Welcome!

Did you know that there is a lot you can learn about the invisible world at your home on your own, sometimes with the purchase of a modest piece of equipment, sometimes with a modest fee for mold testing?

Years ago, I was contacted by a woman who said: "I don’t know if there is anything wrong with my house, but I have four children, and I just want to make sure all is well." Common sense!! At least it is if you are concerned about health, and you wouldn’t have landed here if you weren’t. How do you heal if your body is in an environmental battleground at home?

So! Are you ready to begin? Well, then, let’s get started! I will be your guide, and hopefully this website will be your mentor, as we explore the invisible environmental world at your home that could be impacting on your health and the health of your family.

Since most calls relate to mold, we’ll start there and then move on to other areas of concern that could be just as important, or more important, than mold at your home.

Two stories:

-- A woman called with the complaint that she couldn’t work in her basement office because she was being bothered by the mold smell. On-site, it soon became clear that it wasn’t mold she smelled but a significant gas leak.

-- A man called to report that he had had mold remediation done at his townhouse and, while some symptoms were better, he still had the most severe of the symptoms: brain fog, inability to concentrate, headache, and sleep issues. I checked the townhouse for mold, gas leaks, and formaldehyde/VOCs, but everything was fine. "Turn off your modem," I suggested. He turned off the nearby modem, and right away, the tightness in his brain let up. A week later he called to say that there were no more headaches or cognitive issues and that his sleep was much improved.

Let’s get acquainted!

My name is May Dooley, and I have been inspecting residences for 25 years, with some thousands under my belt. Most of my work comes through doctor referrals, Internet chat rooms, and word-of-mouth. As a former 8th grade science teacher, my inspections have typically been run similar to science classrooms, with students as participants. We ask questions and then use my equipment to look for answers.

What makes this website different?

This website tells you about tools to work with to get your own answers. No products are sold here, but sources are noted. There is no charge for this information.

How did this website evolve?

1. As a former science teacher, my goal from the beginning has been empowerment of my clients. I want them to have tools from our inspection to maintain a healthy environment for the rest of their lives.
   
   
2. During my initial studies, 25 years ago, I was taught a ton of details but didn’t know how to put them together. It took a year or two to finally feel comfortable with my inspections. Many times I thought to myself: "It doesn’t have to be this hard. Mentoring is the way to get someone up and running soon." Later on, I began to conceive of a mentoring website.
   
   
3. While there are many good websites out there providing environmental information of one sort or another, there was no basic site to go to which attempted to put it all together for the layperson: mold, indoor air, electromagnetic fields, and water quality issues. There was no such website with a do-it-yourself orientation. There was no such website that included instructions for buying and using a microscope. I wanted to provide that website.
   
   
4. So far, I have had few takers in the mold industry or among electromagnetic field inspectors to carry on with the full environmental inspection, including using a microscope, and so, my decision has been to take this information to the public.
   
   My clients get it. They know how important the full assessment is. Sometimes I have said, regarding mold, “Taking all these samples may be overkill, but I’d rather take too many than too few.” No client has ever disagreed. They have many times expressed gratitude for the depth of the investigation.
   
   
5. This website is a start. There are many other sources of on-line information, as well as readers of this site who know are experienced in construction, plumbing and heating, electrical, etc. You are welcome to make suggestions for additions/changes.
   
   
6. The need is so great. For the first time in one of my websites, I am including client testimonials from the past few years – to introduce you to fellow travelers, folk who may be well-acquainted with stress from health, financial, and relationship issues but who still have the curiosity, energy, and determination to make their home as good a healing environment as they can.
   
   

Perhaps some of you will "feel the call" and go on to learn and be local resources for others in need. This business has been recognized as "a ministry" by several of my clients … and indeed, I believe they are correct. I am humbled to be able to help, and I honor the many unsung heroes whom I have met at the homes it has been my privilege to inspect.

MOLD

Now, since we will be starting with the subject of mold, here’s a brief history of my evolution on mold inspecting.

Early on, some years before the mold industry began (around 2000), I was already inspecting. It seemed obvious that if I were to look for something that was often invisible, I had better use the best tool for whatever the issue might be. For mold, the best tool would be the microscope.

On my first inspection, I took tape samples to bring back to my office to look at under the microscope. I did that for the second inspection as well. But with those tapes, I said to myself, "If I were at the house, I would take a few more samples here or there." So from my third inspection on, I started bringing a microscope to homes.

There isn’t always time for using the microscope at an inspection, but clients are shown how to take tape samples so they can forward additional tape samples if needed.

Alas, what seemed obvious to me, i.e., bringing a microscope, is not obvious to the mold industry, which marches to a different drummer and consequently, can miss a lot of invisible mold. The mold industry is bound by submitting everything to a lab; consequently, the number of samples they take is limited.

Though I, too, submit air and surface samples to a microbiology laboratory for a paper trail as needed, my orientation is more towards health. The information I provide comes from samples studied in-house, with the in-house data presented for client information only. At an average house, we sample every room to look for patterns of dissemination and on surfaces to look for sources of mold growth. Between air and surface samples, we take 40-60 samples, compared to the 5-6 common with conventional inspections.

The mold industry is of course concerned about health, but equally important, it is concerned about delivering a report that would hold up in court. As one presenter at an indoor air quality conference noted, “The mold inspection business is built on lawsuits.”

I can understand an industry-trained inspector saying to himself, “I’m not a microbiologist. I’m not a certified laboratory. I don’t want the responsibility for in-house microscope analyses.”

If the inspection had a legal component, I would feel that way, too – though I would still be supplementing testing with in-house samples. Such inspections may be needed for pre-purchase information, for post-remediation testing, and for reports that will be used with insurance companies, for potential lawsuits, or other legal matters.

The trouble is, if all samples that should be taken were submitted for laboratory analysis, the lab fees would drive the cost of the inspection beyond the reach of many potential clients.

The answer to this dilemma is that taking samples is not a black-and-white matter. Pertinent samples could be sent for lab analysis, for the legal documentation; these would be supplemented by additional samples studied with an in-house microscope.

I happen to have training in microscope use from taking several microbiology courses during my college and graduate education, but even if I didn’t, it’s not rocket science to identify the most common types of mold in a house. It’s easy to show clients what the different molds look like under a microscope and then to show them that the mold found in their house looks very similar to X, Y, or Z.

Clients know that a sample could be sent to a lab to confirm our findings, but the findings are so self-evident that I have yet to have a client say, “Let’s also send that to a lab.”

This website will assume that most of the readers are not going to buy a microscope and will instead address how far you can get with common sense and with affordable tape identification. If you are having a conventional mold inspection done, you could supplement that with additional tape samples.

For readers who are interested in buying their own microscope, information is provided on that, too.

As stated above, it’s not all about mold. Other environmental factors potentially may be influencing your health. Maybe you will find something in or around your home that is even more significant than mold. So in addition to mold, we will address other indoor quality and water quality concerns, and will finish up with how to measure and reduce exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Years ago, I attended a mold conference in upstate New York. After one presentation, an attendee from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and I got into conversation. I shared how a dozen EMF (electromagnetic field) studies showed that exposure to various types of EMFs increased the permeability of the blood-brain-barrier, potentially, for instance, allowing mold gases more easier access to the brain (spoken by a home inspector, not a physician).

Her response was, “You won’t hear that at this conference. In America, inspectors measure. In Canada, we help people.”

DISCLAIMER

So, I’m glad you’re along for the journey!

Now come with me as we drive up to your home and see what we can learn outside before we proceed inside.