FROM THE INSPECOR: JACOB MERMIN

St. Pete Road Trip, “A desperate call for help”

This blog is a true story and occurred on the dates stated. I am writing this blog because this family was at the end of their rope. They had spent thousands of dollars trying to make this their dream home, only to feel like they are allergic to it. I believe that this is happening all over Florida. A lot of people do not know why they don’t feel well. Hopefully it will encourage someone to make that “Desperate call for help” and start living healthy again.

This blog post will be in five parts.

Part one is an introduction to the situation I encountered.

Part two is the Chinese drywall visual inspection and the indoor air quality inspection.

Part three is the testing that was required for these homeowners.

Part four is the testing results.

Part five is the recommended remediation and conclusion

After each section I will give a tease of the next section. This blog posting will start on my Active Rain blog and continue to my blog at my website at www.mermininspetions.com. All those starting at my Blog on Active Rain please follow the link to my website and click on the blog button and go to “The Inspector’s Corner” From the inspector. It will be titled “A St. Pete road trip, A desperate call for help”

Part one:

The initial introduction:

I received a request from a homeowner to perform a Chinese drywall visual inspection and a HVAC and indoor air quality inspection of their home located in St. Petersburg, Fl. During the week of the 23^rd of November this homeowner called me and expressed her concerns that she may be suffering from the effects of the chemicals associated with Chinese drywall. Though the home was built prior to 2003 which is thought to be the beginning of the time period when Chinese drywall was first used, she was concerned that Chinese drywall may have been used in the recent remodeling.

I then proceed to ask her about the condition of the HVAC system and if she new any of its background. She explained to me that the entire duct system had been replaced but the original air handler was still being used. This air handler was located in the attic above the garage. They then took a few pictures of the inside of the air handler and sent them to me for my opinion. I inspected the photos and found that the blower wheel was infested with major microbial matter. Other pictures showed that the interior of the air handler

was full of microbial matter. I suggested to them that the Chinese drywall was the least of their worries and that I would concentrate on the indoor air quality of their interior environment. The homeowner relayed a story to me about a trip to Atlanta where she felt so good she was able to take a nap. She explained to me that she was never able to take a nap at the St. Pete home. I conveyed to her that this was a common thing. A lot of people have expressed that they felt a lot better health wise when they left their home.

I then suggested to the homeowners that they contact a local Certified Mold Inspector to come in and inspect their home for indoor air quality issues. I also recommended that they have a visual Chinese drywall inspection just for their peace of mind. I let her know that I would be available to answer any questions they may have over the telephone because my office is in Lee County Florida just south of them. A few days later the homeowner called me back and explained that she couldn’t find an inspector that she felt comfortable with. At this time she requested that I come up there and do an investigation. Even though it was a two hour drive to St. Petersburg I felt obligated to make the trip and help them anyway I could. We decided that I would go up there on Monday the 30^th of November.

I proceed to perform a complete visual Chinese drywall inspection using the checklist I developed almost 10 months age. The conclusion of my visual Chinese drywall inspection was that there were no visual signs of the effects caused by the chemicals generally associated with Chinese drywall.

Next posting:

I inspected as much duct work as I could get to…….

The blower wheel inside the air handler was completely impacted …….

I would like to give the HVAC contractor the benefit of the doubt………..

Tags: air testing, evaporator coils, lab testing, mold inspections

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under From The Inspector, Mold Inspection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.