How to Mold Your Current Job into the Perfect Career

Sometimes, no matter what our mantra is about loving our job, we just have to admit that it's hard to figure out how to get our career moving in the right direction. And we all know we're not getting any younger. Here are a few tips in molding your current job into the perfect career.

Little Steps Rather Than One Big Stride
Aiming for a promotion? Then start early, by doing things a litle bit better each day. Don't compete with your next-cubicle workmate; compete with yourself, and try to exceed your own expectations.

Learn from the Experts
Instead of envying workmates who has made it big in the company, try to learn from their experience. They'll be more than flattered to impart advice.

Get a hold of technology!
The office is no place for techno-phobes. Learn everything you possibly can about the software needed in your field, and you'll quickly make yourself more marketable. But don't limit yourself to just one software. Study other software because you never know when you're going to need them.

Keep Learning
The world we live in is fast-paced and new knowledge and information is transformed every second. Don't let your education stop the moment you leave school. The world is the much bigger arena for learning, and it pays to explore and keep learning. Those who are stagnant lose out early.

Turn your officemates into allies
Sound relationships with your workmates lead to better office productivity. Instead of perpetually competing with them for the top of the ladder, try to turn them into allies and teammates. When it comes to promotion time, it's not just skills and knowledge that matters but work ethics too.

Read a lot
Especially books that teach and update you in your fields of interest as well as in others. Pay attention to the quality of what you read, and before you know it, you would have added precious knowledge to your arsenal.

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Barbara Thorp is an article contributor for Jobs section of OzFreeOnline.com

The Dangers and Benefits of Mold in Real Estate Deals

I bought a house with a very leaky roof about the same time I completed a training course on mold rehab and remediation. As luck would have it, Jeanne Townsley-Smith, the teacher of my course and a Certified Mold Remediation Specialist, wanted to make an offer on the house two years earlier when it was still an REO (Real Estate Owned by the bank). But it was a war zone full of mold and priced too high for the condition of the house.

While hearing from Jeanne how moldy the house was two years ago, I wanted to know what was under that fresh coat of paint the bank impressed me with when I bought the house. Was it a cover up? What did I really buy? Jeanne and I were both curious to see how bad the "hidden mold" had become.

From Jeanne, I learned mold can be both beneficial and dangerous. I learned mold is necessary to fight bacteria, but it can be hidden well enough that it makes people sick without their knowledge. Although some types of mold only agitate allergies, other types can be toxic to humans and pets. The toxic molds that are commonly found in houses that have had water damage can cause serious health problems.

Mold can also be visible enough to scare away buyers, renters or lending companies for potential investors. Although I didn't see any mold when I purchased my house with a leaky roof, I wanted to know if my house contained the hidden version.

Jeanne and I decided we would have a mold rehab training class in my new house. During a six-hour training course, Jeanne and her partner, Mark Murrison, armed us with all the personal protective equipment we needed: tyvek suits, goggles, gloves and respirators.

The students and I didn't think we would find much mold as we started removing the drywall from the kitchen ceiling. We were wrong. The exposed back side of the drywall was covered in black and gray mold, mold that been feasting on the paper backing!

As a result of our discovery from the ceiling, Jeanne wanted to remove the kitchen cabinets because possible mold growth and damage might be hidden behind the cabinets, the wall and the plumbing. I thought the cabinets were worth keeping until I saw what was behind them: water marks and mold six to eight inches high around the entire perimeter on the back of every cabinet.

Even though the drywall behind the cabinets didn't have much visible mold, we removed it anyway. They were WORSE! We discovered that the condensation line from the AC had been draining on the floor for many years. The water that laid there was wicked into the drywall. When it never dried out, mold grew. And grew and grew. It grew three to four feet high on the drywall.

And the bank painted over it!

An unsuspecting family that might have liked the kitchen cabinets would probably never have known...until they couldn't breathe.

Now that we uncovered the mold, we had to clean it up. But not with bleach. Bleach actually wipes the head of mold off and bleaches it white. When it's white, you can't see it anymore. Only it can still reproduce and make it hard for you to breathe.

The mold infestation in the kitchen made me wary of the rest of the house, especially the bathroom. It had been completely remodeled by the bank before the sale. They installed a new vanity, toilet and tub with surround. The bathroom, as well as the whole house, was freshly painted. But what was this paint covering up? Only removing the drywall in the bathroom will reveal the answer.

Morals of the story: 1) If you buy a house with a mold problem, use it to get an even deeper discount. 2) Suspect freshly painted houses by the bank. 3) Get trained by Jeanne at the Mold Institute Protocol Training Institute.

Deb McMillan, OPHP, CMI, is a real estate investor and writer, living in Hamilton, Ohio, and has written a home study course on Short Sale Success Systems detailing how to get deep discounts from the bank when buying pre-foreclosures. She teaches about bankruptcy and what you can and can't do once a homeowner files. Log on to http://www.shortsalesqueen.com for more information on how to make your deals close

Mold in the Kitchen can be the Result of Plumbing Problems

Some people believe that mold is a basement problem or possibly it will appear on an outer wall. The facts are mold is not that choosey, it will happily develop anywhere the conditions are right. Leaky plumbing will make the inner part of the lower cupboards moist. The wet wood is exactly the kind of base for fungus to grow on. There are molds that will grow on wood, ceiling tiles, wallpaper, paints, carpet, sheet rock, and insulation. Mold spore are everywhere just waiting to grow. There is no real way to get rid of all mold and mold spores from your home. The only way to control mold growth is to control the moisture level in your home.

There are many pieces of plumbing in the kitchen that can spring a leak. Either the supply lines or the drain lines can erode and begin to weep then drip and finally run. Often these growing problems go unnoticed until the last stage. Longstanding moisture from the weeping and dripping is all the water necessary to provide the growth conditions. Now do not get in a panic if you have a pipe spring a leak and you catch it in a week or so. It is very unlikely that this would be long enough to establish a mold culture.

When you find a leak there are a few basic steps to follow. First close the water supply valve to the area. There is probably a zone shut-off valve or for that area of your home. If the valve does not stop the water close the main water valve for the house Now mop up the water and dry out the area, maybe use a fan if there is a lot of moisture. Now address the leaky item. If the faulty part is a faucet or a supply riser line, you will be able to replace it yourself. However if it is one of the soldered in pipes, you may be well advised to hire a plumber to replace it. Often amateurs will create more problems when trying to solder new pieces into old pipe systems.

Some repairs are easier to do than others are. Many just take time and some are a major hassle. Particularly difficult are those that involve working on pipes that are hidden behind walls or under floors. If in doubt wire a professional. If a small section of a line springs a leak, it is likely that the whole pipe needs replacement. Fix all plumbing problems immediately it is best for the home.

If you keep on top of moisture problems and run your kitchen fan whenever cooking causes steam, you should never have a mold problem in your kitchen. This not only saves you money but more important, it is healthier for you and your family.

Jim Stewart has been involved with home construction and improvement for over 40 years as a tradesman, contractor and site supervisor and has seen the entire spectrum of home improvement. Jim is a student of the industry and gladly passes on what he has learned. Jim is now the also the publisher of http://www.best-kitchens.com/ and http://www.Basement-Central.com/

Jim can be contacted at Homes42005@yahoo.com

How to Use Do-It-Yourself Toxic Mold Test Kits

 

How to Use Do-It-Yourself Toxic Mold Test Kits

VANCOUVER, CANADA. Many homeowners, landlords, renters, property managers, business owners, and employees want to know, and need to know, the precise identities of the various toxic mold species inhabiting their home, rental property, or place of work, according to Phillip Fry, Certified Mold Inspector and author of the mold book Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing, and Remediation.

To identify correctly toxic mold species, take these two steps: (1) use do-it-yourself mold test kits to collect mold samples during a thorough and complete building mold inspection and investigation; and (2) send the collected mold test samples to a mold laboratory for mold analysis and mold species identification.

Testing Visible Mold Growth

If a resident or occupant sees mold growing on a wall, ceiling, floor, heating or cooling duct register, or any other surface, he can scrape mold particles off the mold growth area onto the sticky surface of the opened mold test kit.

During such scraping of the mold growth, the tester needs to wear rubber gloves and a full-face respirator mask with organic vapor filters (such as the 3M brand from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store) to protect against toxic mold exposure.

To do the scraping, use a new or thoroughly disinfected (with ethyl or rubbing alcohol) paint scraper. Disinfect the scraper after each individual sampling to remove any possible mold contaminants, and thus avoid mold cross-contamination in the sampling process from one sample location to another.

Print clearly and neatly on a large pressure sensitive label the property owners name, the property address, the precise test location at that address, the testing date, and the type of sampling method (mold test kit settling), time duration of the test (e.g., thirty to sixty minutes) along with the testers name and contact information.

The label should also include each individual test number, as listed on the mold chain of custody form, available free from the mold laboratory. Attach the label to the bottom of the mold test kit that contains that respective, numbered mold sample.

Mold Testing of the Indoor Air

Use a separate mold test kit to collect a mold sample from the air of each of these areas---

1. Heating/cooling duct register. Expose the sticky side of an open mold test kit (one for each duct register) to the outward airflow from each separate heating/cooling duct register. Tape the open test kit to the duct grill so that the airflow directly hits the sticky surface.

Run the heating/cooling system on fan ventilation for 10 minutes prior to removing the mold test kit from each tested duct register. Then close, seal, and label each mold test kit.

2. Room Air by the Settling Method. Mold test the air of each room, attic, basement, crawl space, and the garage by first running a cleaned fan to stir up each room or areas air all around for about 15 minutes.

Thoroughly clean the fan blades and fan guard with rubbing alcohol or ethyl alcohol after the fans use in each separate testing location.

Then shut off the fan, open up a mold test kit, place it open side upwards in the middle of the room [on the floor, or upon a table or chair] for thirty minutes to one hour to allow airborne mold spores to settle down onto the sticky surface of the mold test kit.

Be sure to use the same time for all air test locations for the standardization of the mold test results. Then close, seal, and label the mold test kits.

3. Outdoor Mold Control Test. The mold lab results of the indoor mold tests have the most significance when the results of each indoor locations testing can be compared with the results of the outdoor mold control test.

The control test should be a mold test kit left open on the ground outside the building and at least five feet beyond the drip edge of the room. Use the same time (thirty minutes to one hour) that was utilized in the indoor air tests for the settling method tests. There should be no rain or snow falling.

Self-Interpretation of Mold Test Kit Results

The tester can then either watch the test kits himself for mold growth, with self-interpretation of the mold test kit results, over a seven day time period, or send the mold test kit to the mold lab immediately, or after the self-observation growth period.

Here is how to self-interpret the visible mold growth in the mold test kits after seven days of mold growth---

1. If the tester observes and count a greater number of mold colonies of any particular mold colony type (possessing the same or similar color, shape and/or structural pattern) growing in one indoor mold test kit than in the outdoor control mold test kit, then the tester can reasonably decide that there is a possible indoor-generated mold infestation in the area/location involved in that particular mold test.

2. If the tester observes a particular mold colony type growing in a particular indoor mold test sample that is NOT present in the outdoor control mold test, then the tester can reasonably conclude that there is a possible indoor-generated mold infestation in the area/location in which he conducted that particular mold test.

3. If the tester observes three or more of the same mold colony type growing in one mold test kit, then the tester can reasonably conclude that there is a possible mold infestation in the area/location in which he conducted that particular mold test, regardless of the number of similar mold colonies present in the outdoor control test.

Why is that conclusion possible? Consider this rat analogy: if there are only three rats living inside a particular area of ones home or building, is there no indoor rat problem just because there are more rats living immediately outside of the home or building?

It is the time-cumulative exposure and body intake of even modest numbers of indoor airborne mold spores that makes residents or occupants sick from mold exposure. Because residents or occupants spend many hours per day indoors in a home or workplace, they are continually inhaling or ingesting mold spores.

When the mold spores enter into the residents eyes, nasal/sinus areas, lungs, stomach (eating and drinking food and beverages upon which airborne mold spores have landed), or open body sores, the mold-spores, once inside the body, can begin dangerous mold growth inside the body because of the abundance of body moisture and food to eat (peoples bodies)!

4. If the tester observes three or more of the same mold colony types in several or many mold tests taken from different areas of the home or building, the tester can reasonably conclude that the mold species is possibly widespread in its contamination of the tested home or building.

The most dangerous mold species to residents and occupants are the molds that are omni-present through out the home or building, thus causing widespread, cumulative mold exposure and body intake.

For more information about the use of mold test kits, mold laboratory analysis, and mold species identification, please visit---

http://www.moldlab.biz
http://www.moldinspector.com
http://www.moldmart.net
Mr. Phillip Fry is a Certified Mold Inspector and a Certified Mold Remediator. He is the author of the ebooks Mold Health Guide and Do-It-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing and Remediation. He also co-authored the another ebook known as Mold Legal Guide.