Severe mold allergy & (possibly) relocating to Lubbock -- What's the mold allergies like here? (Houston: rental)

[jplawson]

My husband has a severe mold allergy, and we are looking to relocate from Oregon. Texas is one of the states we are considering moving to.

We've already determined that eastern TX areas like Austin, Dallas, and Houston can have high mold. That leaves western TX areas like Lubbock.

Is mold an issue in Texas -- Lubbock, TX specifically? How would someone with mold allergies do there?

Any advice or recommendations are appreciated.

[case44]

West Texas typically has less humidity, and Lubbock is in a rather arid region but is not a desert. I would think that High Plains Retired might know, since he used to live in that region.

[losttechnician]

I have lived in the Amarillo and Lubbock area for the last 39 years.

I do not know the numbers, but do know mold is not something that has to be dealt with unless there are water leaks in the home. The humidity is much lower than DFW, Austin, and Houston.

*HOWEVER*, there are a lot of other allergens to be looked at, plain old dust being one of them. The wind blows pretty hard in the spring time in Lubbock, and there is either SOME dust, or A LOT of dust when the wind blows.
There are no trees, other than those planted on purpose, but in the city there will be days with certain pollens from those trees and other plants that will be up. Some of the TV news stations do pollen reports everyday during the seasons.

Taking allergies out of the equation, Lubbock is a nice place for folks who have little need to be in the vicinity of a metropolis. In fact my daughter is raising two daughters of her own there, and my inlaws live just south of Lubbock, so I get plenty of time in the city even though I officially moved from there in 2000. It is still only 1.5 hour drive from my current home, and that is literally next door to folks in this part of Texas.

[jplawson]

Originally Posted by losttechnician

I have lived in the Amarillo and Lubbock area for the last 39 years.

I do not know the numbers, but do know mold is not something that has to be dealt with unless there are water leaks in the home. The humidity is much lower than DFW, Austin, and Houston.

Thank you! Lubbock is actually my top choice for places to move to, but my husband was really concerned when we read Texas is considered the #1 state for mold.

I did quite a bit of research and figured Lubbock would a safe choice, but it's good to hear it directly from someone who has lived there.

Originally Posted by losttechnician

*HOWEVER*, there are a lot of other allergens to be looked at, plain old dust being one of them. The wind blows pretty hard in the spring time in Lubbock, and there is either SOME dust, or A LOT of dust when the wind blows.
There are no trees, other than those planted on purpose, but in the city there will be days with certain pollens from those trees and other plants that will be up. Some of the TV news stations do pollen reports everyday during the seasons.

Thanks for sharing this. Sometimes, it's easy to forget there other allergies we need to watch out for besides mold. Though I don't think dust will be an issue.

Originally Posted by losttechnician

Taking allergies out of the equation, Lubbock is a nice place for folks who have little need to be in the vicinity of a metropolis. In fact my daughter is raising two daughters of her own there, and my inlaws live just south of Lubbock, so I get plenty of time in the city even though I officially moved from there in 2000. It is still only 1.5 hour drive from my current home, and that is literally next door to folks in this part of Texas.

I have a little one, so it's nice to hear it's a good place to raise kids.

Would you say Lubbock is isolated from other towns? I've never actually been to the area, so don't know anything beyond what I've seen and read about it on my PC.

[Roadrunner57]

Turns out the Texas panhandle has it's own unique nightmare for those plagued with allergies and other respiratory ailments: "fecal dust." Even worse, antibiotic resistant fecal dust.



Here's a couple of news articles on the topic, but I highly suggest anyone considering a move to this region search for more information on the subject.


https://www.texasmonthly.com/article...-dust-settles/


https://www.texasobserver.org/cafos-panhandle-tceq/


Reading this stuff was certainly eye-opening and I was shocked that there's only a couple mentions of the term "fecal dust" in the entire Texas forum.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by jplawson

Would you say Lubbock is isolated from other towns? I've never actually been to the area, so don't know anything beyond what I've seen and read about it on my PC.

Yes, Lubbock is very geographically isolated from other cities. Look at a map. The surrounding area is all farms and cotton fields. Amarillo and Midland are the nearest decent-sized cities and they are both over an hour away. Coming from Oregon, Lubbock may be a huge culture shock. It is extremely flat and brown, with very few trees. The big allergy mess in Lubbock for me is the "gin trash" cotton lint and dust that flies through the air when the cotton gins are running. That stuff always tore up my allergies when I lived in west Texas, and Lubbock has a lot more cotton gins than where I lived.

I would highly recommend you both visit before you decide to move. You need to see, smell, and experience the Texas panhandle for yourselves.

[losttechnician]

Originally Posted by jplawson

Would you say Lubbock is isolated from other towns? I've never actually been to the area, so don't know anything beyond what I've seen and read about it on my PC.

Yes it is isolated.

I enjoy the isolation, but do know that Lubbock is the largest city in that part of the state. Amarillo is 1.5 hours away, but slightly smaller. Midland and Odessa are a couple hours away the other direction, but individually they are smaller.

What makes a difference though, is the fact that all 4 of the cities mentioned are magnets for all the surrounding areas, so have amenities that surprise some people.

But the big thing..... If you need a metropolis, DFW is 5 hours away. San Antonio maybe 6 hours.
Great places to visit, and I am sure they have really nice places to live as well. Not being a big city person, I don't have a desire to live there.

If you frequently fly, you will be limited in your choices of non stop flights. Many will require flying first to a larger airport and then connecting to your destination.

Please understand my viewpoint though. I can live anywhere in the US I want, as long as I can make it to my jobsite for my 2 weeks of work, then worry about getting back home for my 2 weeks of, well... not-getting-paid-work. As in household chores and improvements, and all the stuff that chooses to break when I am gone.

Currently my jobsite is a 14 hour drive each way, and I make that 28 hour round trip commute every month.

So my view on things might be a little skewed.

I *CHOOSE* to live in the Pandhandle/South Plains area of Texas, because I like it that much. So I am the very definition of biased.

I like my job, I like where I live. I am also open to other areas of the country and other jobs though. Not to get away from either of what I have right now, just to keep my wings spread a little. So I am taking my time and being picky about the bazillion jobs open in the country. lol

[Raider Scott]

Isolated?


Lubbock is 300k people. It is a city unto itself...hello!


Why do some think if a city is not Houston or Dallas it is podunk hicksville? LOL


(...and LBK now has HEB...so it is REALLY a true city now LOL)

[High_Plains_Retired]

I noted that Case44 had mentioned me a few days ago. I much appreciate his trust in my assessment of the Texas South Plains so I'll try my best to offer my honest assessment of the Lubbock area.

First a bit of where I'm coming from: I grew up in deep eastern Texas until the military brought me out to the Texas and New Mexico South Plains in 1968. Here I married my west Texas wife, went to school, then left in 1980 for wetter parts, e.g., New Orleans and Washington D.C. In the 1990s I returned with my job to Albuquerque where I retired about 22 years ago to take care of my then ailing FIL who lived northwest of Lubbock and later the rental properties he had left my wife. Later, as a retirement hobby and a 2nd home (we still own a home at Albuquerque), we bought this old South Plains farm that is about 25 miles just outside of Lubbock. I stay out here most of the time.

As far as local allergies you should know that many folks out here suffer from what everyone calls "cotton allergies." Obviously some people are actually allergic to cotton fibers but it is my belief (and I am no doctor) that what some are calling cotton allergies are actually other allergens related to the production of cotton, e.g., pesticides and/or the dust in the air after cotton harvest. I do not suffer this but I believe a lot of the complaints occur in the fall after the cotton has been stripped (harvested) and we get our typical fall winds. After cotton harvest on the South Plains there are thousands of acres around Lubbock that are pretty much laid bare with only cotton stubble to hold down the dust.

I too have allergies but nothing here on the South Plains seems to trigger them too badly. My allergies only get bad whenever I travel to Albuquerque and spend more than a few days there. This always seemed odd to me because I usually do much better under a dry climate than a humid one. I think it is the Arizona cypress in NM that gets to me but I can only guess. Whenever I have the occasion to travel back to my childhood home in deep east Texas, I really have problems with a stuffy nose and nasal congestion. There I believe it is the high humidity but that too is a guess.

And yes. We do have occasional dust storms on the South Plains. Those things tend to hit us hard out here on the rural South Plains but in town probably not so bad since there are trees and buildings to block much of the wind.

Truthfully, I will admit to calling the weather out here "Martian-like" the year the military brought me here. However, having now lived in several large places and different states, I now say that you'd be hard pressed to find nicer folks anywhere on Earth.

Good luck in your decision making process.

[jplawson]

Thanks to everyone who replied. It's been super helpful!