Does your home have a whole house humidifier on your furnace?  If you do then you should read this article.  I found a reservoir whole house humidifier on a furnace while performing a home inspection in Wilmette, Illinois.  Humidifiers are systems that run water through them while air from the furnace passes through to add moisture to the air.  Mold is known to breed in humidifiers along with other systems in a home. There are two type of whole house humidifiers that can be installed on a furnace supply duct.

• Pad filtered whole house humidifiers allow the bypass of warm air through the filter of the humidifier which attracts moisture to the warm air.  This air is circulated throughout the home through the duct system of the home.  These type of whole house humidifiers are not known to have high counts of mold.
• Reservoir whole house humidifiers have water in the bottom of the humidifier where a fan turns with filters on it.  The warm air passes through the filters and the moisture is added to the warm air.  These whole house humidifiers are known to breed mold because of the standing water in the unit.

Both of these type of whole house humidifiers are good for the purpose they are intended for.  They both should be cleaned with dish soap and water to clean out any possible mold growth.   These units should be cleaned annually or replaced every three years to prevent mold breeding.  If regular cleaning of the humidifier the possibility of mold in the ducts will be diminished greatly.  Replacement of a whole house humidifier should only cost $275.00.

Unfortunately, the Wilmette home inspection came up with moist air that was found with a hygrometer and surface mildew that I felt that my clients should know what it was.  I suggested a mold inspection for my clients in their new home in Wilmette, Illinois.

I performed a mold air test, a swab sample mold test on the ducts from that the furnace that had a humidifier that happened to have a large amount of mold in it.  The mold inspection in Wilmette came up positive with  Stachybotrys which is sometimes called “Black Mold”.  The ducts from the furnace was the area that had evidence of  Stachybotrys mold in it and I suggested that the ducts be cleaned by a professional HVAC contractor that had experience with Mediation of mold in ducts.

As you can see mold can come and live anywhere in your home.  My clients from the Wilmette mold inspection were amazed that the mold would be living in the humidifier and contaminate the ducts and rest of the home when in use.  If you have questions about mold and where it can live please contact me at ~ The Mold Inspector or 312-961-4228.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Jim Kolke 

Areas we look for possible mold issues

  Most of my clients know me as The Thermal Home Inspector but I also am known as The Mold Man.  If you have read my other articles on mold then you will know that every home has mold of some type.  My job is to assist you by taking professional samples and sending them to a lab to qualify the type of mold you have in your home.  When I come to your home to perform a mold inspection I do a visual inspection to develop a hypothesis of what type of mold inspection you will need. 

My client from the Darien home inspection has concerns of mold in the foreclosure home he wanted to buy.  Thats why we were performing a mold inspection in his possible new home.  There are several type of tests thatwe can do for different situations that may come up.

• Air sampling is a must at all mold inspections that Pinnacle Property Inspection Services performs.  We always do a in home air sample.  We like to an exterior sample if the weather allows for this measurement to happen.  This measurement gives us an overall if the home has any active mold spores.  This is generally the first test we  suggest to our clients unless we see or smell obvious reasons to do other tests.
• Bio tape or swab test are done in areas where there is suspected mold and we need to test the mold to identify the type of mold that is present.
• Carpet sampling can give a great length of history of what type if any was or is present in the home.
• In wall sampling is another test that can not be done in a home that is not owned by the client without written permission from the owner.  This mold test will identify any possible mold growth or breeding in the walls.

All of these mold tests have special features but can be used at all mold inspections together if needed.  The Darien home inspection had what we call visible moisture that we found with our Fluke Thermal imager and Tramex moisture meter.  This gave us evidence to suggest to our client to get bio tape tests to identify what type of mold is present.

My clients from the Darien home inspection were concerned with the cost of a mold inspection.  We price our mold inspections by the amount of  cartridges we have to use thus send to the lab.  A standard air mold test is $179.00.  You can get the 2 air samples and 1 bio tape mold test for $285.00. 

Mold is not something you want to play with because mold can effect your structural integrity of your home, cosmetic looks of your home and possible health issues for the occupants of the home.  I explained to my client from the Darien home inspection that mold inspections can save you money with construction costs and possible medical bills.

As you can see it is really up to you what you want to do.  If you think you have mold in your home and have more questions about how to precede then please contact  me at ~ The Mold Man or 312-961-4228.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Jim Kolke

Dust mites are in all the dust throughout your home.

  Is your home dusty?  You dusted yesterday and now your furniture is covered with dust all over again.  This is a issue most homes have because they dont know how to prevent the migration of dust through out a home.  The Hinsdale home inspection was not dusty by any means but when I looked at the return ducts and the service vents I could see dust all over the covers.  The covers and the inside of the duct will tell you alot about the health of a furnace.  There are couple ways of preventing a high dust count in your ducts, furnace and in your home.  

• Ducts will need to be cleaned prior to using any of the other methods are started.  If the ducts are contaminated with dust then you will need to remove all the dust with a use of a heating company that will perform a professional cleaning.  The cost for a professional duct cleaning is about $150.00 – $300.00.  My client from the Hinsdale home inspection had a child with asthma and was starting his dust reduction with this remedy. 
• Dusty unfinished basements are a big cause in the migration of dust throughout a home.  I suggest to build a room around your mechanical equipment to prevent dust and moisture from entering this room. 
• Furnace filters play a very important role in the control of dust throughout the home or property.  Cheap filters should not be bought at all.  Do you want to reduce your dust after you cleaned the furnace and ducts then use a quality furnace filter.   I only recommend 3M Ultra Alergen Filters.  I personally use them because as most of you know I have many dogs  which brings all kind of allergens.  This does not help for a guy that has all type of allergies.  Buy a good filter for your furnace.  Your worth it!

As you can see getting the dust levels in your home wont cost you thousands to get the wanted results.  I’ve heard that some of my past clients have spent thousands for dust reduction methods.  I asked my HVAC contractor about all these prices and they comes from a real HVAC contractor.  Many people try to use a handy man to perform these repair methods that end up costing them alot more in future repairs.  My client from the Hinsdale home inspection hired a HVAC contractor from Hinsdale, Illinois.    

So if you have dust follow these repair methods and you will definitely see results.  If you still have further questions about dust reduction methods then please contact me at ~ The Thermal Home Inspector or 312-961-4228.    

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.    

Jim Kolke   

Mold can cause all types of issues in your home and with your health.

  Think you have mold in your home?  You are right.  Every home has some type of mold.  Mold gets in your home through air movement from open windows and doors, pets moving in and out of the home, building materials left exposed while the property is being built.  Once mold has entered the home it may be dormant for long periods of time until moisture has been added  and allows the mold to breed.  The Glenview home inspection looked really nice to the naked eye.  Unfortunately, after we performed a mold air test the test revealed that in fact there was a high count of mold that was in the property.  There was no visual mold seen that would lead me to believe that there was a mold issues in the home.  Mold grows in many places and all it needs to grow is a food source, moisture and warm temperatures.  

Some of the best places to find mold are below. 

• Crawlspaces are notorious areas to find mold.  The crawlspaces can be dirt, concrete or gravel and will still have the opportunity to be a breeding ground for mold.  If the crawlspace is heated and the walls are not insulated the mold can breed on the dust perticles on the concrete walls or the wood floor joists.  You would never notice that there was a mold issues because you probably never enter the crawlspace.

  Wet crawl spaces are areas that mold can grow.

• Attics are known areas for mold to grow because bathroom fans are known to be vented into the attic.  These fans deliver moist air from the living portions of the home.  The air that is being delivered into the attic from the bathroom is generally from  shower steam and has a Relative Humidity 75% – 80% and will cause mold to breed on the sheathing in the attic.  Poor circulation in an attic also causes the air to have high RH values and in turn possible mold issues.
• Duct work in attics that don’t have insulation on it causes condensation on the exterior of the duct that may drip onto attic insulation or attic framing and allow mold to breed.
• Bathroom fixtures are notorious to have mold growing on them.  Tubs and their surrounds are known to have mold on them. 
• Basement window sills are known to be breeding ground to mold because the cold or hot air can enter the window and mix with the interior air and allow the moisture to come out of the air and condensate on the walls and sills of the windows.

These places are areas that I searched for water intrusion, air leaks and  mold colonies at the Glenview home inspection.  We did perform a mold test at the Glenview home inspectuion which did come up positive for several types of mold spores.  None of these types of mold spores were to a level that would cause concern. 

If you think you have a mold issues in your home and have questions on how to precede please contact us at ~ The Thermal Home Inspector or 312-961-4228. 

Thank you for stopping by and stay safe. 

Jim Kolke 

Dont let this be you!

  If you either own a home or are buying a home with a finished basement then you need to read this article.  When performing a home inspection in Downers Grove I found that not only did the sump pump not work but there was no battery back up sump pump to protect the basement from possible flooding.  Sump pump buying and installation is serious business when trying to protect your most expensive investment.  If you are in the market for a sump pump and a battery back up sump pump system then you want to buy the best you can.  Going cheap may cost you alot more money in the future on basement repairs.  Generally sump pumps cost about $200.00 to buy and only $100.00 to have a plumber to install it.  Most of my readers know that I’m a licensed plumber #J194988 and here are the things I look for when buying a sump pump and a battery back up pump system.

• Cast Iron bodies on a sump pump is a must.  Plastic is for toys!  There are many large manufacturers that sell these plastic pumps that are merely disposable units.  Zoeller pumps are the only pumps I use. Period!  Zoeller pumps are known in the plumbing industry to be the best and best value for the money.  Zoeller sump pumps are known to last up to 10years. This is a great example of a proper installed sump pump with a battery back up system.

   

• Replaceable sump pump switches should be a item that your sump pump should have.  These switches are known to fail with years of service.  Being able to remove the existing switch and replacing it for a new switch allows you to repair the pump instead of replacing it.
• Steel impellers are what allows the pump to pull water and solids through the pump body and out the discharge pipe.  Plastic impellers are known to snap off and break.
• Alarms on battery back up pumps are a must to allow you to know you have a issues with your sump pumps.  Sump pumps that do not have alarms will be useless if you don’t know you have an issue.

My clients from the Downers Grove home inspection were going to be in the market for a sump pump and battery back up system.  I suggested that they purchase a Zoeller sump pump and battery back up pump package.  This whole system can be bought for under $800.00.  This may sound expensive to you but a basement that has been flooded can cost $10,000.00 to repair.  Items that will need to be cleaned or replaced are below.

• Carpet may be dried but plan on replacing because it is now a breeding ground for mold and mildew.  Got allergies?
• Drywall will need to be cut up to the area that was not affected and replaced.
• Insulation in the walls will all have to be replaced.
• Furniture and electronics will all have to be disposed of if they have been contaminated.
• Labor to perform all of these replacements will be extremely costly.
• $10,000.00 – $25,000.00

Sump pump battery back up system sounds cheap now?  My client from the Downers Grove home inspection was sold on my idea of a Zoeller sump pump battery back system.  Even if you are not good with numbers you can easily see that not having a battery back up for your sump pump is insane. 

Hopefully this article helped you to make an educated decision like my client from the Downers Grove home inspection.  If you are still unsure about why this system should be installed in your home then please contact me at ~ The Thermal Home Inspector or 312-961-4228.

Thank you for stopping by and stay safe.

Jim Kolke