Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep. # 111 The Hidden Dangers of Mold: An Expert’s Insight
Did you know your home might be harboring mold that could compromise your health? In our latest episode, we sit down with Daniel Smith, the president of Smith Environmental Solutions, for an enlightening discussion about indoor air quality and mold. Drawing from nearly two decades of expertise in the field, Daniel illuminates the often-ignored aspects of mold that every homeowner should be aware of.
From his roots on a historic dairy farm to running a successful environmental business, Daniel shares his journey, underscoring how childhood experiences shaped his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to safe living environments. Together, we explore the various types of mold, their potential health impacts, and why understanding mold and air quality is crucial for your well-being.
We delve into key topics such as identifying mold problems, the vital role of professional testing, and the misconceptions surrounding black mold. If you've ever wondered how air quality can affect your family's health, this episode is a must-listen. Daniel provides actionable insights on what to do if you suspect mold in your home, how to interpret testing results, and when to seek professional help.
Don't let mold compromise your indoor haven! Tune in, get informed, and take the right steps to protect your home. Join the conversation and be proactive about your indoor air quality. Subscribe to receive more engaging discussions like this one, and leave a review if you find our insights helpful!
Smith Environmental Solutions
Daniel Smith
6906 Brachnell View Drive Charlotte, NC 28269
704) 964-7681
daniel@smithenvironmentalsolutions.com
smithenvironmentalsolutions.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. My name is Regina and I'm broadcasting here in South Charlotte and my favorite thing to do is talk with local business owners, and today I'm excited to introduce Daniel Smith. He is the president of Smith Environmental Solutions here in Charlotte. Welcome, daniel.
Speaker 3:Hello how you doing.
Speaker 2:I am very well, thank you. So you and I met a few years ago and I'm so excited to reconnect. I really love what you do. So first let's start and tell us a little bit about yourself your upbringing and how you got into this industry.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, thank you, regina, for this opportunity. I really do appreciate it. I grew up on a farm farm in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is regarded of one of the oldest operational dairy farms in America, sits on about a thousand acres of land and it's about a few miles, I will have to say, north or east of the Jamestown settlement. So a lot of history. Growing up, we hear people and their family and history, and then to actually be part of a part of history, always, whenever I get a chance, I like to tell people that. So my dad always had an entrepreneurial spirit. He sold Amway, he sold Sick 50. He had us as children licking stamps, putting a dollar in. So entrepreneurship has always been part of my life. But I just didn't.
Speaker 3:Air purifiers and selling those and doing mold testing in a very unproficient way to try to sell an air purifier, and later on I just kind of figured out how to do it more effectively where the market needed it to be. So that's how mold testing started. I started this journey in 2005. So in April I mean, I'm sorry, in June of this year it will actually be 20 years that I've been in this industry, actually be 20 years that I've been in this industry. So thank you, yeah, thank you. So again, just testing residential commercial buildings over the past 20 years. You know, they say if you know 10% more than the next person, you're an expert. So I feel like I'm an expert in this field with helping my clients, and from that the business has just grown to cover North South Carolina and we're looking to have some presence in Virginia towards the end of this year.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing. So you are family owned and operated. This is your business.
Speaker 3:Yes, my business started from scratch. Yes, my business started from scratch.
Speaker 2:That is incredible. As a allergy sufferer, you know, I've always wondered how do you test a house for mold and all the things you are looking for to improve air quality?
Speaker 3:So one thing people need to understand is that hiring a professional that understands and number one, to listen to the client, because you, as the homeowner, the occupier of the environment, you're going to tell a story greater than the building. You call me out, I come out to the home and you say, hey, every time I wake up I'm having problems, but I don't experience it anywhere else. Then I know that my focus point is going to be in the room that you are experiencing the issue. So I'm going to try to look for things. People need to understand that mold is sometimes viewed well. Mold is viewed in two ways. It's viewed from a, from a growth standpoint that requires water, oxygen and a food source, and then it reproduced by releasing seeds in the air. So those two things have to be incorporated in the identification of mold and also to help a client understand the severity of their air quality.
Speaker 2:Can you share how that testing what that looks like?
Speaker 3:Yes so say, for instance, I come into a home and we find mold growing in a bedroom and we noticed that it was a roof leak. So we can identify by taking a surface sample. From the surface the lab would tell us what species it is. Then we will take an air samples and the goal is to try to see if that species has released spores in the air that the client is breathing, because, again, one test doesn't tell about the other tests. So we try to incorporate both and let the client know hey, there is mold growing, and two, this mold has released spores into the air. And then we write recommendations on hey, you might want to get a roofer to come out here and take a look at it, because you have to fix the water problem first before you actually start cleaning it up, because if not, it's going to regrow. And then you know, we also sometimes will write a protocol for the restoration companies on how to clean it, not just the surface but also how to clean the air.
Speaker 2:So, other than mold, what are some other things that you find that affect air quality?
Speaker 3:Some of the most common is household dust, insect feces, insects in general, pet dander, pollen, even to the degree of they call PM25, which is particulate matter, like when you cook and you see the steam coming off your food. That's actually not water, that is gases coming from the particular food and that can have an impact on poor indoor air quality, amongst a lot of other things. But the most common is mold, radon, and then, you know, sometimes we can test the dust for common allergens. If the client has been to a doctor and said, hey, the doctor said I'm allergic to this, then, depending on what the environment looks like, we can take a sample for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm just thinking about my own house, where I was suspicious. Does insurance ever cover any of the repair process or how you remedy this?
Speaker 3:can cover certain secondary actions. So basically an example of if a roof, if a tree falls on your roof and water damages your ceiling and mold grows, the insurance company will cover. That will cover my services underneath their investigating. Insurance has line items. So homeowners need to say, hey, I want to have it investigated for mold and nine times out of 10, the insurance company will cover it if it's covered underneath that loss. But if you've been in a house for 10 years and nine of those years you've noticed mold on your ceiling and you try to call the insurance company, they're going to come out and they're going to say, hey, this is negligence because it's been in your house for nine years and we're not going to cover any of the testing, anything of that nature.
Speaker 2:That's crazy, yeah, so. So signs of Mulder, obviously you can see it, but is, I suppose, sneezing and allergies and things like that? I mean, how do you know if you need to call you?
Speaker 3:So one of the first signs is we call it sick building syndrome. So basically a client will call and say hey, every time I'm in my house I'm coughing, I'm sneezing, I don't know what it is, but when I go to my mom's house I don't have these effects. The minute I come back into my house I'm starting to feel these effects. So because mold spores are allergens, they create an allergenic reaction. So that just lets me know. The first thing of you might need mold testing because, again, you're not seeing the mold spores. And then again, if people are noticing a lot of dust on their surfaces, their ducts probably need to be cleaned and we can inspect inside the duct systems to see if there's fungal growth and accumulated dust. And the things that we find inside your actual duct systems will be surprising to a lot of people. I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Do you guys do the cleaning or do you turn that over to another company?
Speaker 3:We turn it over to another company. What we've tried to do in the past is turn it over without doing any kind of post inspection. But we've turned a new leaf to try to improve the quality of air. And when people think about quality assurance, who is advocating for these clients? You're spending $800, $900 and having these professionals do these type of work and no one is checking behind it, and then you're suffering years and years or months afterwards and what we try to do is try to offer that service to our clients even though there's a cost associated to it. However, we feel that is very necessary. Whether it's mold remediation, whether it's duct cleaning, any type of service that is trying to improve the indoor air quality, we always recommend what we call a PRV, a post-remediation evaluation, and that just ensures that you have somebody working on your behalf to make sure that these services are done correctly.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes a lot of sense and I guess it would also put your mind at ease. Are there any misconceptions when you talk with potential clients that you hear?
Speaker 3:All the time. All the time. The number one thing is the word black mold, and I just want to let people know that majority of molds are black and the black mold with the quotation marks in the front and the back is geared to one particular type of species and that species is called stachybotrys. It has the potential of producing toxic spores because what happens is that when mold grows and is very volatile when it comes to infiltration, so mold creates a defense mechanism against other mold species to protect them from growing. So it's that defense mechanism that causes a person to have a reaction to it. So when we say the potential, any mold spores can have the potential of causing someone to be sick or have allergy type symptoms. So it's not because the black mold is growing that you are going to be affected. So the myth or the misconception is that black mold is growing that you are going to be affected. So the myth or the misconception is that black mold is going to kill me.
Speaker 3:Black mold I got to tear down my house. Black mold, that's not it. You need to make sure that your structure is okay. How much water damage? And if someone tells you that they have black mold in your house without testing it, or if they tell you you have mold in your house in general without testing it. You might want to be wary of that, because that's not the proper way of doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it just came to mind. If you're buying a house, maybe it makes sense to have a mold test done before you make an offer.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that is good, just like anything else. And I will, you know, tell the listeners that there are a lot of home inspectors that are offering mold testing, meaning air testing, and I'm on the fence about that, because what happens is that they're not certified into explaining the results to you and what they will tell you, Just like they'll tell you if you have a roofie leak, if you have plumbing issues, consult in a professional. So don't spend the money on someone that is not going to tell you or explain to you about the test results, because it's just not beneficial. If you want to have a mold inspection done, think about it from. I want to see if it's there and I also want to see if it's in the air. But I also need to understand the results, because it can be daunting when you look at the results and see the numbers and then have a person tell you I don't know. You got to consult with somebody, so I just try to let my clients know. Don't do that.
Speaker 2:Well, you've got a lot of wisdom here and very knowledgeable. I see now why you have so many five-star reviews.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:So, before we wrap up, tell our listeners how they can find you.
Speaker 3:Great, it's been a pleasure talking with you all today. People can find me on all platforms social media, linkedin, instagram, facebook. Just type in Smith Environmental Solutions. You can contact me phone number 704-453-1262. Or you can email me at daniel at smith environmental solutions dot com, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only handsome guy that you'll see up there with the name, so you'll definitely find me easy.
Speaker 2:Well, too bad, our podcast isn't visual, so we could share that it's been a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker 3:Thank you Likewise.
Speaker 2:Thank you Likewise, congrats on your major success.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPSouthCharlotte. com. That's GNPSouthCharlotte. com, or call 980-351-5719.