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 Mobile ViewAIR CONDITIONING & HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS - INSPECT, TEST, REMEDY ACCEPTABLE MOLD LEVEL ACCURACY OF VARIOUS MOLD TEST METHODS ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT INDOOR MOLD AIR POLLUTANTS, COMMON INDOOR AIR TEST FOR MOLD: ACCURACY AIR TEST SAMPLING CASSETTE STUDY AIRBORNE MOLD SPORE COUNT ACCURACY ALLERGEN TESTS for buildings ALLERGY TESTS for PEOPLE ALLERGY TEST ACCURACY ATTORNEYS and EXPERT WITNESSES ATTIC MOLD BASEMENT MOLD BASEMENT MOLD WATER IMPACT BATHROOM MOLD BROWN HAIRY BATHROOM MOLD BIBLIOGAPHY for ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, MOLD, IAQ BIOLOGICAL POLLUTANTS Bisphenol-A, BPA BLOWER DOORS & AIR INFILTRATION BLOWER FAN OPERATION & TESTING BLUE vs YELLOW COMBUSTION FLAMES BOOKSTORE - ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING SAFETY HAZARDS GUIDE Cadmium in the home CAR MOLD CONTAMINATION CARBON DIOXIDE - CO2 CARBON MONOXIDE - CO CACTUS FUNGI / MOLD CARPET DUST IDENTIFICATION CARPET MOLD CONTAMINATION CARPET PADDING ASBESTOS, MOLD, ODORS CARPET FUNGICIDAL SPRAY CARPET STAIN DIAGNOSIS CARPET & other STAIN TESTS CARPET TEST PROCEDURE CARPETING & INDOOR AIR QUALITY CARPETING, SELECTION & INSTALLATION CLEARANCE INSPECTIONS - MOLD CLEANUP DIRECTORY of MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS DUCT SYSTEM & DUCT DEFECTS DUST ANALYSIS for FIBERGLASS DUST SAMPLING PROCEDURE EMERGENCY RESPONSE, IAQ, GAS, MOLD EMF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS & HUMAN EXPOSURE ENERGY SAVINGS in buildings Fiberboard Insulation Sheathing Mold FIBERGLASS HAZARDS FIBERGLASS INSULATION MOLD FIND MOLD in BUILDINGS, HOW TO FLOOD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, SAFETY & CLEANUP FUNGICIDAL SPRAY & SEALANT USE GUIDE GAS DETECTION & MEASUREMENT GAS EXPOSURE EFFECTS, TOXIC GAS EXPOSURE LIMITS & STANDARDS GAS TEST PROCEDURES HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS HEATING SYSTEM ODORS HOUSE DUST ANALYSIS HOUSEWRAP AIR & VAPOR BARRIERS HIDDEN MOLD, HOW TO FIND HUMIDITY CONTROL TO PREVENT MOLD HVAC DUST CONTAMINATION STUDY INDOOR AIR QUALITY & HOUSE TIGHTNESS INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE AIR CLEANER PURIFIER TYPES Air Filter Effectiveness Air Filtering Strategies Air Pollutants, Health Effects Air Pollutants, Common Indoor Air Pollutants, Finding & Reducing Asbestos Hazards BACKDRAFTING HEATING EQUIPMENT BIOLOGICAL POLLUTANTS BLUE vs YELLOW COMBUSTION FLAMES BLUERAY Recall BUY PRODUCTS for MOLD & ALLERGY CONTROL CARPETING & INDOOR AIR QUALITY CHINESE DRYWALL HAZARDS Combustion Appliance Contaminants Fireplace & Woodstove Contaminants Formaldehyde Hazards GAS EXPOSURE EFFECTS GAS EXPOSURE LIMITS & STANDARDS Gases, Quick Guide to Indoor INDOOR AIR HAZARDS TABLE INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, KEY STEPS INDOOR COMBUSTION PRODUCTS & IAQ Lead Exposure Hazards LP & Natural Gas Safety Hazards LP & Natural Gas Pressures METHANE GAS SOURCES Natural Gas Combustion Products ODORS, Smells, Gases in buildings Particles in Indoor Air - Chart Pesticide Exposure Hazards Radon Hazards Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation UFFI URETHANE FOAM Deterioration, Outgassing VENTILATION, BALANCED VENTILATION, BALANCED HEAT COST SAVINGS VENTILATION, EXHAUST ONLY VENTILATION, SUPPLY-ONLY VENTILATION, WHOLE HOUSE STRATEGIES Volatile Organic Compounds VOCs INDOOR AIR QUALITY METHODS COMPARED LEAD POISONING HAZARDS GUIDE LEED GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION Legionella BACTERIA & HVAC Equipment METHANE GAS SOURCES MEDIA BLASTING for MOLD REMOVAL METHANE GAS SOURCES MICROSCOPE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY MILDEW in BUILDINGS ? MILDEW ERRORS - MOLD PHOTOS MILDEW REMOVAL & PREVENTION MOISTURE CONTROL in BUILDINGS MOLD: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO MOLD MOLD ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT MOLD MOLD ACTIVITY in buildings MOLD AGE - Old is the Mold? 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What is in house dust? This article discusses analysis of building dust or house dust to trace its origins and to sort out whether or not dust problems are caused by the building HVAC system. A client called about an ongoing dispute with an HVAC contractor who had recently installed new heating and air conditioning equipment and duct work in her home. Mysterious thick "blue dust" was appearing throughout the home, reappearing soon even after vacuuming and cleaning. InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers nor with topics or services discussed at this website.© Copyright 2012 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use page top links to major topics or use links at the left of each page to navigate within topics and documents at this website. Green links show where you are in a document series or at this website. Killer house dust - a case history: Mystery dust identified as cotton, ending dispute with contractor
Our photo illustrates a common finding in house dust, an occasional fungal hyphal fragment along with mostly non-fungal granular debris such as road dust particles. Usual components of house dust include skin cells and fabric fibers. Individual occurrences or infrequent occurrences of individual spores in air or dust samples are usually, but not always, insignificant. Significance may depend on the context of the investigation. For example we may find low levels of a not-normally-airborne spore such as Stachybotrys chartarum in a building after demolition and remediation during a mold cleanup job - probably not a concern. Finding the same particles in a home that has not been properly cleaned might indicate a need for a more careful investigation. While there were no serious health complaints nor people at unusual medical risk, the occupants were concerned, and believed that something in the ducts or air handlers was causing a problem.
Now about our client's dust concern, while the dispute had been going on for months, at the time of this call no one had performed a forensic examination of the dust itself. The client mailed me a representative sample of surface dust from the home. Here's one way surface dust can be easily collected and mailed. Readers should see these related articles: INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE, see ALLERGEN TESTS for buildings, see CARPET DUST IDENTIFICATION and CARPET PADDING ASBESTOS, MOLD, ODORS and CARPET TEST GUIDE and CARPETING & INDOOR AIR QUALITY and and CARPETING, SELECTION & INSTALLATION; See MOLD: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO MOLD; also see ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS - INSPECT, TEST, REMEDY for our full list of environmental hazard identification and remedy related to buildings. We'd be concerned about finding high levels of problematic mold spores, and I'd not like to find a lot of fiberglass in the sample either, both because it may be a health concern and because it'd argue for sloppy work by the contractor. House dust from an occupied home contains lots of stuff, usually dominated by skin cells and fibers from clothing and upholstery or carpets. Animal dander, particularly from dogs, cats, or mice, may be present at high levels too. In inner-city apartments I find lots of insect fragments as well, possibly cockroach allergens. And everybody's dust can be expected to have traces of dust mites, usually their fecal pellets. By examining the pellets I can often determine what the mites are eating, for example mold spores. Forensic Microscopy Basics for Particle & Fiber IdentificationThe dust sample was examined for homogeneity and then prepared for a look at high magnification in my lab, using both ordinary and polarized light, along with special microscope light wavelength filters, and combination of an index of refractive index mounting liquids combined Becke line analysis to measure the refractive index of particles. These methods can quickly separate out synthetic fibers such as Orlon or Nylon, as well as distinguishing typical road grit and fiberglass. Remarkably the dust sample from this West coast home was unusually clean. The sample was 90% cotton fibers, mostly blue with a few red ones included. There were incidental (not statistically significant) wool fibers present too. Skin cells were another 8% of the sample, and typical drywall dust and road dust made up the rest. The sample contained no mold spores, no fiberglass, no heating fuel combustion products, no ash, no paint droplets, in other words, it was cotton from a mostly blue fiber source. This dust source was certainly not from the heating system components. Without making a site inspection we can still offer some useful speculation: Look for something new in the home, carpets, drapes, upholstery, bedding, We would guess that mechanical disturbance like foot traffic, vacuuming, or other activity was combining with air movement from the HVAC system to spread dust around. Naturally, an investigator is a lot smarter when on-site than when speculating by telephone or email. But in any case, this was the end of arguing with the HVAC contractor who was clearly not at fault. See CARPETING & INDOOR AIR QUALITY See STAIN DIAGNOSIS on BUILDING INTERIORS and STAINS on buildings - QUICK GUIDE and STAINS on INDOOR SURFACES: PHOTO GUIDE as well as STAINS & Thermal Tracking. See Black stains from animals for details about pet stains on building floors (urine) and walls (various) and see Pet Stains on Walls for diagnosing stains such as the black marks left by pets on walls. Readers should also see STAINS on Indoor Surfaces: PHOTO GUIDE and for outdoor stains, see STAIN DIAGNOSIS on BUILDING EXTERIORS Questions & Answers regarding this articleQuestions & answers about what is commonly found in house dust Ask a Question or Search InspectAPediaHTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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