So You Discovered Mold in Your Apartment or Home. Here's What To Do.
So You Discovered Mold in Your Apartment or Home.
Cool, so did I!
A few months back I found a bit of a ✨problem✨ in my bathroom.
Mold.
The shower in my recently purchased house had tiles in the shower that were not sealed properly and water leaked into the drywall behind. With an old home (my house was built in 1880) these types of quirks are to be expected, but it was still unnerving.
And then I immediately panicked and didn’t know where to start remediation.
Active footage of me trying to figure out where to start with remediation.
Ultimately, Here’s What I Did:
First, I want to clarify that while I take mold very seriously, I am also not here to fearmonger with any absolutes (as in: you HAVE to move, you can’t do this/that/the other). I know you can get very sick from an infestation of mold, mildew, and fungus, BUT I am also not here to fearmonger or stress you out more (because that can make you sick too!). Thus, my approach to my mold scare comes from this perspective: taking it very seriously, but not from the standpoint of absolute terror, because…
Spoiler Alert: There is No Such Thing as a Mold-Free Home.
I hope this fact brings you a bit of relief. I know it did for me. Mold in your apartment, home, or car is to be expected. Mold is stressful and scary, but it is impossible to avoid completely. I say this because I want to present feasible solutions without exorbitant price tags (yes, I do realize some of the items mentioned are a little pricey, but they're not YOU NEED TO TEAR DOWN YOUR HOUSE pricey) with actionable ideas, products, and steps to feel safe in your home once again. I call my approach Mold-Lite. All of these action steps and ideas come from a place of love and approachable knowledge to help you make the best decision for you and your living space.
Biggest Priority: Air Quality Control
Installing ionizing air purifiers in rooms where the potential for mold is more severe, like a bathroom, hallway with lots of foot traffic, or a room where you have discovered mold in the past is a great place to start and your biggest priority when it comes to peace of mind and less stress on the body. Not to be confused with an air FILTER (I talk about filters below, keep scrolling) and air ionizer neutralizes germs, viruses, and spores, using an electrical charge and making them unable to proliferate in the space.
I like the Hypoair Germ Defender because it is affordable and uses ionized molecules to bond and neutralize positively charged pathogens in the air. With regular cleaning and vacuuming a Germ Defender is a fantastic defense mechanism. They are plug-in size and portable, which allows you to rotate and move them around your home or apartment, and you can travel with them as well (hotels are notorious for mold).
Hypoair also makes a whole house system that installs in your central air conditioning unit and connects to your HVAC system, creating a whole house ionizer called the Bi-Polar. I recently upgraded to this device and I am obsessed. Not only did it help with the musty smell in my basement, but it gives me peace of mind about the cleanliness of the HVAC system. Like the Germ Defender it neutralizes germs, viruses, and spores in the air flow system of the HVAC, essentially “cleaning” it whenever I run the fan on the system. It’s an investment, but there are no filter changes or batteries to replace. You’ll just need to hire an electrician to do the installation.
Air filters would be another great (and synergistic to the ionizers) step in ensuring your air quality indoors is optimal. Any HEPA-certified air filter within your budget will do. The synergy comes with the ability to filter small particles, a HEPA filter helps to remove them from recirculating (although they are now harmless). It also helps prevent dust accumulation, which also helps mitigate potential mold growth. I like Hypoair’s HEPA Snowflake Air Filter (Kendall10 gets you a discount on this as well) and this option from Amazon.
If a purifier or filter is out of budget, these candles with mold-reducing botanicals might be a good alternative. The POV on botanicals with mold is very polarized, some believe they are beneficial, while others believe they agitate the mold spores. I see the validity of both sides, but would much rather use botanicals to help my situation than chemicals, so I am a fan unless I find research otherwise to sway this decision.
A dehumidifier would be another suggestion to have in moist areas of the home, like a laundry room, basement, or humid attic. It’s also just great to have on hand for potential water leaks, so you can suck that moisture right out of the area. I like this one from Amazon.
Next Priority: Support a Healthy Home Microbiome
Closely piggybacking off the air quality control is a healthy home microbiome. Having a healthy assortment of bacteria in your home, apartment, or building, isn’t just a good idea, it’s essential. It’s an overused cliche but, just like our gut, we need to support an abundance of good bacteria in our homes. Cliche or not, it's SO true. And something that we completely overlook. VOCs, pesticides, dust, and, yes, mold all become a much bigger problem when the microbe balance of the home is off.
Here are some simple ways to support your home's microbiome:
shoes off policy indoors
lots of plants (Snake plants, pothos, aloe vera, and ferns are all easy to care for and hard to kill)
dust regularly
use all natural cleaners to not add to the VOC load. HypoAir’s Total Clean (Kendall10 gets you 10% off) is a gamechanger when it comes to cleaning. It’s iodine-derived, which is naturally antagonistic to mold, helps neutralize odors, not cover them up, and is non-toxic, unscented, with no harsh surfactants. (I also like Earhtley's cleaning line and Branch Basics).
If you're really concerned you could add in a home probiotic spray to help strengthen the beneficial strains in your home. I like Homebiotic Probiotic Home Spray because it is made with lab-tested soil strains of bacteria that are safe for children, pets, and plants, and are effective at creating a living barrier and population of “good” bacteria to help mitigate and prevent overgrowth from bad, opportunistic bacteria. The spray also helps with musty odors (when regularly applied).
Next, (And Probably the Most Controversial of My Mold Advice) Create an Inhospitable Environment in Hotspot Areas
Because sometimes friendly bacteria isn't enough...there are a few specific places where I want to make surfaces and environments that aren’t just unwelcome to mold proliferation, they literally cannot sustain any proliferation. The two sprays I use are the EC3 Mold Spray which uses citrus extracts and botanicals to create an inhospitable place for mold to grow. And the other is more of an anti-fungal spray, which is a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and 8 drops of high-strength oregano oil.
Both of these sprays can be a trigger (pun intended) for some in the mold world, as they believe you should never "kill" mold as it just agitates it further. But I say, if it helps keep proliferation at bay, I'm game. Plus, this isn't an everyday use item, I use this once a week at max and only in damp areas like showers and basements.
Also a note: lemon, tea tree, and eucalyptus are great substitutions for the oregano oil in the homemade spray if you're not too keen on having your bathroom smell like a pizza.
EMFs? We Don’t Know Her.
Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt conducted a study that showed EMFs, no matter if they are low-level or high-level radiation, exacerbate mold toxicity by almost 600 times after prolonged exposure. Not a very fun statistic to think about in our EMF-riddled world. Ideally I'd hardwire my internet and keep my phone on airplane mode as much as possible, but that's not possible for work from home life right now.
So! On top of charging my phone away from my bedroom at night, in airplane mode, I've added a Somavedic EMF harmonizer to help keep the agitation caused by EMFs in my home and surrounding environment (read: cell towers) to a minimum. And on top of that I have my WiFi router on a simple timer. Every night by 11pm my WiFi is shut off automatically just in time for bedtime!
And Finally, Strengthen the Host (That’s You!)
Along with breathwork, Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping, journaling, exercise, grounding, and sunshine, I am focusing on building up my resilience through mineral supplements, organ meats, and nourishing carbs. Here is my list of top priorities to focus on:
Magnesium: One of the most utilized mineral in the body and responsible for over 3000 ezynmatic functions, we burn through our magnesium stores 500x faster when stressed. It’s always a good idea to get magnesium, whether it’s in food form, supplement, or topically. in a spray or bath (Kendall10 saves you 10%).
Fulvic and Humic Acid: these ancient and soil-based minerals help strengthen digestion by detoxifying heavy metals out of your system, helping to tighten the junctions in your small intestine, and provide beneficial minerals to your gut bacteria. I love getting these minerals in Shilajit, or from Biofulvic (Kendall10 saves you 10%).
Support Immune and Histamine Tolerance. Minerals like copper and zinc both help to support your immune function and your DAO enzyme, which helps support a better response to histamine. I love the multi-organ supplement from Perfect Supplements, because in addition to being a good source of copper from all the beef organs in the formula, it’s also a great immune support because the blend includes thymus in the supplement, which is integral for immune support. Kendall10 saves you 10% on all Perfect Supplement products.
Adrenal Cocktail: Help support adrenal function (cortisol management) and proper hydration, which makes sure the other minerals you're ingesting are getting where they need to be.
Oysters and sardines: both are mineral powerhouses. Oysters are one of the best sources of zinc and sardines are a great source of selenium. Both help with immune health and detoxification.
Beef liver: is a great source of B vitamins and copper, both of which help regulate and support your nervous system, which is essential when handling a stressful situation (environmental or otherwise).
Sea Salt: great for hydrating your cells and providing more mineral spark plugs for your body's optimal function. It is also great for nourishing your adrenal glands, helping to mitigate excess stress in the body.
Opening detox pathways: supporting our body’s innate ability to detox unwanted visitors is always a good idea. My two favorite methods is 1. castor oil pack on my liver and 2. daily movement to keep my lymphatic fluid from becoming stagnant. Walking, stretching, and dry brushing are all great supports, but to really get a good lymphatic drainage, I opt for this vibration platform a few times a week.
In Conclusion, Mold Sucks.
Whether the mold is in your home, apartment, building, car, etc. It just sucks. And I hope these tips give you some relief, both in stress levels and mold levels. But a reminder: you were made for hard things and I’m rooting for you!
One Last Thing to Note:
If you're really struggling with health issues and feel like you've explored every option, I'd start looking at your home's health and if you have the HLA-DR gene. About 25% of the population carries a predisposition to mold sensitivity through the HLA-DR gene. This helps explain why some people react much more severely to mold exposure than others. Basically, this gene does not allow the body to recognize the invader and create the necessary defense to protect the body from the mycotoxins. A blood test can detect if you have this gene.
And if you do suspect a larger, systemic problem with mold in your apartment, home, heck even workplace, my best advice is to do an ERMI test of the dust in your environment and have the results analyzed by an expert. I recommend PJ Harlow.
I hope this information helps you and gives you some peace of mind as you deal with mold in your living space. I will continually update this post with new information, resources, and findings as I come across it as I deal with my own ongoing experience with mold!
DISCLAIMER
The information on this website is intended as educational advice only and should not be used in place of a medical provider to diagnose or treat any illness.
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