WHAT BUILDING OWNERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MYCOTOXINS
With a number of unsavory individuals overselling their expertise about mycotoxins, this month we want to educate our readers on this topic. Here’s what building owners need to know about mycotoxins, including their potential danger to humans and the best way to remove mycotoxins from your building.
WHEN PSEUDOSCIENCE COMES FOR MYCOTOXINS
Have you ever walked out of a meeting or a presentation thinking, “What a bunch of hooey!”That’s how quite a few of my colleagues felt —not once, but twice! — after attending presentations on mycotoxins at this year’s Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) Annual Meeting & Expo. Organizers of this event aim to allow only the best people in their respective fields to present, but sometimes things fall short.
THE RISK OF LEAD EXPOSURE IN REMEDIATION
For most of human history, lead was a popular material in art and construction, thanks to its extreme malleability and corrosion resistance. Ancient Egyptians used lead for sculptures and pottery glazes. The Greeks lined the hulls of their ships with lead. And the Romans used lead to build their elaborate water systems. Found in everything from roofing to makeup, lead’s widespread use resulted…
CONFERENCES, CRUISES, AND COVID-19
Summer is almost here, and I know many people are planning their summer vacations. I’ve already taken my big vacation this year, and I must say, it was a pretty great trip. This past February, I went on my very first cruise. Talk about timing. To be clear, I booked this trip back in 2019, well before COVID-19 began popping up all over the world.
Between 2000 and 2019, the number of reported Legionnaires’ disease cases in the United States rose by 800%. This disease is caused by the Legionella bacteria and kills over 10% of people infected. Almost 10,000 cases of legionellosis (an umbrella term for two illnesses caused by Legionella bacteria) were reported in 2018 alone. This deadly waterborne disease is …
THE BEST NAME FOR A CRAWL SPACE DOG
This month, I want to talk about something that has been described to me as the “most terrifying” part of a building: the crawl space. In early February, I got a call from one of my clients asking me to come out to El Paso to do an air quality survey in a building near the border. This job came with a stipulation that I would have to go into the crawl space …
CHRISTINE WILLIAMSON PUTS BUILDING SCIENCE IN YOUR HANDS
Christine Williamson is a building scientist who made it through architecture school, in her own words, “by the skin of my teeth.” Learning to be an architect is famously difficult, but Christine suspected, quite correctly, that learning architecture would be very different than actually working as an architect.
LET’S TALK ABOUT IT!
Social media is one of the biggest time wasters humanity has ever invented. You can open an app to check your updates after dinner, and suddenly it’s past midnight! That said, of course I’m on social media. It’s 2020 after all! There are two forms of social media I use: LinkedIn and Instagram. LinkedIn is a good opportunity for me to learn about …
ARE YOUR TENANTS BREATHING IN BAD WATER?
When the day’s stress gets to you, taking a deep breath can help you find a sense of clarity again. However, if that breath is taken near an untreated hot tub or in a building with a dirty hot water tank, you could be inviting deadly bacteria into your body.
WHERE IS TRAVIS THIS MONTH?
In February, things get low. The humidity gets low, the temperature gets low, and the number of occupants’ complaints gets low as well. This means I’m not as busy in February. After the busy year that was 2019, I’m okay with that. A low February means I get to take a vacation.