Need advice on condition of furniture

[Curiouscrave]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I'm here in hopes of finding some expert advice on the condition of older furniture in regards to mold and mycotoxins.

About ten months ago I inherited some furniture. I have 3 tables from the 1940's my grandfather built, an old cedar chest, a wood display case, and two wooden/upholstered chairs. When I received them they were in bad condition. I refinished all of them (cleaning, sanding, staining, sealing). I also steam cleaned and sun dried the two chairs wood/upholstered. The past couple months I've been fighting some illness and my doctor believes I am being exposed to mold somehow. My house is brand new, built just ten months ago and I am pretty positive there is no mold there as i have done several mold tests.

As I was evaluating everything I started to wonder if the old furniture was the problem. I know all the furniture was stored for many many years in a basement that had flooded. Even though I don't see anything furry or fuzzy growing maybe there are dead mold spores or mycotoxins coming from the furniture. There is some discoloration in certain areas of the wood but my husband says that is were the wood has aged.

I am open to any opinions or knowledge anyone has on dealing with this issue. I would hate to have together rid of the furniture but should I get rid of it?

Thanks so much.

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[Jim Katen]

I suggest that you take all of the suspect furniture and place it in a climate controlled storage unit. Then see what happens to your symptoms. If they go away, introduce one piece of furniture at a time back into the house. Then see what happens to your symptoms.

In this way you should be able to identify the offending object or objects.

[Stephen Lagueux]

What Jim said.

What kind of flooding was it? If the basement was clean and got flooded because of a broken pipe, you can salvage the furniture. On the other hand, if the flooding came from surface water from outside the house, porous material such as wood furniture and especially upholstered furniture should have been discarded.

If the furniture was not affected by water but was only exposed to aerosolized spores, you could get rid of it by hepa vaccuming it and thorough cleaning. In that case, I'd suggest to talk to an IICRC cleaning specialist.

[Curiouscrave]

I suggest that you take all of the suspect furniture and place it in a climate controlled storage unit. Then see what happens to your symptoms. If they go away, introduce one piece of furniture at a time back into the house. Then see what happens to your symptoms.

In this way you should be able to identify the offending object or objects.

Thank you for your thoughts I think that is a great idea! That is what I am going to do. So hard to understand how wood works and how mold or mycotoxins live on it. I'm uneducated on the topic and have no experience with this kind of stuff.

[Jim Katen]

I suggest that you take all of the suspect furniture and place it in a climate controlled storage unit. Then see what happens to your symptoms. If they go away, introduce one piece of furniture at a time back into the house. Then see what happens to your symptoms.

In this way you should be able to identify the offending object or objects.

Thank you for your thoughts I think that is a great idea! That is what I am going to do. So hard to understand how wood works and how mold or mycotoxins live on it. I'm uneducated on the topic and have no experience with this kind of stuff.

For the record, I don't believe that mold or mycotoxins have squat to do with your problem. But there are other things that could be going on. Simple trouble shooting is one way to narrow down the search for the problem - if there really is an environmental cause to your problems.

[Curiouscrave]

What Jim said.

What kind of flooding was it? If the basement was clean and got flooded because of a broken pipe, you can salvage the furniture. On the other hand, if the flooding came from surface water from outside the house, porous material such as wood furniture and especially upholstered furniture should have been discarded.

If the furniture was not affected by water but was only exposed to aerosolized spores, you could get rid of it by hepa vaccuming it and thorough cleaning. In that case, I'd suggest to talk to an IICRC cleaning specialist.

Ok great suggestion thank you! It was surface/ storm flooding. It was a sears home from the 40's my grandparents built. Not sure if the basement had a severe mold problem but I know when the house was sold recently they found some mold back by the furnace in a wall but they said it wasn't bad. Whether they found all the mold or not is unknown. The furniture was in the basement for a couple decades. Really cool vintage stuff a lot of it handmade by my grandfather. I've spent a lot of time and money fixing it all up. I figured attempting to educate myself on this stuff would be worth it before I tossed it.

[Curiouscrave]

I suggest that you take all of the suspect furniture and place it in a climate controlled storage unit. Then see what happens to your symptoms. If they go away, introduce one piece of furniture at a time back into the house. Then see what happens to your symptoms.

In this way you should be able to identify the offending object or objects.

Thank you for your thoughts I think that is a great idea! That is what I am going to do. So hard to understand how wood works and how mold or mycotoxins live on it. I'm uneducated on the topic and have no experience with this kind of stuff.

For the record, I don't believe that mold or mycotoxins have squat to do with your problem. But there are other things that could be going on. Simple trouble shooting is one way to narrow down the search for the problem - if there really is an environmental cause to your problems.

Absolutely I have the same suspicion that mold has nothing to do with it but i gotta go through the laundry list of process of elimination I suppose.

[Jim Baird]

You should search for the nearest Antiques Roadshow and stand in line for 16 hrs minimo and rely on their "experts'" opinions.

[Curiouscrave]

You should search for the nearest Antiques Roadshow and stand in line for 16 hrs minimo and rely on their "experts'" opinions.

[:-thumbu]Lol ill wait till I die from mold then let my ghost stand in line with the sentimental junk. [:-monkeyd

[Tom Raymond]

An eternity in line at the Antiques Road Show is a level of hell I didn't realize existed until now.

[Jim Baird]

An eternity in line at the Antiques Road Show is a level of hell I didn't realize existed until now.

A few years ago my wife and I went to see the Dalai Lama at Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, where his Holiness holds a professorial chair at Emory University.

A large crowd had gathered prior to the opening of the gates and we stood in a line of several hundred stretching down a sidewalk.

A car pulled over from the passing traffic and the occupants asked if we were in line for American Idol!