from a damp surface quickly before mold can form. Allowing spills to dry on their own only evaporates the water into the air where it is still a problem. But a wet vac traps the water inside an internal canister until you can dump it outside. By far, the most popular brand of wet vacuum is the Shop-Vac.

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Mold + Twitter = Lawsuit

September 11, 2009

Regardless of whether or not Bonnen’s apartment had a mold problem (or, more specifically whether or not Horizon realty thinks it’s okay to sleep in a moldy apartment), the defamation lawsuit raises concerns about the freedom of speech. If this lawsuit has any success whatsoever, then it sets a future precedent where tenants will be afraid to speak up about mold issues. Of course, this goes far beyond mold and challenges the right to free speech in every case.

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Does Mold Have a Direct Effect on Human Health?

September 9, 2009

This weapon is a paper from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, or ACOEM. The paper downplays the effect indoor mold has on human health, claiming that while some people exhibit allergic reactions to mold, mycotoxins do not adversely affect health and pathogenic mold infections are unlikely.

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