Here is your February 2005 HomeTeamKC Report!

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Here is your February 2005 HomeTeamKC Report!
February 15, 2005

Your HomeTeamKC Report

February Issue: Mold and Radon
^©2005

Hi,

Welcome to the February issue of The HomeTeamKC Report. This monthly report provides REALTORS^® and Homeowners with helpful information about residential homes from a home inspector's perspective.

This month we are providing you with some practical and informative documents that relate to two of the more common environmental issues that you encounter – radon and mold.

These documents should answer most, if not all, of your and your clients’ questions and concerns regarding these issues.

Be sure to view past issues of The HomeTeamKC Report archived on our website. Over time we are collecting there an extensive library of short lessons on the workings of a typical house.

Thanks for your interest and call or email us anytime with any questions you may have.

Mike
The HomeTeamKC

P.S. If you have problems viewing this newsletter in your email browser, click this link to view this and past newsletters from our archives.

P.P.S. Only a few of our agents are obtaining the CBS (call before showing) codes from the listing agent. I have a SUPRA key, however, as an affiliate, I can only access an I-Box with the CBS code. Each I-Box has a CBS code assigned to it. Obtaining the CBS code can save you time, and is a great backup if you are running late to an inspection. Thanks.

What you’ll find in this issue of
the HomeTeamKC Report:

·This Month’s Featured Topic
·Quick Access to Our Most Recent (January 2005) Pricing Sheet
·Monthly List
·Knowledge is Power

Radon & Mold

Much mis-information is perpetuated about the radon and mold issues. The documents below can set the record straight. They are all produced by the EPA, and are the standards for homebuyers and mitigation. We have also included links to Spanish versions of the guides.

Suggestion for agents: You can burn these onto CD and/or e-mail to your clients when deemed pertinent. If you wish to print them, click on the 'Print Version' link at the top of each document for better printer formatting. Your quick access to these documents will not only provide accurate answers to your clients’ questions, but will further position you as a valuable resource.

Radon

Radon is estimated to cause about 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year, according to EPA's 2003 Assessment of Risks from Radon in Homes (EPA 402-R-03-003). The numbers of deaths from other causes are taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1999-2001 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Report and 2002 National Safety Council Reports.

The Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon answers important questions about radon and lung cancer risk. It also answers questions about testing and fixing for anyone buying or selling a home.

Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon in Spanish

Consumer's Guide to Radon Reduction. You have tested your home for radon, but now what? This booklet is for people who have tested their home for radon and confirmed that they have elevated radon levels --
4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) or higher. This booklet can help you:

Select a qualified radon mitigation contractor to reduce the radon levels in your home
Determine an appropriate radon reduction method
Maintain your radon reduction system

Mold

HomeTeamKC Report on Mold

Molds are usually not a problem indoors, unless mold spores land on a wet or damp spot and begin growing.
Molds have the potential to cause health problems.
Molds produce allergens (substances that can cause allergic reactions), irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances (mycotoxins).
Inhaling or touching mold or mold spores may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Allergic responses include hay fever-type symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, and skin rash (dermatitis).
Allergic reactions to mold are common. They can be immediate or delayed.
Molds can also cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold.
In addition, mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and non-allergic people.
Symptoms other than the allergic and irritant types are not commonly reported as a result of inhaling mold.
Research on mold and health effects is ongoing.

The following brochure provides a brief overview; it does not describe all potential health effects related to mold exposure. For more detailed information consult a health professional. You may also wish to consult your state or local health department.

A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home. This Guide provides information and guidance for homeowners and renters on how to clean up residential mold problems and how to prevent mold growth. Molds can gradually destroy the things they grow on. You can prevent damage to your home and furnishings, save money, and avoid potential health problems by controlling moisture and eliminating mold growth.

A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home in Spanish

Return to Table of Contents

Monthly List

EPA RECOMMENDS:

If you are buying or selling a home, have it tested for radon.
For a new home, ask if radon-resistant construction features were used and if the home has been tested.
Fix the home if the radon level is 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) or higher.
Radon levels less than 4 pCi/L still pose a risk and, in many cases, may be reduced.
Take steps to prevent device interference when conducting a radon test.

Knowledge is Power

The Power of Exercise

Having recently attained the big 5-0 age, and with my wife close behind (yes, she’d love me sharing that), we have gained a new interest in nutrition and exercise. You kept The Home Team so busy the past couple of years (thanks!) that some good habits and regimens went south. Now, I realize that few, if any of you, have reached the same old age as me, but there’s nothing like getting a head start on things.

Three of our favorite books we’ve read in the past couple of months are:

Younger Next Year, A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond, Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D.

The Perricone Prescription, Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

Trans Fats, The Hidden Killer In Our Food, Judith Shaw

Here’s an excerpt from Younger Next Year:

It goes like this: Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life. Sorry, but that’s it. No negotiations. No give. No excuses. Six days, serious exercise, until you die. Well, if you’re still in your forties and stretched to the breaking point with work, kids and travel, we can talk about four or five days, but six is much better even then. And after age fifty, six is mandatory. By then the tide is starting to pick up, and you need help staying off the rocks. In fact, my version of the rule would have been “Exercise hard six days a week,” but Harry convinced me that that would scare the horses.

This is not an exercise book for geezers. It’s not an exercise book at all. And it is at least possible that Harry’s First Rule is not our most important piece of advice. But it is the first rule. Living up to it, and seeing the early results, spins your head around. It opens you up to seeing the Next Third of your life differently. It gives you the strength, the optimism, the flexibility to do the rest. It is the bit of magic that changes you from the tired old loser you might otherwise become into something quite different. Once you get this trick, you can do all the rest.

The notion of constant exercise seems crazy, but it’s not. The tide is the crazy thing in your life. Think about it again. Here is this wack-a-doo tide, right inside your own precious body, that wants you to get old and fat and sick and stupid. Wants you to fall down, talk nonsense, get hurt…get the sniffles, get the blues. Wants to sweep you up on the beach, where the gulls and the crabs are waiting to eat your guts. That’s what’s crazy. Doing something about it is sane. Exercise is sane."