© Copyright 1999 by Carl E. Grimes. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, including all artwork, line drawings, charts, tables and illustrations may not be reproduced or stored in any form, including electronically or digitally, without the written permission of the author. Editing by Avery Hartley Marketing and Communications. Typography, format and cover design by Mel Typesetting. Original “healthy house” and “sick house” line art by Debra Bond. Coloring of houses on cover and other original line art by Joanie Barbier Studios. Illustrations on pages 56-60 and 117 by Ed Nies. Printing by Millennia Press. Disclaimers: This book contains no medical advise and should not be substituted in any way for the appropriate medical care of a healthcare professional. The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely by the author and in no way or manner are meant to be specific advice for the treatment of any condition, medical or otherwise. In fact, the whole point of the book is that each individual must take personal responsibility for their own health and well-being. Personal stories are composites drawn from the author’s experience of his clients and do not apply to or identify any one specific individual. The two exceptions are on pages xxx and xxx. These are edited versions submitted to the author. The names have been changed to protect the subject’s privacy. Healthy Habitats® is a registered trademark of Carl E. Grimes. Electrete® is a registered trademark of 3M. Hysurf ® is a registered trademark of Dupont, Inc. Table of Contents Acknowledgments . 5 Introduction . 11 1 - My Starting Points . 21 Opening Remarks . 21 First Successful Help . 22 Back to Work . 23 My Next Starting Point . 25 Expanded Starting Points . 26 2 - Your Starting Points . 33 3 - A Medical Starting Point . 39 4 - Complaint Equation . 49 5 - Susceptibility and Exposure . 53 Public Safety . 54 The “Bell Curve” . 55 Which Bell Curve? . 58 Implications . 61 Sources of Authority . 63 6 - Starting Point Difficulties . 69 7 - Personal Impact Rating (PIR) . 79 8 - Sources and Their Removal . 85 Particles . 87 Living Organisms . 92 Chemicals and Odors . 97 9 - Medieval Monsters - Modern Dilemmas . 103 10 - Evaluating Products and Services . 117 An All-Too Typical Scenario . 118 First the Process, Then the Technique . 120 Techniques for the Process . 123 Vacuum Cleaners . 123 Air Purification Devices . 126 Cleaning Products . 133 Disinfectants and Pesticides . 134 Duct-Cleaning Services . 135 Carpet Cleaning Chemicals and Services . 139 Testing . 142 11 - Evaluating a House . 145 Assume the House Is the Cause . 145 Change the Interactions . 146 Consider What You Haven’t Done . 148 Timing . 150 12 - “Stealth” Sources . 153 13 - “Stealth” Impact . 169 14 - Walking Through a House . 175 15 - Your Personal Plan . 185 Connecting the Points, Closing the Loop . 185 Your Goal . 185 Your Starting Point . 185 Explore Your Territory and Experience Your Habitat . 187 “Draw” Your Map . 189 Establish a New Starting Point . 189 Establish Boundaries and Limits . 189 Execute the Cleanup and the Changes . 191 Evaluate . 191 Repeat as Necessary . 193 What About Shortcuts? . 194 16 - How to Stop Being A Victim . 197 17 - Psychological Starting Points . 205 18 - Transcending the Loops . 221 Appendix A - Additional Services . 227 Appendix B - Resources . 228 Books . 228 Internet . 249 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgments The seed of the idea for this book was planted by Helen Poff, more than six years ago. She was introducing me as the speaker for a local sup-port group, the Rocky Mountain Environmental Health Association. She concluded her remarks by quietly asking me when I was going to write my book. I was dumbfounded. The idea had never occurred to me. In fact, it was preposterous! Yet, a tiny, but very clear, voice in my head said that someday I would write a book. Just prior to that incident, I met Robert Ivker, D.O., author of the book Sinus Survival. We developed a friendship, discussed goals and plans and agreed to create a business. Although the joint business never came to fruition, our individ- ual ones did — each heavily influenced by the other. In addition, his generosity in including me in the third edition of Sinus Survival has created exposure for my endeavors that no marketing firm can duplicate. The readers of his book who have called me for help and guidance have consistently demonstrated to me that stable, intelligent people across the country are hungry for information about stopping indoor exposures — and are equally frustrated at finding appropriate, effective guidance that has their best interest in mind. Throughout all this, Nicholas G. Nonas, M.D., was quietly becoming a mentor. At first, he was the primary person responsible for my regaining my health, both through his medical care and his superb referrals. Then he encouraged me to use what I had learned in my own experience to help others. As we began to collab- orate, we explored new ideas and tools for identifying, measuring and mitigating sources of indoor allergens. We both were aware that the particular combination of his medical care and my indoor assessments and mitigation recommendations were becoming more and more effective. His patients were deriving increasing benefit from our collaboration. We wanted to expand our ability to help. Our efforts to develop and execute a variety of formal and informal studies led to a pilot project based on the allergen measurement methods of Dr. Robert Hamil- ton of the Johns Hopkins University. We then applied that experience to writing a grant proposal. We didn’t get the grant but the process of formulating and clari- 5 STARTING POINTS FOR A HEALTHY HABITAT fying our actions led directly to several key concepts within this book. Dr. Nonas then asked me to co-present a continuing education course for his medical academy. This led to my writing a simple booklet two years ago for the doctors taking the class, to provide guidance in working with their patients to stop exposures. Their response was very positive, but with a suggestion: Rewrite the book for use by the patient. I didn’t need a “tiny inner voice” to tell me what kind of book I would write. As I look back over the past 15 years, I am humbly amazed at the influence of Dr. Nonas on my methodology and attitudes toward my clients — and on the di- rection my life has taken. If there is one fundamental and necessary force behind the recovery of my health and discovering the salvation gained from helping others, it is Dr. Nonas. On a tangential note, Mary Starkey, of the Starkey International Institute of Household Management, asked me to teach a class as part of their curriculum. Her belief in my message, and the patience of her students over the past eight years, has allowed me to present, develop and rehearse my message to a very different audience. I was faced with the task of educating people with little per- sonal experience with life-altering events from indoor exposures to contaminants and about how to identify and address the problem in others. This challenge was critical to the development and writing of this book. There would be no book, of course, without the thousands of clients over the past dozen years who have so generously opened their houses — literally — to my probing eyes, nose, ears and interminable questions. It is they who have taught me. It is they who have trusted my initial trial-and-error approach — and risked the possibility that their complaints would not improve — that led to the develop- ment of my guided trial-and-error procedures, and eventually to the systematic approach of open feed-back loops developed in this book. It is also they who have enhanced my experiences by relating additional information about what worked and what didn’t. The personal stories in the text are either based on my client’s direct statements or are the synthesized composites of many of them. This book is the accumulated experience and wisdom of all my clients. Special thanks to: Ann Fisk, a friend and colleague from the beginning; Ken and Maggie Dominey, not only for their video (see Chapter 1), but for their example of dealing with adversity in the midst of giving to others; Robert Rinehart, Sr., 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ph.D., of Rinehart Laboratories, Inc. for his interest and curiosity in my desire to measure airborne microorganisms in a different way, and his assistance in achiev- ing that; Debra Bond for the original drawings of the “Happy House” and the “Sick House”; Joanie Barbier Studio for all the original line art and final cover illustration; and to Jeanine Corrigan who patiently and laboriously edited my initial draft. All I can say is that I’m glad the manuscript wasn’t being formally graded. I would have flunked by any measure, whether “strictly by the curve” or by any modification thereof! Barbara and Art Ratkewicz provided invaluable feedback on many of the ideas contained in the early manuscript. The credit for the development of the map and travel analogies belongs to them. I would also like to thank Steve Olson, D.D.S., for his encouragement, trust, jokes and amazing mercury-free dentistry practice; David Trevarthen, M.D; and Pam and Frank Benison. In addition, my spiritual teacher is a living example of infinite and unconditional trust, support and love. His example allowed me to alter key victimization behaviors created by my life experiences and which were subsequently amplified by this typically insidious and non-obvious syndrome. Special appreciation goes to Gay Lasher, Psy.D., David Passikov, Deane Shank, Ph.D., and Nicholas Nonas, M.D., who so graciously and enthusiastically contrib- uted their interviews.