Jason Earle

Bear with me...

I know your pulse isn't quickening with the thoughts of drywall, but this is important. Chances are, it's in your house and will be in every house you live in for the rest of your life. You might want to know what the walls are made of.

There's no doubt that the quality of home construction has dropped precipitously over the years. Cheaper materials and shoddy practices became the rule rather than the exception.

One of my mentors is fond of saying that we now build self-composting homes...just add water.

Sadly, he's right! We practically construct our homes out of paper mache.

Part of the problem is the type of drywall that's used in 99% of new home construction.

Drywall was at one time considered an amazing innovation. It revolutionized the construction industry by creating a low-cost, high-speed alternative to plaster. And it reduced the need for skilled labor. (Look where that's gotten us. Bring back the artisans!)

What we now know is that for all of the benefits of drywall as a building material, it also has serious drawbacks. For example, it is the food on the buffet of building materials from which mold most likes to eat. Even "green board" and other mold or moisture-resistant products are susceptible. The problem lies in the fact that normal drywall is just a sandwich of really absorptive gypsum (a very soft mineral) and paper. When it gets wet, the gypsum drys very slowly and after a few days mold starts to eat the paper, which is made of cellulose; mold's favorite meal.

The recent surge in awareness about mold has caused the drywall industry to create all sorts of new paperless wallboards, like Georgia-Pacific's Dens-Armor Plus. Great stuff. I did my whole house in it. Instead of paper, there's a thin sheet of woven fiberglass wrapped around a very dense gypsum filler within that has additives that keep it from absorbing moisture. Only a few bucks more than regular drywall and worth every penny. It's highly mold and moisture resistant. It was the best stuff going...

Well, just when I thought I was ahead of the curve by using Dens-Armor Plus (and promoting it liberally on our websites...at cocktail parties...Lamaze classes...you name it), around the bend comes a very cool company in Sunnyvale, California called Serious Materials, and they are likely to turn the building materials industry on its ear. At least, I hope so.

The CEO, Kevin Surace, spoke at the most recent TED conference, which is one of the most elite gatherings of brilliant minds on the face of the earth. Only 1000 invitations go out. Nobody gets to speak for more than 17 minutes, no matter whether you're Bill Gates or Steve Jobs...or anyone else for that matter. Watch it below, if you like. In fact, dig into the other TED talks on the site when you have a spare 17 minutes to enrich your existence. There's something there for everybody. You'll thank me. Guaranteed.



Their new drywall product, EcoRock is not only made from 80% recycled materials, but you can actually recycle it later on down the road (think: renovation) if the need arises. And, of course, one of the main reasons I'm writing about it is that it's the most mold resistant wallboard on the market while emitting (almost) zero harmful chemicals, unlike most wallboards (surprised?) which often emit nasty gases.

In fact, I sent around an article a while back that I wanted to post on this blog, so here's the chance. You might remember hearing about the Chinese drywall that's in a ton of houses in Florida that were built during the boom.



This stuff is beyond nasty. The gas it emits stinks of rotten eggs, corrodes air conditioning systems, destroys electronics and makes people unbelievably ill. Read what Consumer Reports has to say about it. The only solution is to rip it all out and start all over again.

They should do everyone a favor and replace that toxic stuff with EcoRock. In fact, its priced about the same as regular drywall and it's 1000X better. So why not?

It's a no-brainer!


IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: I do not get paid by Serious Materials...I just love them.

Check 'em out. Even if you don't get excited about cool building materials like I do, you'll still dig how innovative they are. They're doing well by doing good. America needs more companies like this; benevolent capitalists. We're BIG fans of that.

Make it an amazing day!

Jason Earle
Founder/CEO
Mycelium Holdings LLC

Labels: chinese drywall, dens-armor plus, drywall, ecorock, got mold, gypsum

Well, here it is...our new blog.

As you might expect, there will be the typical mold-related updates that you've come to know and love (Ok...well, maybe not love. That's a bit of a stretch...) but, perhaps more interesting to most, through this blog we'll deliver snippets about emerging and innovative products that contribute to healthy living indoors, amongst other things. There's so much great stuff coming out all the time.

Also, you'll surely see company updates as we continue to expand the GOT MOLD? companies. Some of those announcements are in the oven. And they smell awfully good. We're excited to share them with you soon. Nothing half-baked for you in the offing here.

Speaking of smell.

The FDA has just pulled Zicam off the shelves because of concerns that the zinc in it might cause anosmia (loss of the ability to smell).

As you may know, Zicam is a widely used OTC medication for the relief of cold symptoms and sinus problems. Unfortunately, far too many people suffer from sinus problems as a result of their indoor environment (Click here to read about the connection between mold and chronic sinusitis) and choose to treat the symptom instead of the cause, which is often indoor allergens such as mold and the other byproducts of dampness, like dust mites.

Mold growth indoors has been linked to some of the most prevalent long-term illnesses in America including chronic sinusitis (37 million people), asthma (23 million people) and allergies (25 million+). The big question is this: How many people are taking medication to treat a symptom when what they really need is to do is take a closer look at their home and workplace?

Mold growth can occur quickly. According to the EPA, it only takes 24-48 hours for mold to start sprouting when things get wet. So act quickly.

And with all the rain lately, it's more likely than ever.

Remember: If you smell a musty odor, you can be sure that stuff is growing.

When in doubt, get mold testing done.

Professional testing can cost thousands and is sometimes inconclusive. That's why we created the GOT MOLD? Test Kit. For a fraction of the cost, you can test your air in your home or workplace with the same devices professionals use. You'll get a report in 10 days and if something unusual is detected, you can deduct the $99 cost of the kit from the price of a professional mold inspection performed by a 1-800-GOT-MOLD? (where we have inspectors available).

One caveat:

If you think hidden mold is the issue, you might be right. If so, no amount of non-invasive professional testing will help root out all of the hidden stuff unless a four-legged mold detective is brought through the door along with the two-legged inspector to help sniff out the source. Since our test kit uses the same tools as professionals and we haven't figured out how to get a Mold Dog into a FedEx box, our test kit has the same limitations that professional inspectors that don't use Mold Dogs have. Nonetheless, if we have an inspector in the area, you may still always deduct the cost of the GOT MOLD? Test Kit from the price of the mold inspection, even if nothing unusual is detected with the kit.

Anyhow...

Now that I'm done plugging our kit and the dogs, thank you for taking the time to read our first blog entry.

More to come.

Make it an amazing day!

Jason Earle
Founder/CEO
Mycelium Holdings LLC

Labels: allergies, asthma, got mold, mayo clinic, mold, mold dog, mold inspection, mold test kit, sinusitis, zicam