I responded to a post on toxic mold and became curious as to how I might be exposed to it. I have a crawlspace which I seldom enter and I haven’t given it much thought until now. The crawlspace is wet or at least damp and has a mildew odor associated with it and there is a sump pump installed. I have no doubt that there is mold and mildew down there, but I never thought it could enter my living areas. I have a oil burner forced hot air system of which the air ducts are installed in the crawlspace and I thought it was a sealed system. Boy was I wrong! Today I placed a high volume heavy duty fan at the entrance to the crawl space. The crawlspace has 5 vents which are always open. I didn’t attempt to seal anything off. I turned the fan on and checked the crawlspace vents on the outside and I could feel the air being forced out of the crawlspace so I knew there was enough pressure from the fan. What surprised me was that after a short period I could smell the crawlspace odor in my living area. I checked the hot air vents and I could feel the air being force through it. I thought the air vents were a sealed system, wrong. The fact is that any mold or whatever in the crawlspace was entering my living areas through the hot air vents and doing it throughout the year. I can’t say for sure that the mold is making me ill, but there is the possibility and I will take steps to remedy the problem.
Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.