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A trailer is a small enclosed space. About 2 months ago we had some mold and I applied some mold killer to a few spots that I could not remediate. Below I've listed 2 products I used. (I definitely used product #1, and it's possible I applied product #2 to the same 1 x 2 foot area.)

Air testing shows the mold is gone, but there's still something in the air that one can feel isn't good to breath in. It tickles your throat, tightens up throat and sinuses, headache, and sometimes makes you cough. (Again, this isn't a medical question. I don't live in the trailer, it's sitting.) The only way to find out what that is though, is to disect what 2 products were sprayed. Would mixing these 2 products create something super nasty? (Like formaldehyde, Chlorine, Chloroform, etc., the list goes on.)

We did a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) test a few weeks ago and it turned out to be pretty much negative. It did pick up some very low levels of toluene, hexane, ethyl benzene, and xylene, but far from anything alarming. The levels were far below the EPA's acceptable exposure levels, but the reason I mention these chemicals is in case they are valuable information and tip you off on anything.

Also, in case this is a tip for anyone; All my fabrics smell and they really make me cough (etc.). After I moved out of the trailer to remediate it, I noticed that all of my cloths, towels, bedding, etc. (i.e. all fabrics) had a weird chemical smell until they were washed. It sort of smelled like a smokey chemical smell... but not really smokey. Hard to explain. But what's really interesting is; I had a pile of clothes I'd left in a closet. The other day I put them in my car to drive to my new house, and I started coughing in the car, the headache set in again, irritated throat... all the same symptoms, only now its some kind of gassing coming off my clothes that were in the trailer. Weird! It makes me wonder if you're aware of a specific chemical that can stick to clothes like that?

I have 2 questions:

QUESTION 1: Is/was it dangerous to mix these 2 products? Did I create an even worse chemical in doing so? (I've listed their chemical composition at the bottom of this post)

QUESTION 2: Is there a chemical method to 'pull' chemicals like these out of the trailer? For example, I've heard about people putting ammonia in a bowl and leaving in their trailer to pull out formaldehyde. Not sure if that is a valid chemical method?

Product #1: Mold Armor Mold Remover & Disinfectant

Ingredients:

Ethanol is the main ingredient. These ingredients below are the small/active ingredients

  • Quaternary ammonium compounds, benzyl-C12-16-alkyldimethyl, chlorides (< 0.1 %)

  • Decanaminium, N,N-Dimethyl-N-octyl-chloride {Decyldimethyloctylammonium chloride} (< 0.1 %)

  • Octanaminium, N,N-Dimethyl-N-octyl-chloride (< 0.1 %)

  • Decanaminium, N-Decyl-N,N-dimethyl-chloride (< 0.1 %)

See product documentation (SDS), here.

Product #2: Concrobium Mold control

Ingredients:

Water is the main ingredient. These 3 ingredients below are the small/active ingredients

  • Trisodium phosphate
  • Sodium carbonate (.95%)
  • Sodium bicarbonate

See product documentation (SDS), here.

Edit

I reworded my question. Again, not a medical question. This is a chemistry question about mixing 2 products, and their reactions.

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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps is the mold itself. $\endgroup$
    – Alchimista
    Commented Aug 12, 2017 at 13:52
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    $\begingroup$ I don't believe closing this question as a "Personal Medical Question" is a good idea. For starters, the OP hasn't asked for advice on medication he (might) need to use. Paraphrasing what the OP said in questions (1) and (2): "Do the two liquids react to produce any substance(s) that are harmful/irritants? Are the symptoms I display indicative of any of these substances." Question (4) seems on-topic too (albeit a wee bit broad, maybe?). Question (3) might do with some back-of-the-envelope advice; or should be asked at HomeImprovement.SE. I, for one, really like the detail put in the question $\endgroup$
    – paracetamol
    Commented Aug 12, 2017 at 14:39
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    $\begingroup$ could also be stirred up mold, or an allergic reaction to one of the chemicals... $\endgroup$
    – user37142
    Commented Aug 12, 2017 at 16:15
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    $\begingroup$ It's not psychosomatic, nor is it mold as a mold test was negative after remediation. Almost everyone entering the trailer notices it after about 15 minutes. It is purely a chemistry question. Doctors and air quality experts are clueless. If you need, ignore the entire post except the real question, which is; "Do the two liquids react to produce any substance(s) that are harmful/irritants? Are the symptoms I display indicative of any of these substances." (How can a non-chemist can hope to answer this?) I'd appreciate y'all not bowing out on this. Any way you can take the question off hold? $\endgroup$
    – D1972
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 17:58
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    $\begingroup$ I have reopened, as I do not believe this is a personal medical question. If this is to be closed as outside of the scope of SE, it should be done with a custom comment. However, I also strongly recommend getting info from places apart from the Internet. Your comments seem to indicate you have already done so, but the truth is that if you have already spoken to professionals and given them all the necessary information, and they still don't know the answer, then it's highly unlikely that anybody here can offer anything better. $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 18:08

1 Answer 1

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I wouldn't be too worried about any chemicals that came from either of the products, or from reactions between the products. Any of those would have been volatile enough that they're long gone by now.

From your description, it sounds like you may be having a reaction to either residual mold or another allergen present in the trailer.

Mold is very difficult to fully eradicate. Even if you cleaned it off of all visible surfaces, it could very easily be growing behind something and you'd never know it without ripping out pretty much everything that's not glass or metal. Also, even if you've managed to kill all the most that was originally present, there could still be residual mold spores or proteins that get kicked up into the air very easily. If you're sensitive to mold, it doesn't take much for your immune system to react, giving you eye and upper respiratory tract irritation.

If this is the case, it may be easier to get rid of the trailer. To fully decontaminate, you'd want to go in and do a full tear out of everything that could have mold on it. After you're down to bear metal, you'd need to wet-wipe everything with a good biocide, making sure that you don't spread possible contamination with your wiping cloth. The point isn't only to kill the mold - it's to get rid off every possible protein fragment that may have been generated by the mold or mold spores.

While it's true that some people are sensitive to mold generated mycotoxins, more common is that people have immune reactions to the mold proteins, and it is not a small job to fully get rid of them.

Now, before you go full bore, keep in mind that it could also be something other than mold. Dust mites and roaches are other common allergens that come to mind. It may be worth going to an allergist to get tested for these and other common environmental allergens. You may find out that you're actually allergic to some kind of pollen (like poppies!) and it just happens that the trailer was driven through a poppy field at some point...

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