IAQ Radio

Joe Spurgeon, PhD - Can Airborne Mold Samples be Interpreted Objectively Using Numerical Guidelines?

This week we welcome back Dr. Joe Spurgeon to continue our conversation on the use of sampling as part of a mold inspection. We will focus on his latest paper and answer the question can airborne mold samples be interpreted objectively using numerical guidelines? 
 
Dr. Spurgeon has a multidisciplinary doctorate degree in Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Health from the University of Pittsburgh; and was a Certified Industrial Hygienist from 1993 - 2013. His career has included working as a research chemist on the NBS Lead-Paint Poisoning Program, directing the FAA's Combustion Toxicology Laboratory, performing Health Assessments for CDC/ATSDR, implementing US EPA's Laboratory Exposure Assessment Project, and working as a consultant specializing in microbial indoor air quality for US PHS. He has performed over 4,000 residential and commercial investigations involving water intrusions and microbial contaminants; has taught courses on mold investigations, sampling, and data interpretation methods; and has served as an expert witness in numerous mold cases. Additional articles from Dr. Spurgeon are available at www.bi-air.com. His books are available at http://expertonmold.com/ 

Flashback Friday - Lew Harriman & Terry Brennan Mason - EPA Moisture Control Guidance for Design, Construction and Maintenance - Original Air Date: 7-11-2014 | Episode: 333

This week on Iaqradio+ we flashback to a great show with Lew Harriman and Terry Brennan from 7-11-24. The EPA Moisture Control Guide is one of the best, if not the best document EPA has developed in 20 years. Terry Brennan and Lew Harriman join us to discuss the document and give us their thoughts on evaluating moisture issues in buildings. If you do not have this document in your library, get it, its free and your tax dollars helped to put it together. 
Terry Brennan was the lead author for the EPA's new Guidance for Moisture Control in Buildings. He is a founder and managing partner of Camroden Associates, a building science consulting firm located in Westmoreland, New York. He began his career as a physics major at Northeastern University, but some how, some way got diverted into building science, working on the earliest research into radon problems and radon behavior in buildings, and moving on to energy and moisture issues. For the last 40 years, he's spent more time crawling around damp basements and hot attics than most normal people would find pleasant. But in return for those decades of investigation, Terry knows a LOT about what makes buildings tick... how they go wrong... and how to make sure they don't.
Lew Harriman was a contributor to the new EPA guidance for Moisture Control in Buildings on the HVAC aspects of moisture control. He began his career as an architecture student at Dartmouth, but after five years as an Air Force officer, he went to work for a manufacturer of dehumidification systems, and got permanently diverted into HVAC engineering, where he's spent the last 38 years. He is the founder of Mason-Grant Consulting, a building science consulting firm located in Portsmouth, NH. He is active in ASHRAE as the vice-chair of technical committee 1.12 (Moisture Management in Buildings), and is an ASHRAE Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer.

What We Learned – Healthy Buildings Summit 2018 – Nate Adams & Radio Joe

This week on Iaqradio+ we welcome "Nate the House Whisperer" Adams back to talk with Radio Joe about "What We Learned... Healthy Buildings Summit 2018" (HBS 2018). This year was our 6th year putting together the Healthy Buildings Summit. Our Keynote speakers were Jordan Peccian, PhD and Jeff "My House is Killing Me" May. Yesterday Nate Adams and Radio Joe sat down to go over the presentations at this years event and discuss key points from each presentation. Both the Youtube version and our podcast are up now! We will return live next Friday at noon.
Nate is the founder of Energy Smart Home Performance outside Cleveland Ohio. He is the author of The Home Comfort Book; The ultimate guide to creating a comfortable, healthy, efficient and long-lasting home. Our thanks go out to Nate for attending the conference and for joining us to go over the highlights.

Nate Adams - The House Whisperer The Evolving World of Home Performance - Part 3: Building Science, IAQ & Insulation

Today on IAQ Radio we welcome "Nate the House Whisperer" Adams. Nate is the founder of Energy Smart Home Performance outside Cleveland Ohio. Today we conclude our 3 part series "The Evolving World of Home Performance". This week we will focus on Building Science, IAQ & Insulation. Much or what we will discuss today comes from Nate's excellent book, The Home Comfort Book; The ultimate guide to creating a comfortable, healthy, efficient and long-lasting home. Nate is knowledgeable, entertaining and always eager to share his ideas and unique perspective on home performance.
Nate Adams, Cleveland, Ohio based company Energy Smart started out as an insulation contractor for existing homes and evolved into doing Comprehensive Home Performance retrofits. These projects are somewhere between a simple attic insulation job and a deep energy retrofit. These projects are sweeping in scope with thorough planning process and careful attention paid to what problems the client wants to solve, what the house needs, and what fits within the homeowner budget. No two projects are alike. Through substantial air tightness and insulation upgrades, and sometimes HVAC replacement, homes are made far more comfortable.

Peter DeCarlo, PhD - Drexel University - What can Kathmandu teach us about HomeChem?

Dr. Peter DeCarlo is an Associate Professor with appointment in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, and the Department of Chemistry at Drexel University.  He is also an affiliate of the Urban Health Collaborative in the School of Public Health at Drexel University and an adjunct member of the Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. DeCarlo has a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Colorado, and a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame. He uses state-of-the-art instrumentation to measure the chemical composition of particulates and gases in indoors, outdoors, and in the laboratory to better understand the intersection between air quality, health, and climate impacts of human emissions.  He has made air quality and climate related measurements from planes, trucks, and stationary sites all over the world to better understand direct emissions, sources, and subsequent chemical reactions of pollutants in the atmosphere.
More recently Dr. DeCarlo has begun measuring the relationship between outdoor and indoor air pollutants, to understand transport of outdoor pollutants to the indoor environment, and to identify indoor specific sources such as residual tobacco smoke, and direct human emissions. He also is interested in the intersection of science and policy and was an AAAS Science Policy Fellow at the US EPA working on issues related to clean cookstoves in the developing world and public sharing of environmental data prior to starting his faculty position at Drexel.  Funding for his research comes from the National Science Foundation, Sloan Foundation, Electric Power Research Institute, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and the Department of Transportation. Dr. DeCarlo has co-authored over 80 peer reviewed publication and has been identified as a highly cited researcher by Clarivate Analytics (2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017).

Rusty Amarante, CR - Director of Operations BELFOR Property Restoration - An Introspective Interview & Fireside Chat Spanning 4 Decades in the Restoration Industry!

 
Rusty Amarante is a Certified Restorer and Director of Operations for BELFOR Property Restoration the global leader in disaster recovery. He is also President of the BELFOR Franchise Group a leading national franchisor of service brands including 1-800-WATER DAMAGE, DUCTZ International and HOODZ International.
Rusty’s career started in the 1970’s  in suburban Philadelphia, PA and has ranged from the owner of a small cleaning and restoration company that grew to a large regional full service restoration contractor before joining the BELFOR Team in the 1990’s. Over the past forty plus years he has been an IICRC instructor, state approved CEC trainer for the insurance industry and avid contributor and volunteer to the industry’s not-for-profit sector.
Rusty’s accomplishments and service include chairing RIA’s Restoration Council and ascending to the Restoration Industry Association’s Presidency in 2008. Rusty also has served on the IICRC FRST Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and served as Vice Chair for the Institute’s S500 Water Damage Restoration Standard. In 2006 Rusty received RIA’s most prestigious honor when he received  the Martin L. King Award.
From his early day’s in the 20th century to his global responsibilities of the last two decades with BELFOR, Rusty has been a tireless advocate for the professionalization of the industry. This week his  good friend and colleague Cliff Zlotnik, the Z-man  will have a “Fireside Chat” to talk about Rusty’s career, his relationship with the late Marty King and his insights into the future of the restoration industry.
Joining IAQradio this week for a seat by the “fire” is IAQradio’s Global Watchdog and Rusty’s longtime friend and RIA Industry Adviser Pete Consigli. Radio Joe Hughes asks all his IAQradio friends and loyal listeners join the show live this Friday for a very special interview with industry Icon Rusty Amarante and friends!

Jay Stake - IAQA President - A New Chapter in the IAQA Story; After ASHRAE & Hurricane Florence Update

Jay Stake is the new Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) President for 2018-19. He is also the owner of J&J Consultants a total indoor air quality assessment company and President of Structural Sciences, Inc. Structural Sciences provides indoor air quality consulting services to the relocation industry throughout North America. Mr. Stake uses a network of 269 inspectors to assist with the relocation of clients in the network. The majority of the inspectors in his network are IAQA members. He has been a member of the IAQA Board of Directors for 3 years and prior served as Vice Chair of the IESO before it became inactive under the ASHRAE umbrella.
 
Mr. Stake is going to give us the scoop on the upcoming transition of IAQA away from ASHRAE and to the new management company Association Headquarters (AH) of Mount Laurel, NJ. Jay believes that IAQA has to be very open with its membership and do a better job of keeping them informed about plans for the future. He joins us today to tell listeners about the next chapter in the IAQA story.

Karen C. Dannemiller, PhD - Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University - Understanding fungi, bacteria and chemicals in the indoor environment

This week on IAQradio+ we welcome Karen Dannemiller, PhD, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. Dr. Dannemiller's interdisciplinary research integrates engineering with microbiology and addresses emerging health challenges and environmental concerns using -omics approaches. Within the indoor environment, we are simultaneously exposed to thousands of chemicals and microorganisms which compose our indoor exposures, and these exposures are different from those of our ancestors. Broadly, the goal of Dr. Dannemiller's work is to understand these exposures, their sources, and their impact on human health. Her unique background combines training in both engineering and public health to tackle difficult questions, particularly with regards to exposures in the built environment where we spend 90% of our time.  
 
Dr. Dannemiller graduated with honors in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Brown University and earned her PhD at Yale University in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. During this time she completed an internship at the California Department of Public Health in the Indoor Air Quality Program. She also completed a Microbiology of the Built Environment postdoctoral fellowship.  Her work improved our understanding of human exposures linked to childhood asthma development and severity. Her research also elucidated resident microbial populations and fundamental transport processes occurring in homes. Dr. Dannemiller is currently an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and her current research is on microbial activity in house dust and health outcomes associated with early-life exposures to fungi. She is also working on the development of new system to detect formaldehyde indoors by coupling colorimetric badges with a Smartphone app.
 
In addition to a fundamental background in engineering and quantitative sciences, her skill set in microbiology includes phylogenetics, metagenomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics and allows for exploration of microbial communities and biological processes. Dr. Dannemiller has extensive experience with next-generation DNA sequencing of fungi and bacteria, and using this data she has also addressed relevant challenges in bioinformatics, including software development, and in statistics, to demonstrate complex associations with human health outcomes.

Steven M. Spivak, PhD - Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Maryland - An Interview with Industry Icon: Reflections spanning half a century of advising the world-wide Cleaning & Restoration Community

This week on IAQradio+ we welcome Steven M. Spivak, Ph.D., CText, FTI, FSFPE, FSES. Dr, Spivak is chair of the Cleaning Industry Research Institute International (CIRI) Science Advisory Council and professor emeritus of fire protection engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park. 
 
Dr. Spivak served as Technical Advisor for the Restoration Industry Association formerly known as ASCR International for almost 4 decades. In that role his monthly column called Technical Topics in C&R magazine was a favorite with RIA members. Dr. Spivak has authored a book on Standards and Best Practices. He has written extensively on textile construction & chemistry and fire protection codes & practices.  Spivak's writings serve as an authoritative resource for the dry cleaning and laundry industry and code officials and building developers. 
 
IAQradio is pleased to follow up on our interview with Dr. Spivak from a decade ago to update our listeners from his post RIA technical advisory role, to chat about the science of cleaning and restoration and in his role as CIRI's Science Advisory Council chair.

Mike O’Donnell - Ben Umberger - Assessment & Restoration of Contents Affected by Smoke, Water, Mold & other Contaminates

The restoration and remediation industry has evaluated, cleaned, dried, deodorized and restored building structures, contents and high value possessions after fire and water losses, other catastrophic events and damage related to a wide range of contaminates for over half a century. The building restoration sector of the damage repair and remediation industry has a long history of established procedures, standards and certification criteria dating back to fire restoration’s early roots in the 1960’s to the development of standards for water damage restoration in the 1990’s.